Comments on: Killing me softly (en català, sis plau)

By: Marina

Marina — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:41:40 +0000

Having been back in España for 2 long years now, I must say that, after 20 years living in a decent place, I find myself cringing at the almost total absence of political education and capacity for discernment and debate in this country, it seems that 30 years of brain-washing that added to the previous 40 years of brain-damaging have produced a mass of compliant population that are totally unable to question their politicians, analyze policies or even see that the young democracy in this country has still a long way to go before it can deserve the title. I used to be proud of being from Barcelona, not anymore. Yes, let’s let any old Montse, with impeccable Catalan credentials but not so well versed in nursing run amok our Hospital wards. Simply demential.

By: Jordi

Jordi — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:29:08 +0000

Please, do not think every Catalan is like that. Most of us feel as Spaniards as Catalans. Just 15% of Catalans want to be a country. If you come here and this “15%” speak to you in Catalan, say: ¿Qué coño me dices, gilipollas? (What the fuck are you saying to me, asshole?)

By: marc

marc — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:49:23 +0000

illiari
oh poor spaniards living in catalonia….they can’t go to the cinemas read pharmaceutical products,speak spanish on the streets and so on….
what a bunch of sh*te,mate
get the facts right moron!

By: trevor

trevor — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:43:22 +0000

@Den: ‘normal people’ like my friends at la Caixa, Catalonia’s dominant (financial) institution, whose ATM machines use the form ’sisplau’

By: illiari

illiari — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 01:39:46 +0000

Please send this article to EL Pais soon as there is a new article about how many hours of castellano children have at school per week (just 3hrs) and they call this multiculturalism???

By: Den

Den — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 13:52:42 +0000

Pray tell*, Trevor, which bar do all you ‘normal people’ hang out at?

Google:

“si us plau” 708,000
sisplau 195,000
siusplau 60,500
“sis plau” 553

*”pray tell” 834,000
“prey tell” 25,600

By: trevor

trevor — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:42:18 +0000

“Sisplau” and “sis plau” are both non-standard, but you’ll find the former is widely used in the Catalan press and the latter by normal people. The standards are hopelessly rigid, and it doesn’t sound like Den gets out very much.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:07:51 +0000

I’m pretty sure ’sisplau’ is accepted by the Enciclopèdia Catalana as a shortened form, but I couldn’t swear by it. My version with the two words separated is just a slightly embarrassing mistake.

Thanks for reopening the debate on whether it is a good idea to demand Level D for nurses, which is really the issue at hand. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of anyone who thinks this is justifiable.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:02:50 +0000

To be correct you might wanna try one of the following:

si us plau
si et plau
si li plau

ie: personal pronoun can change but squashing the first two words together so that the u pops out is more “sms” / “net” speak. But don’t take my word for it, I’m just an ignorant guiri… I’m waiting for Den to pick me up on having written “wanna” but then avoid explaining why it is incorrect…

Anyway, back to the matter inhand. I have encountered many many nationalists who during debates about nationalism have very clearly stated “I HAVE NEVER MET ANY CATALAN EDUCATED IN CATALONIA WHO DOES NOT SPEAK SPANISH”. If that is the case, why is Catalan given such a high value when being considered for public sector jobs? Surely it’s a “nice to have” given that, according to most nationalists, it would NOT be required to perform the job to a high level.

Good luck to your wife in her crusade!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:00:44 +0000

Seeing as all you’re doing is picking me up on the fact I left a space between ’sis’ and ‘plau’, I take it you agree with the general line of the post. Or do you think Level D Catalan is a necessary requirement for nurses?