SCAMP ? WHEN SHALL WE HEAR "DRIP THAT YOU ARE, DRIP" ?

Following the model of the intellectuals he surrounded himself with, Traian Basescu started to crib from. No, not from Heidegger or from Corbin, but from Gigi Becali, whom he has stolen the well known addressing formula: SCAMP.
The way we proceeded in the case of the "oligarchs", we are trying now to show the president the real meaning of the words he uses in public discourses. The last entry into Traian Basescu's basic word stock is SCAMP. This way, the president plagiarizes Gigi Becali, not because the latter would have invented the word, but because Steaua's owner turned it long ago into a real personal brand. When one says SCAMP, he says Gigi Becali ! In this case, Traian Basescu finds himself into a misfortunate situation, as Becali (who, in his turn, borrowed it from his cousin, Giovanni) ennobled the word SCAMP, giving it a humorous connotation, even a somehow likeable one, a king of "you, little jack..."
It's good to know that, rigorously, SCAMP is defined as being the "person with no scruples, no character, light-minded; a rascal" (DEX- Romanian Explanatory Dictionary, 1996 edition, under the supervision of the Romanian Academy, p. 441), and has an unknown etymology ! It is one of the rare words that have absolutely no derivative, operating just for it and it may have come from a simple echo-word. We come with these learned explanations because, especially in the case of plagiarism, words are borrowed without their true meanings, what may create a dangerous confusion. For instance, one could address the Queen of the United Kingdom by saying: "You are welcome, your SCAMP !", and he would think he only being quaint.
In the interview where he experienced SCAMP as an ontological operator of the political discourse, Traian Basescu confirmed his beginning to be bothered by the intellectual elite. How else could we take the launching of SCAMP on the presidential orbit for, only few days after Liiceanu had condemned him, at GDS (Group for Social Dialogue), for that "stinky gypsy" ? After Basescu had had a tedious time with Plesu at Cotroceni Palace, it seems that it's Liiceanu's turn now, and he can see for himself the man is to deinotaton, without being forced to plagiarize from Heidegger ! Beyond joke, easiness with which president Traian Basescu used SCAMP to speak about some MPs democratically elected by the people shows that either it was a blunder, and in that situation he should have come quickly with a public excuse, or an experiment in view of the future electoral campaigns and that's not good at all. Becali's SCAMP is somehow privileged, being now used in humorous programs satirizing the author, in his quality of an owner of a football team, while Basescu's SCAMP wears a royal crown and will generate effects that even Tatulici or Turcescu won't be able to prevent in a moralizing broadcast. Anyway, the two are on top of the people's options for the next presidential election. But I'm afraid that a battle between the SCAMPS of the two candidates will cut off our envy for laughing for a long time from now on and, the way thing go, I'd rather believe the Steaua owner give up his brand than Basescu, as the intellectuals around him may speak highly of a positive change of Becali from few years ago, while those around the president can only witness the fact that they had taught him how to plagiarize the classic ones !
However, after the gentle presidential journalist Traian Ungureanu wrote that he licked democracy, it won't be a big deal in hearing Traian Basescu telling the PM on the TV: "drip that you are, drip" !

Ion Spanu
Ziua Miercuri 18 Iulie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english