Pain in the English… and other blogs I love

I am a blog addict. I read blogs about all sorts of things. Of course I have a selection of language-related blogs that I follow regularly.

Read More»

Berlusconi’s rhetoric and other rants

Yesterday I happened to read a very interesting “language-related” article about Berlusconi’s unique use of words. The journalist pointed out that the Prime Minister uses a mix of old-fashioned, slightly unusual words, such as postribolo or turpe, next to colloquialisms and more or less vulgar terms like coglione or casino. This is a very distinct feature of Silvio Berlusconi’s rhetoric. Here is the link to the article (in Italian).

And more on ranting, an amusing article about… synonyms! My classic snowclone rant.

Barbara Berlusconi: Publish and Perish

I’m just saying… Who said that a degree in philosophy was useless and that we should direct all our young people to the scientific/technical disciplines?

We now have proof that that is a idea is wrong. Barbara Berlusconi, the daughter of our Prime Minister, has just graduated in Philosophy at age 26. A 3-year, first level degree to be precise. She obtains her degree cum laude and she is offered a job on the spot as Professor in a brand new Faculty of Economics by Father Verzé, Vice Chancellor of the University Vita Salute San Raffaele.

Will she accept, will she not accept? who cares? The reality is that in the space of one minute we have all been brought back to the days when the clergy and nobles (in this case, the haute bourgeoisie) were united in their effort to control the poor people, to make sure they knew their place.

In this case the poor people are people like me, like the thousands of “precari”, researchers with a lot of work but no secure job, who for years have studied, taught, published and struggled to survive with the compensation they get for teaching an entire course for less than 1000 euros. Yes, 1000 euros. And not a month… but for the entire duration of the course. Exams included. For 3 years. And of course, in most cases regulations keep you from teaching more than one course at a time.

Basically, they get the ice-cream money that Dr Berlusconi keeps in her stylish handbag when she goes out to buy the newspaper (probably one of hers…).

People who by the age of 26 had already graduated when the old system was in place, and the University was still something that people took seriously, when you had to study for 3 months for a single exam without leaving your books, even if you studied humanities, that’s right.

People who have been waiting for years for a position to open up somewhere which has not already assigned to some 26 y.o. with a bachelor’s degree. People who try to do their best to convey their passion for learning and for their discipline, helping their students even if they make less than the guys selling bracelets on the street.

If Ms. Berlusconi has academic dreams, good for her. It would be good for the whole country if an heir to the ruling dynasty had to go through the whole process that people like me and like many of her fellow in philosophy graduates have had to go through, waiting for years in the (vain) hope that society becomes aware of what it is asking of a whole generation of people who stupidly believed that education was the key to a better life.

Personally I think many of us will never get a secure job at the University. So be it.

It would be much more honest if the government and parliament ceased to promise not to abandon us and had the courage to start doing openly what they’re doing already: deleting a whole generation of people who are working and have worked in the university for years and who started from scratch. We will just have to accept it.

But at least, replace us with some showgirl, or some calendar model. At least then we’ll know that the requirements for access to an academic career have simply changed and we’ll forget about PhDs and other graduate studies.

I would just like to understand how they are not ashamed of themselves. How many more insults will we have to put up with?

Apparently in Italy, the rule is publish AND perish.

Barbara Berlusconi e la carriera accademica

Ora io dico. Chi ha detto che la laurea in filosofia è inutile e che bisognerebbe indirizzare tutti i nostri ragazzi verso le discipline tecnico scientifiche?

Ora abbiamo la prova. Barbara Berlusconi, la figlia del nostro Presidente del Consiglio, si laurea a 26 anni in filosofia. Laurea triennale, capiamoci. E proclamata dottoressa con 110 su 110 e lode ottiene seduta stante l’offerta di una cattedra in una novella Facoltà di Economia da Don Verzé, sacerdote rettore dell’Università Vita Salute San Raffaele.

Accetterà, non accetterà? chi se ne importa. La realtà è che in un minuto si torna ai tempi in cui il clero e i nobili (in questo caso la haute bourgeoisie) si univano compatti contro i poveracci, tanto per essere sicuri che restassero al loro posto.

In questo caso i poveracci sono gente come me, come le migliaia di precari della ricerca, che da anni studiano, insegnano, pubblicano e si arrabattano per sopravvivere insegnando corsi completi per meno di 1000 euro. Sì, 1000 euro. E non al mese, a corso. E si sa. I corsi non sono neppure cumulabili nella maggioranza dei casi.

Praticamente i soldi per il gelato che la dott.ssa Berlusconi ha in borsetta quando esce per andare a comprare il giornale.

Gente che a 26 anni si era già laureata da un po’ e con i vecchi ordinamenti, quando ancora l’Università era una cosa che credevamo seria. Quando un esame ti costringeva a studiare per 3 mesi senza alzare il capo dai libri, anche in una facoltà umanistica.

Gente che aspetta i concorsi da una vita. Gente che cerca di fare del proprio meglio per trasmettere la propria passione per lo studio e la propria disciplina, senza mai tirarsi indietro con i propri studenti anche se prende meno di chi vende i braccialettini per la strada.

Se la dott.ssa Berlusconi ha aspirazioni da accademica, buon per lei. Sarebbe bene, per tutto il paese, se anche una della dinastia regnante potesse fare l’iter di quelli che come me e come molti suoi colleghi laureati in filosofia attendono da anni, nella (vana) speranza che la società si renda conto di cosa sta chiedendo a una generazione intera.

Personalmente ritengo che molti di noi non entreranno mai. Pace.

Sarebbe più onesto se lo stato smettesse di prometterci che non ci abbandonerà e facesse in modo aperto quello che sta facendo: cancellare una generazione di persone che lavora e ha lavorato tenendo in piedi l’università e ricominciasse da capo. Ce ne faremo una ragione.

Ma che almeno ci sostituiscano con una velina, o una modella da calendario. Almeno sapremo che i requisiti per l’accesso alla carriera sono semplicemente cambiati.

Vorrei solo dire, ma come fanno a non vergognarsi? Quanto ancora dobbiamo ingoiare?

SSWL – Syntactic Structures of the World's Languages

I’ve just come across a very interesting website and resource for linguists called Syntactic Structures of the World’s Languages. It allows you to search for the syntactic structures that are part of a specific language system and to compare languages.

Read More»
Copyright © Gloria Cappelli