What, you may be thinking, is that? (Unless you speak Hungarian that is). Well, that word in the title is actually one of the few Hungarian words which is a cognate with English (and indeed, I assume, must have its roots in the English word). It may look weird but when you sound it out phonetically (and you can do that with Hungarian unlike English) it spells "strike".
So, this week in Romania the teachers are on sztrajk. In Bogi's kidergarten, in the elementary schools, in the high schools and in any other form of state run education (except possibly universities, I dunno about them), the teachers have walked out in protest at underfunding (of education in general and of their salaries in particular). Indeed so serious is this underfunding that the minister of education quit a few weeks ago, after not being able to get the government to stump up a greater proportion of the national budget to his portfolio. (I don't know much about this minister, but this act seems to me to have been spectacularly honest and oozing with integrity. Very unpoliticianlike in fact).
Right now all the schools are closed, but apparently by the end of the week the sztrajk may have become a "Japanese Strike", which apparently means a strike in which everyone wears a badge saying they're on strike but they actually still go to work. It sounds entirely baffling to me, and as a method of industrial action it doesn't sound very effective, but I do know that teaching tends to be one of those professions where the staff are extremely reluctant to go on strike since they are worried about "punishing" the recipients of their services - ie, in this case the children (see also nurses, firemen, etc), so this "Japanese Strike" thing is presumably a way around that. I also have absolutely no idea why it's called a Japanese Strike.
Other possible strike actions:
Mexican strike: people get up walk out in waves as you go along the corridors, then go back and sit down again, before doing it all over again when the wave gets back to them.
Brazilian strike: everyone walks out and goes off to get their pubes waxed
Child strike: small three-wheeled bicycle.
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9 comments:
That 'Child Strike' comment is possibly one of the worst jokes I've ever heard.
I like bad jokes though, so it worked for me.
i'm pretty sure you well remember how to drag your fat arse to my bookshop.
i don't care of your arse just don't forget the money you owe me.
Mircea
You own a bookshop? Wow, I had you pegged as a 16 year old.
I still have no idea what you're talking about, and for now I'm turning off anonymous comments because you're freaking my wife out.
When did you get married?
I was using the term "wife" figuratively rather than literally, to save time and long winded constructions like "common law partner" or "live in lover", but thanks to you I have now had to expend ten times the effort I saved myself.
Andy
How do I go about getting a blogger stalker?
Is Mircea available for a transfer up north do you think?
It's the kind of nastiness and whiff of scandal that could give my Hungarian blog a bit of a kick up the arse..
Whatya reckon?!!
Mircea is rather disaffected at his current club I reckon Paul, so you may be in with a chance if you make an approach.
Following some confusion, I would also like to point out that Andy doesn't owe me any money, that was just a rather poor joke based around the existence of Narnia.
You might also try the new "comment moderation" feature.
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