THE HUFFINGTON POST, NEW ENGLISH AND BROKEN GRAMMAR

Writing has finally become a cinch, duck soup, a breeze, child’s play, a snap… and more, much more.

Do you have the itch to write? Go ahead, plunge right into your computer keyboard and start pounding away without any ado about grammar, lexical proprieties, misspellings, non sequiturs and stuff like that. If you start considering primness in word order and redundancies you will not get anywhere, and besides all that belongs to the straight-laced past. In this day and age –cliché, but who cares- The Chicago Manual of Style, the MLA Style Sheet, Strunk and White are all old hat and in this new order of things everything goes. Let me explain.

Many successful writers have adopted what I have come to call NewWriting, after the Newspeak invented by George Orwell. It is true that many make shy escapades into NewWriting, sprinkling their prose with drops of idiosyncratic rule-breaking pearls, but the other day –I am a lucky dog- I stumbled upon a writer who is spearheading this novel trend in writing. I was enthused and enthralled, thrilled even. Read on.

Let me tell you what NewWriting is all about according to an iconoclastic grammarian and syntactical innovator: Nathan Schneider, who has become my literary hero. He writes for the Huffington Post and by a fluke I ran into his article “Macs No More: After Edward Snowden, Time to Come to the Penguin.” (June 11, 2013) The title itself is a natural. It is revealing, intellectually whetting and has this musicality to it that rapture my neurons no end. No wonder 735 people, so far, have liked the piece which is pure gravitas for the new literati.     

The first gem comes with his disregard for simple grammar, whose aim is to attract the attention of the reader. Probably Mr. Schneider had to battle with the Editors at The Huffington Post in order to keep this rare grammatical find: “The idea is to turn the computer from a general-purpose anything-machine into a ad-distributing appliance.” This “a ad” is such a wonderful discovery, such a rule-breaking find that I must tip my hat to him, in awe. It is eye-catching if nothing else.

He loves slangy and colloquial crutches and has introduced them in his article: “The time for liberation has kind of come.” He writes “kind of” in order to suggest that we are actually hearing him speak to us, whispering to us in our right ear. We feel close to him. What an innovation! 

The nuances he introduces in his syntax are jaw-dropping: “The devil some of us have most sold our souls to isn't Apple or Google or Amazon but Adobe.” It makes us stop to think and reread the sentence in order to get the full aroma, as if it were good California wine. Rarely will we find such challenging syntax in our daily readings.    

Hyperbole is an essential part of NewWriting, as Mr. Schneider shows us: “…over which can more quickly totalitarianize the computer universe in which way too many of us live for too much of our lives.”  “More quickly” is quicker than just “quickly”. “way too many of us” is always better than a simple “many,” which is a lot.  “Too much of our lives” must be 23 hours a day, every day, I guess. Another example: “When the thing crashes, as it might somewhat frequently, it's less aggravating.” I wonder what that “somewhat frequently” means. Perhaps every thirty minutes. The “aggravating” bit is a condescending wink to us, the ignorant hoi polloi, the ragtag and bobtail.

Ambiguity is another basic element of NewWriting. For example: “The reason Apple stuff is so stylish is so we don't have to be.” To be what? Stylish? What stuff is he referring to? This introduces an element of mystery.

Mr. Schneider is a clever cookie and writes “… are getting a lot more steady and accessible” because if he uses “steadier” rather than “more steady” the “a lot more” would sound clumsy. He thinks of everything. He is shrewd as the devil.

Neologisms are not shunned, of course. Take the adjective totalitarian which NewWriting has no qualms about turning into a verb: to totalitarianize as in “…over which can more quickly totalitarianize the computer universe.”   

I am sold on this NewWriting fad because it avoids proofreading, dictionary checking, adequate sentence structure, and it is a time-saving stylistic ploy that will fast set a writing example for future generations. It will go viral.

And Mr. Schneider wisely tells us in his witty article: “When there's an error, the community (eventually) corrects it.” So, why bother doing the correcting ourselves? Let the community correct our mistakes.

