Friday, April 01, 2011

One Beppe Severgnini, writing in the Corriere Della Sera, claims that Fabio Capello has exaggerated the size of an English footballer's vocabulary. He has tried, not very successfully in my opinion, to pare the number of words down to twelve, viz. -

Booze, darts [really?], drubbing, fame, grands [sic], Hair dryer [pace Sir Alex], page three girl, respect, sponsor, wanker, xenophobia, zero.

The last necessary, according to Signor S., when discussing England's form in the World Cup tournament over the last 45 years. And he cheats a little by adding words like "sweetener and "bung" under the "grands" heading". His list of aberrations permitted to one showing "respect" suggests a liberal interpretation of the word.

(Via a comment by "Filippo" on Licia Corbolante's blog)

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