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Thursday, December 05, 2019

Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 5.12.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   
                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

Note: A few of the items below have been borrowed from Lenox Napier's Business Over Tapas of last week.

Spanish Politics 
  • The New York Times looks at the (regrettable) success of Vox here.
Spanish Life 
  • A few pieces of education news yesterday, none of them good:-
  1. Almost 30% of students at Vigo university drop out in the 3rd year. For some courses the rate is close to 70%
  2. The national rate is even higher, at 33%.
  3. In the international PRISA tests, Spain fell below the EU average and is particularly poor in Maths. All blamed on austerity, I think. But Galician kids did well. See below.
  • It's funny how often this sort of things seems to happen here:-
  1. An Andalucian trade unionist was paid almost €6,000 (six thousand!) a month (a month!) for years (for years!) merely for being a friend of one of the accused in the infamous ERE case
  2. A Galician chap has been convicted of claiming over €127,000 for the pension of an uncle who died 12 years ago.
  • I don't think I've previously posted this warning but apologies if I have: A dangerous Trojan Virus called ‘Ginp’ has been planted in the Android apps of 7 Spanish banks - Caixabank, Bankinter, Bankia, BBVA, EVO Banco, Kutxabank and Santander. See El País on this here, in Spanish.
  • An interesting Spanish/Catalan Xmas custom.  The Spanish are fond of scatological humour.
Galician Life 
  • Another old foto taken in Pontevedra's Plaza de Curros Enriquez:-

  • And how it looks now:-


Hard to believe but the building on the left is now a Burgerking outlet - though MacDonalds is exiled to the city's outskirts. Note that the 2 little houses haven't been expanded upwards, whereas the houses both to their left and right have been. BTW . . . How come the roof and window levels of the 2 small houses are now the same? Subsidence???
  • Here's a new bottle of Corujo (aguadiente/firewater) which I saw in my bar last night:-
  • Hard not to notice the diagram top left and the words O carallo, next to it. A few years ago, I posted information on this extremely popular word and I've reproduced this below.
  • Talking of things dirty in Galicia . . . Here's the latest report from our Oz friend enjoying a new life in the wilds of Galicia.
  • Galician students scored very well on Science in the PRISA tests, averaging 519 points, on a part with Canada and Taiwan. It's odd, then, that several of the courses experiencing high drop-out rates in Vigo university centre on engineering. 
Europe
  • There's been a lot of attention given recently to the well-known facial malformations of Hapsburg rulers. Coincidentally, last night I read this comment, from the critic Rebecca West: 645 years of the Hapsburg dynasty produced no genius, only 2 rulers of ability, countless dullards, and not a few imbeciles and lunatics. Any of their descendent still around? Possibly running banks.
  • You have to admire President Macron for standing top to Ffart. I'm sure it goes down well in France but there is the risk of a disproportionate response from the US president. After all, as someone has written:- Trump is so thin-skinned it’s a wonder his bones don’t fall out when he bends over.
The USA
  • I get the impression much of America is laughing at Ffart being laughed at by European leaders, though the amusement is inevitably tinged with embarrassment and shame. Who can blame them, as the man shows himself more imbecilic with each passing day.
English
  •  My thanks to Stephen Pinker for the new-to-me words: carom and altricial. The first of these is possibly American, as   the British word is cannon.
Finally . . . 
CARALLO

Castellano (Spanish) is famous for the ruggedness (and frequency) of its swearwords. But in respect of one word, it can't hold a candle to Gallego (Galician).

In Spanish, the word is Carajo and in Galician it's Carallo. Here's how it's described in the document I have in front of me:-

CARALLO: Pronounced smoothly and clearly, without emphasis or stress, it means the male member.

!!!CARALLO!!!: As an exclamation, it can indicate astonishment, admiration, and, especially, assent.

An on-line dictionary gives this for Carajo: Fuck! Damn it! (Very informal).

And Google Translate is very specific with Carallo:- Cock.

These are the examples of common (!) usage among Gallego speakers given by said document:-
Carallazo - Blow. Annoyance.
Carallada - Drinking spree. Binge.
Carallán - Joker
Caralludo - Denotes quality
Escarallado - Broken. Dislocated.
Escarallación -Peak, height.
Escarallar - To damage. Dying with laughter.

But the variety and richness of the meanings of carallo are almost limitless, given that it's used to both praise and denigrate. To say something is good and to say quite the opposite. It can also express tiredness, resignation, amusement and an infinity of states of mind, depending on the context. Here's some examples[all in Gallego]:-
Resignation: Ay que carallo!
Joke: Bueno, carallo bueno!
Rudeness - Vai o carallo!
Enquiry - Que carallo e iso!
Contrariness - Tócache o carallo! [Touch your cock]
Offence - Iste carallo é parvo! [Your prick is a fool!]
Temperance - Cámate . . . carallo! [Calm down, prick]
Threatening - Ven . . . C . . . Ven! [Come on, prick. Come on!]
Denial - Non carallo. Non!
Rotund denial - Nin carallo nin nada![Neither prick nor nothing!]
Oath making - Me cago no carallo! [I shit on my prick]
Anger - Me cago no carallo . . . carallo
Praise - É un home de carallo [He's a man of prick]
Doubt - O carallo vintenove! [The 29th prick]
Strangeness - Pero . . . Que carallo pasa? [But . . . What the prick is happening?]
Contempt - Pásame por debaixo do carallo! [It passes me below the prick! (?)]
Animation - Dalle, carallo. Dalle. [Go for it, prick. Go for it!]
Whimsy - Salíume de carallo! [????]
Evaluation - Non vale un carallo! [It's not worth a prick]
Fatality - Ten carallo a cousa! [Have prick the thing! (???)]
Frustration - Xa estou o carallo! [Now I've had it up to my prick]
Meteorology - Fai un tempo de carallo! [It's prick weather!]
Distance - No quinto carallo [In the 5th prick]
On many occasions, it's used as a conversational catchphrase or as a wildcard in a long phrase or in difficult situations:-
Entón, chegou Pepiño e un servidor díxolle: carallo, Pepiño. Que carallo fas aquí? Then Pepiño arrived and a waiter said to him: Carallo, Pepiño, what the carallo are you doing here?

To finish, and as a concession to the rich and flourishing literature of South America, here's a fine phrase: MANDA CARALLO NA HABANA!!, which was apparently uttered by Christopher Columbus himself, when the the Catholic Kings: LO MANDARON AL CARALLO! [Sent him to prick]

Finally . . . Here's a few phrases from a Spanish dictionary:-
Me importa un carajo - I couldn't give a shit
Irse al carajo - To go down the tubes
¡Vete al carajo! - Go to hell!

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