tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post8310087407162607574..comments2023-10-30T09:26:32.732+00:00Comments on Now's the time: doodle Les Miserables pancettaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post-36863588521960370652012-02-13T07:12:33.466+00:002012-02-13T07:12:33.466+00:00Pancetta. One of those words for which my brain re...<em>Pancetta.</em> One of those words for which my brain resolutely refuses to create the necessary mnemonic, and thus I'm always (silently) surprised when Mrs LdP takes a pack from the supermarket shelf. The problem may be that the word has an Italian root and I have received no teaching in Italian. (Decades back travel writers used to make jokes about Italian phrases like - I quote from memory - <em>E pericoloso sporghesi.</em> As well they might. I can see that "peri" links up with "peril" but that's only a short inadequate step towards the ultimate translation. Which leads me to ask the question: that Swiss industrialist you knew who claimed to have learned Italian from my libretti; it would be tragic to discover that in spite of - or because of - this roundabout route to knowledge his business career was cut short when he was he was decapitated by an oncoming train as he arrived triumphantly in Milan. A railway station designed for triumphant arrivals.)<br /><br />I have no such semantic problems with <em>lardons</em> which seem to provide a similar function.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.com