Tuesday 30 January 2007

Tiny bitter-sweet unions

This sign has been put up at the entrance to the Jewish quarter of Fondi, where I live, as part of a council drive to attract international tourism to the town. The missing word in line three of the English translation (for want of a more precise word) is ghetto. I wonder who felt the need to deface it, and why.

But the real question is who on earth did this translation? Surely the nephew of someone in the council. This is low-level nepotism, but you can find the same kind of thing at Fiumicino. I'll be keeping my eyes open.

Oh yes, the title of the post refers to an item on a Chinese restaurant menu in Rome. The Italian was cipolline in agrodolce, better translated as small onions in sweet and sour sauce.

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