España
I spent a year in Santander in the north of Spain about 6 years ago and am back for a 6 week refresher course in Spanish!
I felt a strange mixture of nostalgia and melancholy during the first week. But I think I’m settling in nicely now, back to the old routine of classes in the morning, feast and siesta in the afternoon, followed by beach and beers in the evening.
Am staying with a Spanish family, and they are fantastic characters, and really good people! I love ‘em.
The grandmother is a staunch catholic, who believes that life was better under the dictator, General Franco, and is addicted to celebrity gossip shows (Spanish TV has hours of these shows every night), and Formula One racing.
Her daughter, Macu, in her forties, having recently quit smoking, is now addicted to icecream and condensed milk (She is in agreeance that this is probably the main reason why she has put on 20 kilos since quitting), and does not take kindly to her mother’s suggestions that she cut back on the cheese and bickies as well.
Joder
The Spanish, despite being such a catholic country, or maybe because of it, swear and blaspheme like you wouldn’t believe. And I’m not talking about your mamby pamby English blasphemy either.
Me cago en dios – literally, “I shit on God”, is one of their favourites and is used with about the same intensity and frequency as “shit” is used in English.
But to soften it down, some people say: me cago en diez, “I shit on 10”- Diez sounding similar to Dios.
Some other favourites:
Me cago en la leche – I shit on the milk. (Just doesn’t have the same oomph in English does it?)
And “joder”, “fuck”, is used by all people of all ages in just about any situation. It is used a lot more often, believe it or not, than “fuck” is used in English. Just to give you an idea, the staunchly religious 80-year-old grandmother who prays to the statue of the Virgin Mary with a candle every day and is huge fan of the Pope, uses “joder” more than anyone.
You’ve gotta love the cultural differences!
I felt a strange mixture of nostalgia and melancholy during the first week. But I think I’m settling in nicely now, back to the old routine of classes in the morning, feast and siesta in the afternoon, followed by beach and beers in the evening.
Am staying with a Spanish family, and they are fantastic characters, and really good people! I love ‘em.
The grandmother is a staunch catholic, who believes that life was better under the dictator, General Franco, and is addicted to celebrity gossip shows (Spanish TV has hours of these shows every night), and Formula One racing.
Her daughter, Macu, in her forties, having recently quit smoking, is now addicted to icecream and condensed milk (She is in agreeance that this is probably the main reason why she has put on 20 kilos since quitting), and does not take kindly to her mother’s suggestions that she cut back on the cheese and bickies as well.
Joder
The Spanish, despite being such a catholic country, or maybe because of it, swear and blaspheme like you wouldn’t believe. And I’m not talking about your mamby pamby English blasphemy either.
Me cago en dios – literally, “I shit on God”, is one of their favourites and is used with about the same intensity and frequency as “shit” is used in English.
But to soften it down, some people say: me cago en diez, “I shit on 10”- Diez sounding similar to Dios.
Some other favourites:
Me cago en la leche – I shit on the milk. (Just doesn’t have the same oomph in English does it?)
And “joder”, “fuck”, is used by all people of all ages in just about any situation. It is used a lot more often, believe it or not, than “fuck” is used in English. Just to give you an idea, the staunchly religious 80-year-old grandmother who prays to the statue of the Virgin Mary with a candle every day and is huge fan of the Pope, uses “joder” more than anyone.
You’ve gotta love the cultural differences!
posted by Paul at 5:40 pm
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