Those Funny Spanish

This post is dedicated to Those Funny Spanish. 

Firstly, my own 8th list of characteristics perceived by me and, secondly, a list garnered from Giles Trimlett's Ghosts of Spain. There may be an overlap:-

1.

• They accord a higher status to notaries and registrars than to lawyers
• They don't regard efficiency as a god. Or even a totem.
• They like blood and gore in their media reports
• They know how to enjoy themselves. And how!

2.

• They wear anger lightly and dispose of it easily
• They make my [journalist] job easy; they are always ready to talk, to give an opinion, to tell you things about themselves
• They are naturally open and welcoming.
• They are acutely, sensitively aware of what others say about them
• They regard their home as an intimate space - a family refuge.
• They meet in bars, in the plaza or on the street
• They generally believe it is their right - even their obligation - to enjoy themselves
• They celebrate, and demonstrate, in huge throngs - their enjoyment increased by the numbers with them
• They like the warmth, the solidarity, the sense of belonging that groups give them
• They wear their traditions, like their anger, quite lightly.There may or may not be gravitas
• They have a passion for doing things en masse
• They are one of Europe's most verbose and argumentative peoples, except when it comes to the Civil War. Where there is a vow of omerta.
• They can be obstinate individualists when faced with authority
• They like to live piled up on top of one another
• They live a life of close physical contact, of loud, sociable bustle
• They take their leisure - and their food - seriously
• Their mothers are alway on hand to help
• They have 2 contradictory impulses - anarchy and order
• They enjoy tittle-tattle but are rarely judgmental
• Sexual squeamishness is not one of their things
• They are not given to moral absolutes
• Cheating doesn't normally rate high on the list of things they care about. It's not frowned on, being seen as a bit of sporting rule-bending
• They have always been intrigued by and admiring of chancers and rule breakers - the picaresque
• They think, in their moments of introspection, that envy is one of their worst weaknesses
• Sex scandals don't wash in Spain
• They have a self-proclaimed reputation for being arnarchists
• There's a legalistic and austere vein of Spanish life
• Football is one of their greatest passions
• They haven't, as a whole, loved to love their gypsies and many would rather not love beside them
• They are blithely indifferent to prostitution and the (blatant) brothels
• They seem to put brothel sex a par with talking, they're both paid for
• No one is prepared to admit they're scandalised by brothel sex, seeing it as a matter-of-fact sort of business. "When it comes to sex, there's not too much prejudice here."
• "But young men still have different ideas about what is acceptable sexual behaviour for them and what is acceptable for women."
• They are Europe's largest consumer of cocaine
• They are radically opposed to banning anything. "They don't like being told what to do".
• In practice, though, they start their sex lives later than in other European countries.

How could one not love these people? I would do so even if most of their women weren't beautiful.

But, anyway, that's half the book. So more later in the week.