godmother godfather.....
 

After spending some time with a Spanish faimily including godparents, I was asked if British people call their godparents by the title, as they do in Spain.

Quite frankly I dont know the answer, I have heard of people referring to their godparents as such, but I have never heard anyone address them directly by their title.

Maybe it is because I have never been in the presence of British godchildren and godparents together.

Just curious...................

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Not in my experience, but i stand to be corrected

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I have never heard anyone directly addressed as 'godmother' etc. If the child is still young, I think its more likely they will address as 'auntie Bet' etc, even if they are not blood-related.

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nor mine

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A vast sweeping statement. Do they? Do all Spaniards refer to their godparents by title? Really?? Or is it just something you have seen in your circle?

My missus refers to her godparents in much they same way I do with mine. By their name not their title. She might, on occasion, say 'uncle'. NEVER will she say godfather. She will of course say 'He is my godfather' is specifically asked.

Having had hundreds of young kids come through the doors of our school, I don't think I can remember any child singling out their godparents for preferential treatment.

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Referring to the question about a vast sweeping stament, of course I am talking about my circle.

When someone makes a comment such as "the Spanish love their siesta" do they mean ALL SPANISH PEOPLE .................Well, no.

When they say that the French put garlic on everything do they mean even on their conrflakes..................well, no.

When they say that the British is a nation of animal lovers, do they all British`people...................well no.

The British are very punctual, All British?.............well no.

The only thing that all Spanish people do is breathe.

All I wanted to know is if English children ever refer to the godparents directly by their title. You can hear a lot of "hola Madrina" from Spanish children.

It was just a simple question, I am not the spokesperson for all Spanish people, the question was about British people.

I was not asking if Spanish children called their Godparents by their title, I already know the answer to that one, having been a Spanish child myself.

Maybe where you are it does not happen, but that does not mean that I am wrong.

In the same vein, lots of British men used to call younger ones "son" (Not all British men, mind).

But I have never heard a British girl being called "daughter" by anyone other than a parent.

In Galicia, it is quite commone for a women to call another woman "Hija", but I have never heard a Spanish man call another man "son" if he isnt the father.

So it seem that a man can call another one "Son" in the UK, but would not use the term "daughter".

I could be wrong about that, so please correct me.

On the other hand it is OK to refer to a woman as "daughter" in Spain, but the word "son" would not be used, as in the UK. (once again I could be wrong.)

I keep shooting myself in the foot, next time I need to know a question about THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE I will go to the Italian forum.

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If you want to bang on about language, go right ahead. It does, however, have nothing to do with what I said originally. Did I pick you up on language? No. Did I pick you up for a massive generalisation with no basis in fact? Yes.

While we're at it, lets address your other generalisation that you used to demonstrate your assertion that I was absurd to pick you on language (which again I did not). You used the age old 'Spanish love their siesta' line to demonstrate your point of how it is ok to use sweeping generalisations, presumably because you believe it is unversally understood that the action suggested in your example is a habitual trait of the Spanish. Now, I am not against using generalisations to describe a particular group etc based on common quirk. Yet it would need to be something that a great many people do. The afternoon siesta is as dead as a dodo. Of course there are people who do it, but it would have to be few. People working in the cities, where the vast majority of the Spanish workforce do, the siesta is a difficult thing to achieve. For many (if not most) they cannot get home and back in the alloted timescale. The age of the two or three hour lunch has gone. Yes, of course, small shops will still shut down middle of the day for a few hours but I would argue that they really represent a small part of the workforce. Waiters on split shifts might have 40 winks but this is outside the siesta window - so is it a siesta or a doze for someone who will no doubt finish past midnight?

It does make me smile how romaticised and outdated some people's perceptions of Spanish people are (and, please, I am not bundling you in here as I have no evidence of what your ideas are, save your godparents comment). Think for a second on how any Spaniard is usually portrayed on foreign TV. Usually lethargic, very dark, heavily accented, loves flamenco (there nearly always is a flamenco style Spanish guitar soundtrack) will put things off until 'manana' and is a macho, overbearing womaniser who adores his mum. Well, if you live in Andalucia, a lot of that description may ring true. If you live anywhere else in Spain, especially the north, it has nothing to do with them. Think of Fawlty Towers. "(h)I am Manuel. (h)I come from Barseeelona" How many Catalans does that sound or even look like. Yes it is a comedy, and yes it was deliberately designed to exaggerate the stereotype, but that is my point. The stereotype is wrong. A petty point, but it would have had more credibilty had Manuel been from 'Seveeeel'!!!!

