Britain’s Prince Philip has proven you can’t teach an old dog new tricks by making a gaffe with a British-Indian business leader about his name, a newspaper said.
During a reception at Buckingham Palace for some 400 influential British Indians, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II greeted Atul Patel by glancing at his name tag and saying: “There’s a lot of your family in tonight.”
According to the Sun newspaper, the comment appeared to suggest that all Patels are related. Patel is a common Indian surname, and there are an estimated 670,000 Patels living in Britain, the tabloid said.
A spokesman for Patel, who is chief executive of leading housing association the LHA-Asra group, said no offence was taken by the remark.
“Absolutely no offence was taken at all by Atul. It was taken in a very light hearted way,” the spokesman told the newspaper.
The reception was held to coincide with the state visit of Indian President Pratibha Patil who arrived in Britain last Monday.
Patil will this week join Queen Elizabeth II to launch the baton relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
The prince’s comment was condemned by Republic, a group campaigning to abolish the monarchy, as “deeply embarrassing.”
“Making a joke about people called Patel is deeply embarrassing given the timing of the Indian state visit. At best it’s a comment that shows he’s out of touch and out of date,” said the group’s spokesman Graham Smith.
The 88-year-old prince is well known for undiplomatic off-hand remarks, which have included: “Still throwing spears?” (a question to an Australian Aborigine during a 2002 visit) and “You managed not to get eaten, then?” (to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, 1998).(AFP)
據報載,英國菲利浦親王證明了「老狗學不會新把戲」,他又失言拿一位印度裔英國商界領袖的名字開玩笑。
英國女王伊麗莎白二世的夫婿在白金漢宮接待約四百位極具影響力的印度裔英國人,在歡迎阿圖爾.帕特爾時,他瞥了他的名牌一眼說:「今晚這裡有很多你的親戚。」
《太陽報》報導,他言下之意是所有姓帕特爾的人都有親戚關係。帕特爾是印度常見的姓氏,據該小報報導,在英國,姓帕特爾的人估計有六十七萬。
英國最大房屋協會LHA-Asra集團發言人表示,這些話沒有冒犯到總裁帕特爾。
發言人對《太陽報》表示:「阿圖爾一點也沒有覺得受到冒犯,當時的氣氛非常輕鬆。」
這場招待會是為了配合印度總統普拉蒂巴.巴蒂爾上週一抵達英國訪問而舉行。
巴蒂爾本週將和英女王伊麗莎白二世一起主持二O一O年新德里「國協運動會」的接棒儀式。
菲利浦親王此言一出,引來提倡廢除君主制的團體「共和國」的強力譴責,他們認為他的言論「令人很難堪」。
該團體發言人葛拉漢.史密斯說:「挑印度總統來訪時,拿帕特爾這個姓氏開玩笑,實在是很尷尬。此話充其量證明了他既與世隔絕,又完全跟不上時代。」
現年八十八歲的菲利浦親王口無遮攔老失言眾所週知,他歷來的失言風波包括:「還在擲長矛嗎?」(二OO二年出訪澳洲時問澳洲原住民的問題),還有「好樣的,你沒被吃掉啊?」(一九九八年時對一名在巴布亞紐幾內亞遊學的學生如是說 。)(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from