As you can see, the above graphic comes from Business Day, listing the number of people in prison per 100,000 inhabitants. Besides America there at the top (SUA), all of the other countries are in the European Union. Romania is right about “average” and has roughly 23,000 people behind bars. Of these, just 133 are serving a “life” sentence. I say “life” because in Europe … Continue reading Drumu’ spre pârnaie
Ahh… sometimes when I listen in on (or in this case, read) Romanians, I hear them use some pretty amazing words and that always reminds me to include them in one of my Word of the Day posts. Today I tip my hat to this fine post by a blogger, talking about how much she enjoys my scribblings here on the site. But what caught … Continue reading Word of the Day: Bălmăjeala
A lot of time foreign publications mention corruption in Romanian as if it were a single entity, one kind of “breaking the rules” for private gain. It’s understandable why some people would be confused. After all, the word “bribe” in English has nothing but negative connotations, utterly repellant to most people. Pay someone in the government to get something done? Unthinkably wrong. Nonetheless, Romania spent … Continue reading Word of the Day: Șpaga
Whew, mercy! On Saturday I got hit by a powerful head cold, which completely knocked me off my feet. Luckily, The Woman was around to give me some TLC and I feel a lot better now. Although she stuck to more modern treatments, my illness reminded me of a very Romanian cure that I used a few years ago. First, you need some good homemade … Continue reading The Romanian Sniffling Sneezing Coughing Aching Stuffy Head Fever So-You-Can-Rest Medicine
Sticking to some of the easier parts of Romanian grammar, there is a curious construction involving personal pronouns. Although the forms used are standard Romanian, this particular bit of syntax comes straight from Slavic languages. What am I talking about? A venit la mine In the above sentence, “la mine” (literally at my or perhaps at me) actually means “my house” or “my apartment” or … Continue reading A Venit La Mine
All Things Romania 