JLFS

Yes, so the more languages you know, the more you will find out that you are not loved by everyone.

Imagine the punch ups that would ensue if we could understand what the Chinese and Indians are saying about us when we go into their restaurants..........

IGNORANCE IS BEST......IGNORANCE IS KING----

If you re being treated in a crappy way in your local shop, do what my mum did in the UK.

She was usually treated quite badly by the owner because it took her ages to buy cheese, ham, bacon ect.

It all had to be sliced and it was a bit difficult to get to grips with the weights and her English not good then, neither was mine to be honest and trying to get salmon paste (to which I was addicted to at the time) was not easy.

We got a quarter of this 2 ounzes of that, and it was quite big order made up of small amounts, a couple of quids worth.

When it came time to pay she had a load of copper and when the shopkeeper said they could not accept her money, she said that she did not have any more so she would have to keep the goods and she would go elsewhere.

The woman burst out laughing and so did mum, and she never had any bother after that.

So if you have got nothing to lose try some "dirty tactics" to show that you would like to be treated properly, if the worst comes to the worst, you could be barred out, but then at least you will know.

If it turns out well, then it is one less "niggle" in your life.

bil

The lesson there is that if you can make people smile, or laugh, odds are you will get on with them better.

We were in IKEA the other day, and we ate in the restaurant there. One dish is the codillo, a chunk of pork shin, and quite a lump of meat.

So, when I got to the counter I said to the woman in Spanish, 'I'll have a lump of dead pig please.'

This got a good laugh that went down the line and everyone started smiling a lot more.

JLFS

Quite right, you old buzzard..............

We had a bit of an experience in a restaurant, we read the menu board, you know the hand written ones in chalk for the nemu of the day, and I ordered cochinillo.

My food arrived and it was a fish steak, when Ipointed out the mistake, the waitress said that I had ordered cochinillA, which apparently is a fish.

I had no bloody idea what it was, never heard of it, and neither had the other Spanish folks with me.

She offered to change my meal, so I got pork steak instead,

So I have come to the conclusion that I must brush up on my Spanish.

jimenato

I, of course, knew that as I was doing it

Here you miss the point entirely.

Here are a couple of COF's "opinions"

Rubbish - they often do
agoreira, My "opinions" are based upon observation and evidence. We have several black people living in our village and I have never seen a Spanish person cross the street to avoid any one of them.

There are opinions - choice of music, art, favourite pets etc., things which are purely subjective taste that it is not possible to challenge and I would not do so.

There are other opinions, the kind we are talking about here, which are quite easily verifiable through observation and evidence - they can be shown to be wrong - they are not subjective taste or choice. The above is one of these. It is easily verifiable, just watch a street with a black man walking along it and see what happens.

Anyone who comes up with such a silly assertion as the above deserves the description of "thick" and "bigoted".

Would you not agree?

cricketman

Cochinillo for the menu del dia, you must have thought your luck was right in!

Fish names can be very local, what they call the fish and seafood in Malaga is often completely different to in Asturias and different again to Barcelona. My OH had never heard of the names they call some of the fish in Malaga.

e.g. they call Sepia in Malaga chocos, rape in Asturias is pixin, boquerones in Malaga are parrochas in Asturias etc etc

cricketman

Absolutely

And as for agorreira admiring someone who sticks to his principles, one can only assume that he is a big admirer of the BNP guy, Adolf Hitler or the Ku Klux Klan. They were very principled after all.

And if the Spanish are so racist, how come they adopt more kids from outside of Europe than any other country except the US? I've lost count of the number of Spanish families I've seen with a young Chinese daughter with them.

jojojojojo

TBH, the title of this thread could be just as ridiculous if it was "why do women hate men so much" Its just a nonsense and unworthy of comment really, altho it gives everyone a chance to say what they think I suppose!?

Jo xxx

HBG

I was innocently driving along a back street yesterday, on the right side of the road, when a car suddenly changed on to my side of the street and stopped directly in front of me. I stopped and then edged forward slightly and so did he, two large black cars about to collide.

My wife shouted out, 'It's Doctor Death.'

And so it was, and the Doctor wanted to go into his driveway and I was in the way. I politely moved round him as quickly as I could.

I always suspected this doctor of hating his many British clients because of his surly manner; he got his nickname from being on call to administer extra strong doses of dia-morphine to those sent home to die.

He gave me a friendly wave yesterday, the only time I've ever seen him smile.

JLFS

Yes, I did think it was a bit unusual, but then my wife said that it would be one rib the size of a chocolate finger.

agoreira

Not for the first time, you seem to have problems reading English. Mitzi was talking about jimenato, and so was I. He said he wasn't going to join in (Not feeding COF and his/her weird views), then promptly did!

agoreira

Quite simple really, lots of lists are closed in Spain, and can take 6-9 years, even if succesful. Madrid for example has opened it's list after being closed for years.
It's incredibly difficult to adopt a Spanish child, can take an absolute age and with no guarantee of success. It's so much quicker and easier to "import" one from China. It's a way of circumventing all the red tape and ensures the Spanish couples get a child much quicker.

superskib

BTW a survey showed that many spaniards don't know Zetaparo's name either![/QUOTE]

Some couldn't even spell it either!!

Off the top of my head - Juan Louis Romires Zapatero ? anywhere near it?

bet they all know Franco though. El Generalissimo

Yes there are rather a lot and all countries resent largish populations of strangers, just look at Iraq and Afghanistan for starters. i have family who moved to Spain a few years ago and they tend to be denigratory of the the Spanish people in the abstract, general sense but speak approvingly of those that they know personally. But the they speak in exactly the same way about 'foreigners' and worst of all 'emigrants' in the UK.

To paraphrase Jimmy Greaves in his days with Ian St John "Funny old people these humans Saint?"

There are good, bad and indifferent in every race on earth, in every colour, and every creed; that's been my experience these past 74 years. Be nice and most folk will be nice back. Just a thought.

lynnxa

is there something he hasn't told you!!

Dick Dasterdly

Yo tambien,
Had lots of nice suckling pig before, but always avoided the cochinilla/o .
Thought it might be a plate of cooked beetles.

cricketman

Off the top of my head - Juan Louis Romires Zapatero ? anywhere near it?

.[/QUOTE]

You got the last name right

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spanish people are normally known by their first surname i.e. Rodriguez. However, when this is a very common name like Rodriguez is, they sometimes prefer to use their second surname if it is more unusual.