Wednesday, July 30, 2008

No fun in the sun

Sweet Jesus, please - not another "honest British holiday-makers denied access to superior facilities in blatantly pro-German Greek holiday resort" story.

Rhetorically, the article in the world's second greatest newspaper is a complete muddle and full of incomprehensible references to what appear to be (I wouldn't know) typical features of all-inclusive package holidays.

Such as: "Mr and Mrs B. were even told they had to pay for their own armbands, even though they were free for the German children."

Which frigging armbands? Like the Kabbalah one Madonna is wearing? The unidentified "Daily Mail Reporter" responsible for this sublimely intransparent piece does not seem to see the need to explain this apparently significant item of evidence to those of us unfamiliar with this kind of holiday.

What exactly happened on the (similarly) unidentified Greek island remains in the dark. The ins and outs of the alleged "segregation" between the unassuming (and ripped off) Brits and the (genetically, surely) expansionist Huns privileged by an unfair plot are never explained. For instance, mightn't it just be possible that the use of certain facilities had less to do with the users' nationality (which is the way the article presents it) than with the deal that people signed up to (and paid for)?

Not that the "Brazilian football club, superstar stage school [whatever that means] and family entertainment" that apparently lured the British family in question into booking this holiday from hell would tempt this here holiday maker to part with her dosh - no matter how free the drinks.

The following passage from the article would come in handy in a seminar on "Language and Ideology", however:


While German children enjoyed a sheltered play area, air-conditioned indoor facility and had their own toilets in a securely gated compound, British children were left to play in a hot, wooden hut with no gate, according to the family.


Sob, sob, sobbity sob. Apt essay topic on the basis of this article: "Constructing cultural otherness through language: Discuss."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

liebe anja,

durch die armbänder können sich all-inclusive-touristen in bars und restaurants, die zur hotelanlage gehören, "ausweisen". a tad of cultural knowledge i'm all too thoroughly familiar with - but isn't everybody's childhood hard in some way or another???

https://obscenedesserts.blogspot.com/ said...

Ja, so etwas habe ich mir schon fast gedacht - aber irgendwie ist diese deiktische (?) Formulierung ("the armbands that ...") von einer Art Implizitheit, die mich sehr nervt (und die ich in den Haus- und Examensarbeiten meiner Studis dick anstreichen würde).

Deswegen habe ich sie als Anlaß zum Schimpfen genommen ... :-)