Spanish practices 2: What never? Well, hardly ever!

This delightful chorus from HMS Pinafore sums up the pressure you're under when your crew don't quite believe you...

Captain.
I am never known to quail
At the fury of a gale,
And I'm never, never sick at sea!

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
No, never!

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
Hardly ever!

Compare this to the situation this week that the Spanish caption Mariano Rajoy found himself in, on having to stand up beside Angela Merkel and answer journalists' questions in Berlin, 'visibly nervous' according to at least one present. Only a few days before in Spain, at an emergency meeting of his party's senior managers, he had denied categorically being involved with any dubious payments in the Bárcenas affair, announcing his "Es falso" denial. With the severe maternal figure of Merkel at his side, how can he do anything but tell the truth? Put on the defensive, he prevaricates:

"Todo lo que se refiere a mí y que figura allí y a algunos compañeros míos de partido que figuran allí, no es cierto, salvo alguna cosa que es lo que han publicado los medios de comunicación".

 So now, instead of 'Es falso,' we have 'it's not certain, except for a thing or two published in the press.' (My italics)

Interestingly the word 'prevaricate' in English means to be evasive. In Spanish, 'prevaricar' means 'to pervert the course of justice', exactly what Britain's ex-ministerChris Huhne has admitted to this week after long denials.

Assertions, accusations, denials, counter-denials: it seems this culebrón has a long way to go. And Mr Rajoy is losing fast the little credibility that was remaining to him.

CJM

Bilbao, February 2013

Below: A Spanish view of Chris Huhne's downfall as a consequence of lying over a traffic offence. The laughing faces shown are all well known figures in public life, from the monarchy downwards. Nearly all of them have been touched by recent scandals.