I just want to slap some Brits sometimes who come out with the phrase: "Ya, so we're in Spain, so we only want to do what the Spanish do, eat in Spanish restaurants, eat Spanish food" yada yada bullshit yada. Firstly, no Spaniard says 'I'm off to the Spanish restaurant to eat some Spanish food' - he's in Spain FFS. He doesn't need the adjectives. Imagine some Londoner saying 'Right love, I'm off down the English pub to have some English beer and English food' (well if he's in the BNP he might say it but that is another thread!!!) Last time I went out with my in-laws, brother-in-laws and partners etc we ended up going to the mall, going to Pizza Hut, then off to the cinema to watch.........some hollywood trash I can't even remember. Drinks were cokes and some Belgian lager. Maybe they were just fed up of all the paella, vino, flamenco and bullfighting that they just fancied a change.....

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My Niece is Spanish and I am the 'Padrino' of her daughter, her best friend is her daughters 'Madrina'. We play a roll at the Christening and in many areas of Spain 'depends on the people I guess like everything' the Pardino and Madrina can generally be important family figures, when introduced to Spanish people anywhere I am with my Neice there is '... el Padrino de Lola' proudly added onto the end of an introduction. :) I would be referred to as 'Tio' in conversation between my 'Lola' and others while Lola 'who is 3 years old' is now starting to call me by my name.

As I say it is probably the family and people that make this an important thing or not. BTW, You may also hear of Padrino at a wedding which is the person who gives the bride away.

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Yes fair enough point, although I dont think it should be leveled at JLFS

Very few British people actually have any clue at all about Spain, you hear things all the time like "it snows in Spain!?" or "he's Spanish, but he's blonde!?" or "Spanish people all eat tapas"? And the worse tend to be those Brits who live in Spain :rofl:

But to be fair, a lot of the false perceptions were built up when Franco and co started encouraging the Brits to come on package holidays. Franco built up Spain as having 1 culture becuase it sold, and because he hated regionalism.

So, they sold Spain as all sun and sangria, flamenco and bull fighting. When really it isnt at all, none of those things are actually very popular in Spain (although they are all Spanish, of course).

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Here in the south both 'Hija' and 'Hijo' can be heard although 'Hijo' is more common, maybe I say this because I am a man and so I hear 'Hijo' more than 'Hija'... which is not to say I haven't heard 'Hija' used from a man to a female. I guess as far as the 'Hijo' is concerned that this is a trend that is generally used by older men 'and camposenos' although in saying that I heard 'Gracias Hijo' the other day from a truck driver when where where manourering so we could get past each other... the thing that got me wondering a bit was that he looked a lot younger than me... or maybe I just look younger than I am :D

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"The only thing that all Spanish people do is breathe."

Only the living ones. Of course if we stick to the living, then they also excrete, metabolise and secrete, to name but three.

That should get me into the pedant's hall of fame......... :thumbup:

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Brits may have a distored view of spain as the spanish tourist office pushes the flamenco, sangria and tapas line. There were complaints in the media last week(andalucia). Some spanish still think that all the men wear bowler hats!

What about other sweeping statements. Some posters seem to think Brits living on the CDS don't inegrate, don't speak spanish and spend all their time in Brit bars. Some areas don't even have a British bar.

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Yep down this neck of the woods, hijo/hija is common.

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By the way most ex-pats probably had a false idea of Spain before they came.

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Well yes, I can understand what you're saying, but what is the "true Spain"? Investment bankers or film workers in Madrid would have a totally different lifestyle to someone working a small holding in Galicia. They in turn would have nothing in common with a lawyer in Barcelona, who would never come close to an expats' bar in Benidorm. To be honest I could probably show you things in the UK that would surprise you, and I'm sure you could do the same to me. Life is about discovery, especially if you change home.