Reply #30: Ronnie624, you may be surprised at this Guardian treatment of the news concerning the new phone. [View All]

No doubt I haven't paid enough attention to their writing, but it's a puzzler they have decided to announce this new product as if they were members of Venezuela's classsist, racist oligarchs. I've never seen them do an article like this, and I've read many of the writers articles before. Can't figure this out!

Chavez launches $15 mobile phone with a name to make his mother blush
Venezuelan president predicts the Vergatario will be a bestseller worldwide
Rory Carroll in Caracas guardian.co.uk,
Monday 11 May 2009 17.15 BST

It is perhaps the world's cheapest mobile phone. It is the latest offering from Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution. And its name is derived from a slang word for penis. Behold the Vergatorio.

Venezuela's president launched the handset on his TV show with a Mother's Day call to his mum and predicted it would conquer all rivals. "This telephone will be the biggest seller not only in Venezuela but the world," he said. "Whoever doesn't have a Vergatario is nothing," he joked.

Priced just $15 (nearly £10), the phone has a camera, WAP internet access, FM radio and MP3 and MP4 players for music and videos. And it has that name.

Why the president chose it remains unclear, but he enunciates each syllable with a grin. Some laugh, others are affronted.

Verga is slang for penis and vergatario is a newly minted word which signifies excellent but retains connotations from its root.

The word verga, and variations of it, are associated with Venezuela's second city, Maracaibo. Residents are famous for swearing and using Spanish verbal constructions uncommon in the rest of Venezuela.

"It's gross. I can't believe they named it something so vulgar," said Leonor Diaz, 52, a cleaner. Others however consider the name playful and harmless.

The newspaper El Universal issued readers a challenge. "Say Vergatario in front of a mirror. Pronounce this obscenity syllable by syllable, slowly, and note the expression on your face."

Chavez, a decade in power, is a shrewd communicator who often uses salty expressions to mark himself out as a man of the people. He called George Bush a "pendejo", a term derived from pubic hair which can be translated as asshole or jerk.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/chavez-venezuela-mobile-phone-vergatorio

In the meantime, millions of Venezuelans who couldn't afford a more expensive phone before will have access to a solid, cheap phone. You'd think that would be the actual focus of an article, wouldn't you?

Of course by now you've long sense no doubt recognized every article the corporate media publishes regarding a country with a leftist leader will ALWAYS contain shots at their President. It seems to be required.