Word: ils
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...sovereign in the late 18th century, when Austrian Emperor Joseph II snatched his hand from subjects' lips with the cry: "It isn't there for someone to wipe his nose on!" More recently Mussolini, who frowned on the custom in any form, tried to discourage il baciamano. He might as well have tried to suppress spaghetti. The Nazis also deplored the Handkuss- good Germans were meant to give the Hitler salute instead-but der Führer himself was often photographed with his forelock fanning some actress...
...Although Carbonnaux' characters, like Voltaire's, retire to a little domestic garden at the end of their perilous journeys, the garden of 1963 is even less a place of simple contentment. Candide and his retinue are annoyed and bored. Instead of ending on the faintly optimistic note of "mais il faut cultiver notre jardin," Carbonnaux ends by havng Candide dream craxily of the unreal, naive happiness of his youth...
Shortly before 11, the Pope was borne aloft for the bobbing processional back through the Santa Marta door; outside, he stepped into his car for the brief drive to the Apostolic Palace. As he moved out of sight, blessing his visitors, the basilica echoed to the chant of "Viva il Papa, viva il Papa." Slowly the crowd drifted away; a few remained to pray and recollect. There had been no great words spoken, nor, for most of the pilgrims, any personal encounter with Roman Catholicism's ruler; yet nearly all left the basilica awed and exhilarated. "An impressive experience...
...around the world, companies have learned the hard way that no single slogan or sales pitch can be successful everywhere. Copywriters for General Motors found out that "Body by Fisher" came out "Corpse by Fisher" in Flemish. "Schweppes Tonic Water" was speedily dehydrated to "Schweppes Tonica" in Italy, where "il water" idiomatically indicates a bathroom. In Brazil, one U.S. airline proudly advertised the swank "rendezvous lounges" on its jets, learned belatedly that rendezvous in Portuguese means a room hired for assignations. Africa is an account executive's nightmare. Native words acceptable in one town are obscenities 50 miles away...
Repeat performances scheduled for last week were canceled in the shambles of the opening night. But there remained a good question as to why Il Corsaro was chosen in the first place. Except for his disastrously bad Alzira, it represents Verdi's single lapse from musicianship and inspiration, and the preposterous libretto, inspired by Byron's The Corsair-the story of an Aegean pirate whose ill-starred romance leads to murder and suicide-scarcely helps matters. The one pleasing aria and the single engaging duet could hardly be expected to mollify a fastidious audience. Even the most pious...