The stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales.

Hace mucho tiempo la gente estaba acostumbrada a que le contarán mágicas historias sobre maravillas y encantamientos, pero de ellas no trata este libro. Más bien, casi podían ser cuentos de hadas, pero tampoco. Las historias que aquí se cuentan son más bien cuentos estúpidos.

Tales of wisdom and wonder.

Colección de cuentos procedentes de distintos países y culturas, en los que aparecen sorprendentes animales y gente extraordinaria; nada es como parece en este libro, pues se producen mágicas transformaciones. Al mismo tiempo, estas historias nos recuerdan de distintas maneras, cuán vasto y misterioso es nuestro mundo, y cómo nuestras vidas pueden transformarse totalmente por circunstancias inesperadas.

Tales of the expected: investigating the rhetorical strategies of innovation champions

Innovation continues to be high on the agenda in construction. It is widely considered to be an essential prerequisite of improved performance both for the sector at large and for individual firms. Success stories dominate the parts of the academic literature that rely heavily on the recollections of key individuals. A complementary interpretation focuses on the way innovation champions in hindsight interpret, justify and legitimize the diffusion of innovations. Emphasis is put on the temporal dimension of interpretation and how this links to rhetorical strategies and impression management tactics. Rhetorical theories are drawn upon to analyse the accounts given by innovation champions in seven facilities management organizations. In particular, the three persuasive appeals in classic rhetoric are used to highlight the rhetorical justifications mobilized in the descriptions of what took place. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of rhetorical theories in complementing studies of innovation.

'They Shall Speak the Arabic Language and Take Pride in it': reconsidering the fate of Coptic after the Arab Conquest

The complaints on the adoption of Arabic by the Copts that are voiced by the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Samuel have often been quoted as the expiring words of the dying Coptic language. This article seeks to show that they are not to be taken so literally, and that they should rather be inserted in the context of a rift within the medieval Coptic church over the question of language choice, and beyond this, over that of accommodation with the Muslims. The use of Arabic by the episcopal church of Miṣr and by some prominent figures around it, which was linked to their proximity to the Fatimid court, was resented and denounced by more traditional circles, centred on the Patriarchate and on some important monasteries such as the one at Qalamūn where the Apocalypse was written. The suggestion is also made that the text is contemporary with the beginning of Coptic literary production in Arabic and with the introduction of Egyptian Christians at the caliphal court, namely in the last quarter of the tenth century, at the time of Severus ibn al-Muqqafa‘.