by Irene Bianchi
As an English teacher, I must admit we tend to be a bit overfussy with our students, always hunting for mistakes, obsessively picking on them every time they use Present Perfect (that unlearnable tense!) with a past time marker, for instance. Maybe that’s the reason why every time CFK speaks or twits in English (too often, to my taste), I can’t help asking myself: Is it absolutely necessary? Is she trying to be funny? Or maybe cool? Is she proud of her Tarzan English? What’s more: should we all start teaching phrases like “very grosso” at school? Whenever I ask my students to read something or do some homework for the following class, they look at me defiantly and answer in one voice (quoting her): “No! Too much!”. Clearly, the time has come to adjust and update our syllabi, including this picturesque, Riverplate, presidential jargon.