Have you heard the ‘good’ news? Starbucks is coming to Malaga. Or at least to Malaga airport- when the new terminal opens this Easter. It’s eight years now since the first two Starbucks opened in Madrid. Today there are 71 of them cluttering up the centres of Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla. There are also two [...]
No-one is ever going to persuade me that a cock goes quiquiriqui or kikiriki, no matter what its nationality. After years of beratement (yes, I know this word doesn’t exist but I feel it should) from my students, however, I am prepared to admit that cock-a-doodle-doo is also pushing it a bit. Perhaps the Japanese [...]
Animals ’speak’ different languages. An English dog responds to “Sit!” a Catalan dog to “¡Seu!” and a Spanish dog to the long-winded “¡Siéntate!” Of course, what they are responding to (or not, as the case may be) is the tone, not the word. My cats don’t care what I call them as long as I [...]
If Paco and Curro seem remote from Francisco, what can we say about Pepe – the nickname for José? José (Joseph) was, of course, the surrogate father of Jesus, so one explanation is that Pepe is an abbreviation of the Latin Pater Putativus (Putative Father) – PP. Another possibility is that the nickname drifted over [...]
The Spanish are hugely fond of metaphorically defecating in and on all kinds of unsuitable surfaces and recipients. The least alarming is the sea. Me cago en la mar, I shit in the sea. Or for those of more gentile disposition, me cachis en la mar, or even just me cachis …. I euphemistically shit [...]
