Until a few days ago, I'd been out of contact with Tedur for a few months: he wasn't answering emails or responding to Skype calls. Initially, I assumed that I'd offended him when I said that he looked a hell of a lot like one guy in the classic 2003 film
Dravian Jizz Boys IV, but he assures me that it's just a chef's normal hectic schedule around Christmas time that's prevented him from answering his emails. He has also (unprompted) reassured me that he hasn't been in police custody during this time.
Civil War Bugle wrote:
Does Ted vote, and if he does, what are his voting preferences?
Tedur Covaç wrote:
Fuck off do I. Nobody votes these days. I mean, what's the point? We might have hundreds of political parties, each as minority-driven as the next, but ultimately all politicians are the same. They're all corrupt, and only in it for themselves. As we say, Qui ne's lenzraje rèn la man si jara copèrta de mèl?(1) If pressed, I'd call myself a moderate socialist, but isn't everyone these days?
I feel that I should interject here that Tedur's views are actually pretty unusual. (Well, aside from his assumption that all politicians are corrupt: that seems to be almost universally held.) Most Dravians are actually pretty engaged: turnout for the last four elections to the Nation Assembly has averaged at 83%, which is well above the European average of 77%. Tedur, however, is right about the multiplicity of political parties: there are currently 25 represented in Dravia's unicameral legislation (
Convocata Dravènca(2)), which is no mean feat given that there are only 150 seats. The current government is broad left-wing coalition, led by the
Demócratei Socialei and the
Partait del Zant dravènc.
1) "Who wouldn't lick his hand if it was covered in honey?" A Dravian idiom basically saying that one should take full advantage of good fortune. The idiom is more often encountered in a vulgar variation,
la man mi jara copèrta de mèrda "my hand was covered in shit", normally indicating resignation, that the speaker has had to make the best of a bad lot:
- Deau qu'o toi sèi sudat, paidaç!
- Za, alcoin m'ha rauvat l'autó. La man mi jara copèrta de mèrda e jèu hai caminat quà.
- Christ, you're soaking mate!
- Yeah, someone's gone and stolen my car. My hand was covered in shit, and I walked here.
2) Dravian possesses two adjectives corresponding to the English "Dravian":
dravean and
dravènc. Broadly speaking, the former denotes "characteristic of Dravia" and the latter "belonging to Dravia". Thus,
na convocata draveana would be "a Dravian-style parliament", while
la convocata dravènca refers to "the Parliament of Dravia".
_________________
Salmoneus wrote:
(NB Dewrad is behaving like an adult - a petty, sarcastic and uncharitable adult, admittedly, but none the less note the infinitely higher quality of flame)