05 December 2018
OPINION MATTERS Yes, we can It is an inconvenient truth that our community at large is faced with some of the biggest challenges in its history and the only solution is for us to face it head on. Over the last year our economy has suffered irreparable damage and our tourism brand has been tarnished forever. Most of our communities are divided and many have become indoctrinated by cleverly designed and executed propaganda aimed at sowing disunity. Despite this the Whale Coast has readied itself in anticipation of a bumper holiday season that will go
A Far Kraai
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a long way in allowing our economy to recover and our tourists to regain trust in the Whale Coast as a safe and reliable destination. This is of the utmost importance for most local businesses to keep their doors open and their staff employed. All of us, in turn, are reliant on the income we earn to allow us to make a living in this beautiful area and see our children grow up and prosper. As responsible citizens it is the duty of all of us to critically examine the situation we find ourselves in and act only in ways that are in the
interests of all of our communities. Many groupings have established themselves as representatives of the broader community, but in most instances, they have either failed in delivering on their mandate or exposed themselves to be either self-serving or blatantly dishonest, with the sole aim of destabilising our region. While we find ourselves in a precarious position, we cannot allow the wool to be pulled over our eyes. Creating upheaval and further harming our economy, especially at this time of year, is not in the interests of the community as a whole. For us to solve the problems we are faced with, we need to work from a position of strength, we need to be able to afford
THE VILLAGE NEWS TEAM the plans we make, and we need to be able to guarantee all residents a safe and prosperous environment. For us to attain this we need to all work towards the common goal of making and keeping our towns economically and socially viable. In this light we call on all communities to stand in unison and not be fooled or intimidated into placing our futures in the balance, not during the festive season and not in the new year. Instead of attempting to destabilise our region, we need to find the solutions that will benefit all of us. Yes, it means that we will have to have uncomfortable discussions and perhaps even accept realities that differ from our present, but we have shown in the past that we could do it and we will show in future that we can. This is the good NEWS – Ed.
De Waal Steyn Publishing Editor dewaal@thevillagenews.co.za Raphael da Silva Online Editor raphael@thevillagenews.co.za Hedda Mittner Content Editor hedda@thevillagenews.co.za Elaine Davie Journalist elaine@thevillagenews.co.za Nickey Jackson Graphic Designer nickey@thevillagenews.co.za Jessica Pote Graphic Designer jessica@thevillagenews.co.za Tania Hamman Office Admin admin@thevillagenews.co.za Kathy Bentley Marketing Manager kathy@thevillagenews.co.za Leijla Steyn Social Media & Sales ads@thevillagenews.co.za
English - As she are spoke or red
By Murray Stewart (old photo)
People who think it is still acceptable to spell trough, through, dough and tough roughly the same way – despite them sounding totally different – should be ashamed of themselves. Purists of the English language might disagree, but in the Land of the Angry Orange, they’ve dispensed with pretentious traditions and simply spell these words phonetically: troff, thru, doe and tuff. So where did this ‘ough’ fixation come from – this blatant disregard for logic, both written and spoken? Well, without mentioning the war, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes had a big say in it when – under cover of darkness – they invaded Britain during the 5th century from the area around today’s Hamburg and Denmark. They convinced the local barbarians, wearing blue face-paint and knickerless miniskirts, to drop their coarse, guttural Gaelic dialects, which they maintained were both spelled and spoken with a complete disrespect for the alphabet and frazzled
epiglottises. Rather adopt this new language, which they admitted was spelled rather ridiculously, but when spoken was far less painful on the ear and throat. Strangely enough, all those northern tongues originate, more or less, from Proto-Indo-European – a basic language spoken around 5 000 years ago by nomadic tribes roaming aimlessly across the plains of south-east Europe, probably searching for the Stairway to Yemen or a Yellow Brick Road. It eventually spread in various forms from Iceland to India. (Language, not road).
that can be both nouns and verbs when swopped around. Like thumbing a lift/lifting a thumb, or booking a place/placing a book. Weird, hey? Similarly, prepositions and conjunctions can become nouns without blinking, like the ins and outs of a story, with no ifs or buts about it. Another minefield in the battle for grammatical correctness is the haphazard choice of plurals. We learn that more than one foot is referred to as feet, so how come the plural of boot isn’t beet? The same madness applies to mouse/mice and house. Or tooth/teeth and booth…
For some reason, two monologues don’t make a dialogue, and whoever claimed ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’ should take a squiz at Keith Richards’ snappers.
When it comes to pronouns, things are equally messy. If masculine pronouns are he, his and him, why aren’t the feminine she, shis and shim? Try explaining that to a Mandarin tourist. Little wonder then, that people are left floundering in a quagmire of linguistic lunacy. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? And if a vegetarian eats veggies, what do humanitarians eat? We have noses that run and feet that smell, and how on earth is a wise man and a wise guy the total opposite?
We’ve also managed to invent words
Dollops of Latin and Greek got tossed
I empathise with those who know English only as a second or third language, because even bone fide Rooinekke, Poms, Tommies or Limeys with English as a Mother Tongue, find it just as perplexing. It’s a conundrum of contradictions, where the list of exceptions outweighs the rules.
into the verbal salad along the way, and Germanic/Dutch seafarers introduced words like buoy, yacht, hoist and skipper onto the menu. Over time, as Italian flounced flamboyantly out of Latin, it claimed the right as the ‘language of music’ by introducing terms like maestro, vibrato, crescendo and staccato, plus others like corridor, pedestal, grotto and obbligato, which have nothing to do with music, but sound exotic so they chucked them in anyway. Potatoes and tomatoes grew out of ancient Spanish, while thug, shampoo and pyjama emerged from the jungles of India. The list of words and phrases adopted and adapted into modern English is endless. In some ways they add flavour and texture to the language, in others they have us reaching for the thesaurus or dictionary to make sense of it all. Sadly, as the lingua franca it is moreor-less spoken/understood by roughly a third of the world. My heart goes out to all English teachers everywhere, who face blank stares from confused pupils every day. Vasbyt and stiff upper lips.
Taylum Meyer Photography & Social Media taylum@thevillagenews.co.za WhatsApp or SMS us with your stories and photos
074 125 5854 The Village NEWS is published every week and the next edition will be available on 12 December 2018. The NEWS can be found at over 300 distribution points on the Cape Whale Coast, from Pringle Bay to Gansbaai. Get your copy from major retail stores such as Spar, Checkers and Pick n Pay, and at restaurants, tasting rooms, galleries and shopping centres. WANT A COPY? T: 028 312 2234 C: 083 228 7523 FACEBOOK: /thevillagenews NEWS HQ at 6 Royal Street.
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