Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Tuesday, Tuesday . . .

Easter Celebrations: Here's the reliable Local with some pix of these. Nothing very different to ones I posted last week, though.

Spanish Nationality: Joanna Styles here sets out 5 Reasons for taking Spanish nationality. And then balances these with 5 reasons why not. Can't say I'm totally persuaded just yet. But come June . . . Who knows?

Spanish Sensitivities:
  1. Possibly these aren't as well developed as elsewhere. And not just in respect of gypsies. Yesterday, for example, I learnt that the Spanish equivalent of M&Ms is Conguitos, which used to advertised on TV thus. This, I stress, no longer happens. But the packaging still looks like this. 

    Ironically, only a couple of days ago, I was explaining to a Spanish friend what a golliwog was and why it was no longer acceptable in everyday parlance. He seemed a tad surprised.
  2. Walking into town yesterday with a duff iPod, I started to compile a list of things which don't annoy Spaniards. So far, in no particular order:
  • Tailgating
  • Blocking the pavement to chat with friends
  • Blocking the traffic to let people into or out of a car (cf. Being slow at traffic lights)
  • Deafening levels of noise.
  • 3 TVs in a bar, each on a different channel
  • Lateness. Or even great lateness (Ester).
  • Absence of any real planning. Relative chaos. (Equals spontaneity).
  • Multiple simultaneous conversations.
  • Using a mobile phone when with others.
  • Invading your personal space in the street and elsewhere.
  • Knocking against someone else or vice versa (as a result of the previous item)
  • Smoking when others are eating, albeit outside these days.
  • Talking loudly. Shouting even.
  • Listening perforce to the private lives of others (as a result of the previous item).
That's probably enough for now.

English: It's said that our vocab is so extensive because we've stolen so many words from other languages and then used them to generate nuances(matices). Take, for example, this set of adjectives which all mean 'easily broken or damaged': fragile, breakable, frangible, flimsy, brittle, crisp, friable. God help the poor foreigners, I say.

Finally . . . Spanish Names: As I've noted, some of these for women are quite extraordinary. Like Penitencia, Concepción, and even Dolores(Pains) or Pilar(Pillar). My GP is called Betsabe and I wonder whether this is the Spanish/Galician version of Bethsheba.  

Despite Facebook . . . 






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