Readers’ letters
BABBLE CAPITAL
Lin Sampson was on the mark as usual with her article on the World Design Capital. I’m a designer myself so I have actually heard of the WDC but am still vague on what it is, where it is or what it’s for. The description numbers, WDC 076 et cetera, are so full of design babble that they leave you flummoxed.
A lot of people I know are vague about the WDC or have never heard of it, and none of us know which countries hosted it previously. I would have thought Design Indaba was enough design indulgence for one year. —
A NOSE FOR HOGWASH
Just read Sampson’s “The Yellow Peril”. She is the only person — and me of course — who has seen through all this bullshit. I was invited to all these jargon-infested meetings run by bright unemployed yuppies, mostly white, who lecture to me what it means to integrate Cape Town and bring divided communities together through all their esoteric mumbo jumbo. It is a load of hogwash preached to and at black people like me from the mouths of those who never crossed Athlone’s bridge. — Rhoda Kadalie
NEW KID, OLD WORD
It is commonplace that one tends to forget the precise meaning of words that are not in everyday use. Thus I found myself reaching for my Concise Oxford Dictionary while reading a review of the film Her by Kavish Chetty. The word that troubled me was “solipsism” which I hadn’t used in ages.
This new kid on the block, after the sad departure of Barry Ronge, is someone to watch out for. He brings a trenchancy to the art of film reviewing. — Harry Sewlall
INSTANT TWANG
I have a theory about “foreign accent syndrome” — (Paige Nick’s column refers). You know how some people can “do accents” and almost everyone can recognise accents? That means there’s a place in the brain where such info is stored. When you get a klap to the head, have a mild stroke, or suffer a head injury, the part of the brain [that recognises accents] receives a boost. And voilà (or achtung!) — out comes your hitherto stored French, German or Chinese accent! — Janine M Pike