I propose a toast to the Editorship of The Huffington Post for venting and backing Mr. Schneider’s groundbreaking ideas on NewWriting. Here is to them!

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY AND THE PIECE OF EIGHT

The Spanish Real de a ocho, known in the English-speaking world as a piece of eight  was, and is, also known as the peso, which according to moneymuseum.com was “…one of the most important trade coins of all times – if not the most important ever.”

For over three centuries the peso was the dominating international trade currency in the New World and also in Europe and Asia: a true global currency. The peso was produced in Spain to be used mostly in America, where it was heavily minted in Mexico and Peru. World trade flourished based on this silver coin: 8 reales equaled one silver peso. By the 18^th century it had become a world currency, accepted and used by most countries. The United States dollar was initially based on the piece of eight, the peso, although its name was taken from the German Thaler.

This silver coin, the peso, had several names in the English-speaking world: piece of eight, Spanish dollar, Mexican dollar and eight-real coin. After the currency reform of 1497, it was set up for use as legal tender in the Spanish Empire and gave rise to its being used by many countries and some –the United States, later- countersigned the peso and employed it as local currency. The piece of eight, the peso, was the currency that made the world go round… the world go round… for several centuries.      

Millions of Spanish dollars, piezas de a ocho, were minted and circulated extensively in the Americas and Asia. And yet the great and powerful Spanish Empire was bankrupt by 1598 or about a hundred years after the discovery of America and its riches. The colonies thrived and the metropolis became poor, especially Castile.   

But what happened after the independence of the American colonies from Spain? Did the peso disappear? We know it did not and to this day the peso as a currency unit is very much alive and even kicking, in seven American and one Asian countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Philippines and Uruguay.

Heroes who name new Latin American currencies:

Other Latin American nations changed the name of the currency in order to honor national heroes; to wit:

Bolivia changed the peso in 1864 for the Boliviano. Costa Rica in 1896 honored Christopher Columbus and renamed the monetary unit to colón. Ecuador paid tribute to Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá in 1884 and replaced the peso for el sucre as legal tender. In 1892 El Salvador also honored the discoverer of the continent with a new currency, the colón. Guatemala paid homage to the national bird of the country, changing the peso guatemalteco for the quetzal in 1925. Honduras paid homage to Lempira, a chieftain who offered resistance to the Spaniards by changing the peso to el lempira, in 1931. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, founder of Nicaragua, named the country’s currency el córdoba in 1912. El guaraní is the way the peso is called in Paraguay since 1943, for obvious reasons. Perú decided on el sol in 1863, renaming it nuevo sol later. Venezuela opted for el bolívar after Simón Bolívar, El Libertador.         

Long before the dollar was minted, the Hispanic Peso, the piece of eight, reigned supreme in world economy. But, alas, that was a while ago and things are different now.

THE ENGLISH-FRENCH CONNECTION

In a sea of English, survival and success will always depend on our mastery of it. Knowledge of a language is power, and the deeper the expertise of it, the more power at our disposal.

We are fast forgetting that the day before yesterday French was the language of diplomacy, elegance, refinement and culture, and that our grandparents –in the English and Hispanic worlds- spattered their conversation with Gallic words and expressions to prove they were culturally in, in the know. We cannot have a thorough knowledge of English without an understanding of the influence of French and its legacy. 

The example:

In order to be au courant (fully informed, fashionable, stylish, conversant), I always try to rub elbows with la crème de la crème (high society), and the nouveau rich (newly rich), with those who set the bon ton (proper, conforming to accepted standards), with those who have that je ne sais quoi (something that cannot be adequately described or expressed, a certain something), who give us joie de vivre (keen enjoyment of life), comme il faut (proper, conforming to accepted standards).

