Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/955503
maltatoday SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018 24 O f all the classic TV tropes and clichés, the one that irritates me most consistently is ' bir-rispett kollu'. The English equivalent is 'with all due respect'... but as anyone who understands both languages will immediately notice, one of those words didn't quite make it into the widely used Maltese version. I say 'widely used ' because, admittedly, there is a slighter longer and more complete version in Maltese, which also includes the missing word: 'Bir-rispett kollu DOVUT'. Some might think that it got shortened merely to save time or breath; but not me. No, I think there's a far likelier reason for the omission; I think the word 'dovut' – 'due' – is considered superf luous, in a country where everyone seems to think they are automatically worthy of 'respect' by virtue of simply existing, and nothing more. Conversely, it also suggests that people who insist on being treated with 'respect', should not have to lift so much as a finger to actually earn it. It is a quality that should be conferred on them at all times, regardless how they behave in life, or how they go about their private (and/or public) business. Sorry, but... who on earth put that absurd notion in your heads? The only people who can get away with demanding 'respect' for no particular reason are Mafiosi. Remember that classic line from the Godfather? "...you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you ask me to do murder, for money..." Yes, people like Don Vito Corleone can get away with it... but only because they're the sort of people who do precisely what the Don got so offended about in that scene: 'murder for money'. And in any case, it's a different sort of 'respect' entirely. You'd show the same 'respect' to any thug with a gun... or even, for that matter, to a dangerous-looking dog. Speaking entirely for myself, it is not the sort of 'respect' I would aspire to. (Then again, I'd be pretty useless as a Mafioso any way. And I'd look kind of silly in a pin-striped suit...) So let's stick to the sort of 'respect' that so many people here feel they are owed for no reason under the sun. The sort that got an environmental activist escorted out of a Planning Authority public hearing last Thursday under heav y police escort, for instance. I'll admit it's going to be difficult to make specific references to the actors involved there, because... um... what if I get their titles wrong? What if I say 'Mr Vince Cassar', instead of 'Dr Vince Cassar'... or 'Professor Vince Cassar'... or 'His Excellency Vince Cassar'... or 'He Who Must Not be Disrespected Vince Cassar?' Heck, what if I forget my place entirely, and just call him 'Vince'? Judging by what happened last Thursday – when four police cars, 10 policemen, and the Rapid Intervention Unit were dispatched to drag a member of the public out of a 'public' PA meeting – I reckon an entire SWAT-team of abseiling, Kevlar-clad spooks would come smashing through my windows in an instant. They probably even have a 'Disrespect Alarm' system at the Floriana Police Depot, connected to strategically- placed CCTV cameras all over the country. 'Red Alert! There has been a breach in Sector 3: a citizen failed to genuf lect properly in the presence of a junior public officer... Go nab 'im, boys...' So if this article comes to a sudden halt in mid-sentence, just assume I've been arrested by the Respect Police, and carted off kicking and screaming for a little forced It's 'Doctor' Evil, thank you very much... Raphael Vassallo Opinion The only people who can get away with demanding 'respect' for no particular reason are Mafiosi I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called 'mister'... Chamber of Commerce Open until Friday 23rd March Ebba von Fersen Balzan Her life in Art