Last minute developments!

Back in 2010, we watched bits of the football World Cup on television in the flat we then lived in. When Spain played in the semi-final, every time they scored a goal, or indeed went near the goal, a great roar of triumph went up from our block of flats. And the one next door. The same performance occurred when the played the final. When they won the match, and the cup, the place erupted. People ran out cheering into the gardens, tore around the place with Spanish flags tied to their shoulders lied cloaks and streaming put behind them. Many of them jumped fully clothed, flag-cloaks and all, into the swimming pool.

The place went bonkers!

So a few days ago when Spain was being eliminated from this years World Cup, which we didn’t see as we don’t have television in our current flat, when we heard similar shouts we assumed that Spain was winning. It was only later when we went out to a local bar to check our internet stuff that we saw the sad faces and discovered the truth.

It was the penalties that did for them.

Yesterday, as the weather cleared up somewhat we went out for a longish walk in the early evening. Consequently we did not get down to the bar where the England-Colombia match was on screen until it was well underway. And England was winning 1-0! And then at the last minute Colombia equalised and it stayed that way all through extra time.

And they moved on to the dreaded penalties.

My pessimistic husband said that England NEVER wins on penalties. My nervous niece, watching the match in Jersey and commenting every so often on Facebook was in such a state of tension that she had to stop watching and go outside with a glass of wine until it was all over.

And then England managed to win.

What a nice surprise!

One of my favourite sporting events, the Tour de France, starts on Saturday. There has been much discussion about Chris Froome because of the asthma drugs that apparently tipped his drug testing over into illegal! Last we heard was that the Tour organisers had banned him from taking part this year. Then at the eleventh hour cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, announced that it has closed its case against Chris. So now he’s going to be riding the Tour after all. The Sky team have a few days to put their final touches to their organisation.

Changes at the last minute! So it goes!

Now for some language stuff.

First of all those penalties. I wince every time I hear the Spanish football reporters talking about “penALties”. Pronunciation rules put the stress on the penultimate syllable in Spanish. So their mispronunciation is understandable. But they have a system of putting a written accent on a word when the stress is in the “wrong” place. So why not make the word “pénalty”?

Mind you, I suspect it’s too late now.

The mispronunciation is too deeply embedded, like “lingerie” becoming “lonjeray” in the UK and “chorizo” turning into “choritso”.

 It’s enough to make a poor linguist cry.

But I came across an amusing one yesterday. I went to a chemist’s looking for some special eyedrops containing a particular element for Phil. To make things easier I took the old packet with me, explaining to the chemist what I wanted and showing the packet with the list of “ingredients”. She told me she thought they had the very same brand. Indeed they did. She brought out the packet of Viscotears, or as she said it “bee scot tay ars”, with the emphasis on “scot” and “ars” pronounced Scottish/Spanish fashion with a nicely rolled “r” and a good hissing “s”.

I refrained from telling her that “tears” are “lágrimas”. Nor did I correct her pronunciation. I find people don’t appreciate it.

And finally, from a clothing company’s online selling site, here is a new description for a long cardigan: a lightweight open front duster sweater!

The mind boggles!