Yesterday I had a tête à tête (a private conversation between two persons) with a gourmet (a connoisseur of food and drink) acquaintance of mine, over a demitasse (a small cup of black coffee) and a croissant (a crescent-shaped roll) in a chic (smart, elegant) bistro (a small restaurant or bar). He was accompanied by a femme fatale (seductive woman) who vaguely suggested a ménage à trois, (sex involving three people, excuse my French!) as if this could possibly be some sort of a fait accompli (presumably acceptable or done). Being an intellectual of sorts, I declined and ordered apple pie à la mode (topped with ice cream) in order to break the cul-de-sac (dead-end) our conversation had reached. I concluded that both were bons vivants (those who enjoy the good life) but lacked the savoir faire (tact) elegant people possess.

I took French leave, of course. I did not even mutter a succinct adieu (farewell). (All these words are included in English dictionaries.)

The background:

We all know that the whole thing started in 1066, when William the Conqueror won the battle of Hastings and settled in England. William, being from Brittany, spoke French. He was simply a Duke but he marched to London and became King. He brought along his nobility, his troops and, to boot, thousands of new words in order to colonize the English language. For three hundred years the Kings of England spoke French.

That is why English has a duality of vocabulary: Hue/Color - Rape/Violate - Foe/Enemy - Pig/Pork - Woe/Problem – Wrath/Anger – Mankind/Humanity – Might/ Power – Hearty/Cordial.

Spanish speakers find English so easy to learn because of the Latin/French vocabulary. Right?

The fact that the nobility, the higher classes, the upper crust, spoke French seeped into the British populace, the hoi polloi, the plebs, and left them agape to this day.

The 18^th and 19^th centuries marked the heyday of the French language which became fashionable to the point that in some European Courts –Prussia and Russia, for example- it was the official language, spoken daily by Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great, for instance. Read the Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), the lady-killer, where he explains about French.

World-War I gave the French language the coup de grace, the deathblow that started its decline, slowly but surely.

Up till the fifties French was the language of choice in US schools, now supplanted by Spanish.  It has given us also French kiss, French cuff, French bread, French chalk, French leave, French toast and, of course, French letter, French horn, and French fries.

The present:

La langue française still has that aura of elegance, of continental flair, of culture, of haute couture, great cuisine, prêt à porter, champagne, The Pink Panther, among the English-speaking peoples, probably handed down from generation to generation since the Battle of Hastings in 1066. So, by all means do sprinkle your discourse with smatterings of Gallic phraseology, with bons mots that will enhance your reputation as a savant. Mind not if you are tagged as a pedant, or idiot-savant. What is important is to do it at the right time, in the right place so as not to make a faux pas. Envy, as the Bible tells us, “slayeth the silly man.”

 

ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND THE SAN FERMINES

In For Whom  the Bell Tolls Hemingway wrote “There are no other countries like Spain…There is no other country in the world like Spain.” Did Hemingway help Spain become better known in the Anglophone world or did Spain help Hemingway become a writer?

Born in July, Hemingway died in July. His favorite Spanish festivity was Los Sanfermines, the 7^th of July. He visited Pamplona the 6^th of July, 1923, and was so much taken by the holidays, the bulls, the merriment and drinking that he returned eight more times, until 1959. July was a benchmark in his life and in his relationship with Spain.

“To me a heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats…” he wrote. (Ernest Hemingway : Selected Letters 1917-1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker.) His fixation with things Spanish, especially toros, corridas, and the festive atmosphere  around them made his blood boil, and helped him in his writing career. No doubt.

Los Sanfermines became known worldwide thanks to this American Nobel-winning writer who placed the city of Pamplona on the map when, in 1926, he wrote The Sun Also Rises, about some American and British folk who travel to that city to watch bullfights and the running of people on the streets, in front of bulls. He borrowed the title from the Bible, Ecclesiastes: “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.” 

In 1933 Scribner’s Magazine published his famous masterpiece short story “A Clean Well-lighted Place,” about a Madrid Café, where he paraphrased: “Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada.” James Joyce said this was the best short story ever written.

