My late father-in-law used to speak Catalan reverse slang, which he had originally devised with his best mate, as a young man, so that la grossa (la sogra, the mother-in-law) would not understand them. (This was even funnier in a politically incorrect era because gros/grossa also means large or fat.) Decades later, Avi (grandad, to [...]
I’ve been in Spain as long as The Simpsons have been on air (1989). And for me, despite their utter American-ness, they remain utterly Spanish. The first time I heard the ‘real’ Homer’s voice I was horrified. Lisa and Marge sound amazingly similar in both languages, but somehow Homer is cuter in castellano, Moe even [...]
No matter how well you speak Spanish there will always be certain words and phrases in the middle of a conversation that will leave you totally flummoxed. ‘Escotbreetay’? What’s on earth is that? And should you need to ask for said ‘escotbreetay’ without Spanglifying – or Andaluzifying – your pronunciation, you haven’t got a chance. [...]
‘Con Canon, tu puedes’ works almost as ‘You can with Canon’, the ‘con’ and the ‘Canon’ resonating in a similar way to ‘can’ and ‘Canon’. Not all advertising slogans translate so well, though, and on occasion the marketing whizzes have screwed up big time. You would not, perhaps, expect a Spanish drinks manufacturer in the 1950s [...]
The most obscene gesture in Spain is the forearm jerk, known as el corte de manga, or ‘sleeve cut’. Much favoured by tantrumy footballers, this involves shooting the left arm straight up at a 90 degree angle while whacking your right palm into the elbow joint. The underlying message, which may or may not be [...]
