Not a happy post

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When I recently visited the city of Mainz with my sister we were a bit puzzled by all the sculptures and monuments we encountered to be wearing a yellow sash (turns out they were meant to represent gold).

From Johann Gutenberg (who together with Peter Schöffer invented book printing as we knew it until recently in Mainz) to a carnival fool (Mainz together with Cologne is the heartland of German carnival) to a naked lady holding two fish (I have no idea why but she looks nice), and quite a few others.

At first we thought it was a prank and it took us a while to get a decent look at the QR-code to figure out the meaning of the gold sash or ribbon:

Mainz wears gold. A sign for children with cancer.

It was a campaign to support the international childhood cancer awareness month.I learned that different varieties of cancer have different coloured ribbons, as well as other illnesses and causes.

Cancer occurs in children and adults. Cancer is a bitch – and that’s putting it mildly.

FOWC with Fandango: Occurring

A presto, ragazzi!

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After two years of learning Italian (ad a couple of attempts earlier in life) I know the word presto. In Italian it’s not just used by stage magicians (literal and figurative) but whole conversations can be carried on with presto. It can mean soon, early, quickly, shortly, easy, quick, before long, in a short time, with an “a” added in front it can mean “see you soon!” or “I’ll talk to your soon!”

FOWC with Fandango: Presto

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Advertising a vile habit

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Cigarette advertising from a few years ago in Germany: “Sooo grand, sooo grandios, sooo Gauloises!”

Now read this with an English mind: “Sooo gross, sooo grandiose, sooo Gauloises!”

I like the description “gross” in connection with smoking and cigarettes. Remind me to tell my sons (again).

FOWC with Fandango: Vile

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See you in Soweto

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The first time I heard the word “township” was in the context of South African apartheid policy. Soweto, as I learned, is not an exotic word from an African language but stands for South Western Township. I’ve been to Soweto when it wasn’t officially allowed – it would have never ocurred to me to take photos at the time.

PJ Powers and Hotline was the first really successful “crossover” band in South Africa, crossover referencing the fact that they had white and black fans (and coloureds, too – yes, in South Africa there used to be a difference, the powers that were believed in “divide and conquer”, and there were actually many more distinctions referreing to “race” – ignoring the fact that there are no different human races).

One of their hits was “Jabulani” (a Zulu word for rejoicing and a fairly common male first name, incidentally the name of our oldest son). Another one is “See you in Soweto”, if you’ve never heard it enjoy it here on youtube.

Word of the Day: Township

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