In 1935 Hemingway came up with another bullfighting novel, Death in the Afternoon, in which he explores the nature of fear and courage, the essence of bullfighting and the passion that it arouses in people, especially among foreigners. The initial run of 10,000 copies sold out in a few days. He made a lot of money with this novel also.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940, was the next novel Hemingway wrote about Spain. The Civil War (1936-39) was the plot of the novel. He started writing it in Cuba and it became a triumph for him, the first edition selling over 75,000  copies. It is set in the Guadarrama  Mountains near Segovia and Madrid. The title was taken from the well-known Meditation by John Donne, “No man is an island.” Most of Hemingway’s titles are memorable and confirm what Camilo José Cela always said, that titles are very important.  

In October 1956, Ernest Hemingway visited Spanish writer Pío Baroja in his deathbed. According to Time magazine he said: “Allow me to pay this small tribute to you who taught so much to those of us who wanted to be writers when we were young. I deplore the fact that you have not yet received a Nobel Prize, especially when it was given to so many who deserved it less, like me, who am only an adventurer.” (Picture at: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/bi8FkUqzskWOdUNICPmkAQ.aspx)

How much did Hemingway owe Spain and Cuba (The Old Man and the Sea)? Of course Cuba and Spain must be grateful to him, but would the great writer have gotten so much fame and so much international recognition without these two Hispanic countries and the themes and experiences he gleaned from them? He paid tribute to both, especially to Spain, recognized his debt and followed in the footsteps of Washington Irving, William Precott and Gerald Brenan  among others, who were taken by Hispanic culture.

Of all possible quotations from For Whom the Bell Tolls, I choose two: “If you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life.” And from his Nobel acceptance speech: “Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.” It is, indeed.

JOSÉ VILLACÍS

For matters private, I do not read contemporary literature in either language. Today´s novel does not whet my cultural or aesthetic appetite. The classics are still there, time-proven, time-tried and, better still, timeless... So why venture, tread, into the unknown? Why waste my limited attention span on starting authors who have yet to prove themselves and their value? I hold steadfast to my beliefs... but -luckily- now and then, just to see what´s going on around me, I open a new publication.
I chanced upon NO VOLVERÉ by José Villacís, a Spaniard and academic, and I leafed through this novel and what I read here and there made me go to the beginning pages and breeze through it. Academics are usually prigs who write for other prigs. This is not the case here, God be praised! I recommend this work of fiction to the American bilingual discerning reader who will have a taste of excellent contemporary Spanish narrative.
José Villacís, NO VOLVERÉ, (Madrid: Entrelineas, 2010).

APRENDER Y MANEJAR UN IDIOMA MÁS

Aprender un idioma y dominarlo bien, con soltura y a todos los niveles, incluso el propio no es cuestión baladí. Pero ya nos decía Spinoza que todo lo bueno es difícil de conseguir. De no ser así, todos seríamos políglotas. Pero, como siempre, muchos son los llamados y pocos los elegidos... simplemente porque unos hacen el esfuerzo y otros, la mayoría, no se molestan.
Aprender un idioma bien, incluso el propio, es posible... y nos abre las puertas a nuevas maneras de pensar, de acceder a otras culturas, a otras aventuras educativas o espirituales. La inversión de tiempo vale la pena.
Hagamos ese esfuerzo todos y dediquemos unos minutos cada día a mejorar y adquirir más francés, inglés, castellano, urdu... el idioma que sea. Saber dos idiomas redobla nuestras posibilidades. Hablar tres las triplica.
¿Vamos a intentarlo?
Ánimo.

MAGABUSINESS - Intereconomia business TV

Check this:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intereconomia.com%2Fprograma%2Ffilologo-excelencia-del-magabusiness-delfin-carbonell&h=9f498

Chasing the American Dream

The great lexicographer Hugh Rawson who, by the way, favors me with his kind friendship, has started a new career as a blogger (whatever that may mean) and I would like to suggest you visit his place at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hugh-rawson/chasing-the-american-drea_b_782503.html.
Chasing the American Dream is a very good essay on this subject. My last visit to the States made me think that a nightmare is looming somewhere in the background... but I am getting old and, as you now, old people dote and have foolish impressions of reality.
Let me know what you think.