His tongue could not get round seemingly simple phrases like tutulor, a form of address meaning 'to everybody'. When Ceausescu said it, it sounded like 'everyboggy'. It is hard to put across to those who have not heard Romanian, a language waggishly described by the BBC's John Simpson as a 'mixture of dog Latin and Esperanto', just how uncouth Ceausescu sounded. To American ears, one must imagine a New Jersey drawl; to British ears, one should think of a Wolverhampton whine: provincial, but not interestingly so.
John Sweeney (journalist)Related topics
across address american british dog drawl everybody form hard imagine jersey john language latin meaning mixture provincial round say should simple think tongue whine esperanto romanian simpsonRelated quotes
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John Constable
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Bertrand Russell
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