Speaking Spanish when it's not require

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How do you feel about those assholes that decide just because someone is Hispanic, it's a opportunity to practice their Spanish. I notice this in burrito shops, when some dipshit white guy decides he's "down" with the Latino and starts ordering in precise Spanish. And it's clearly not necessary because the girl behind the counter speaks fine English (all day long) but he makes an ass of himself and makes her feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Rice?" she asks.

"Si, si, arroz... y crema tambien."

Then he makes some inside joke and she smiles awkwardly.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

If a counter person asks you a question in English and you respond in Spanish even though you SPEAK perfect English that is pretty lame. If you order in Spanish and they respond in Spanish then that's fine as far as I am concerned. I've never seen counter people get uncomfortable about that (esp. cuz in SF some of the people ordering BURRITOS only speak Spanish!)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Why are they assholes to speak a language they know the other person speaks? I used to practice my French on each and every French/Belgian/African/Canadian etc.. that I met when I was a teen. Was it annoying? Sure, but no more than my other adolescent antics. Was I using them, in a way? Yeah, but they had the unique advantage of being able to tell me off in their own language. As to being 'down' with the Latino, I didn't realize there were racial/ethnic caste lines we had to observe with fanatacism. The dude maybe wants to make them feel comfortable, or maybe he wants to practice his Spanish, maybe he's fronting, or maybe he just wants to make sure he gets what he orders.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

haha, how do you say "al pastor" in english? "barbeque pork"?

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha actually I do.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I usually say the "al pastor" and then if they look at me like I am crazy cuz I just mangled their language I say "the bbq'd pork" and point at it while they shake their head at me like I am stupidest gringo they've ever met haha.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not talking about practicing spanish, I'm talking about putting on a display. And I think there's something slightly patronizing about it: yes, we're a multicultural society, but I labor under the perception that the person whom I'm addressing understands English, until I learn otherwise. I speak Spanish, and when necessary I use it. But I'm not going to make any assumptions about the other's command of English until it's clear that Spanish would be easier for both of us.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Andy very OTM.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Why is it rude to practice Spanish in America?

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i just realized that i don't know how to say a lot of mexican food in english!

"may i have a flour breadlike wrap filled with beans and vegetables and possibly meat please? i have heard many wonderful things about the flour breadlike wrap filled with beans and vegetables and possibly meat that come from the city named for saint francis of assissi."

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you talking about putting on a display to impress the latinos with your language skills or to show them that you're a cool, multicultural type person?

xpost

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Basically: It's dorky.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

George W Bush to thread

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

there was this one kid in college, so annoying. very midwestern, nasally voice when speaking english. as soon as he started speaking spanish, he went into spanish radio announcer voice. you know what i'm talking about. ugh.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

btw the first ever spanish speech was read on the floor of the senate the other day, which is cool except the dude was praising alberto gonzales. yeesh.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I think you're overthinking this, andy. Relax, have fun, be nice to people without worrying what they think.

xpost

Still sounds better than nasally Midwestern voice, hstencil. You should have convinced him to only speak in that tone.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

but i've never heard any actual spanish speakers sound like that! except on the radio or on telemundo!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I ask for burritos EXACTLY like gygax! sez!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

that is actually a verbatim quote from AdamRL!!!

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I know, I know... But living in the Bay Area, with a KPFA sticker on every biodiesel Volvo, it gets old.

In Berkeley: OVERpronouncing Spanish... "LOS AnHelesss" etc. Usually practiced by Women's Studies co-eds that just returned from a semester in Guatemala. Bugs the shit out of me.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Andy, I am thinking that perhaps you are the one with the problem here.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno, that sounds like this kid yate5 i'm talking about. the way he spoke was like the equivalent of putting every non-english word in italics on the written page, but even for common used-in-english words like "salsa" and whatnot.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

david gregory to thread!

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

oh god i forgot that david gregory thing, so annoying. fuck a bush too.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I ask for them in English but I pronounce all the Spanish words in my best Mexican accent. I used to work with a crew of Mexicans in one of my last jobs. We were never very close but they taught me some Spanish and I helped them with their English. I used to know a lot of swear words and slang but I have forgotten most of it.

I actually agree with you about the LA thing. I was pronouncing Los Feliz Mexican style once and my brother gave a look and said, "Nobody will know what you're talking about."

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Andy, are you at all Hispanic?

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW I do have a problem with male Women's Studies majors, but that's cuz every one I ever met was a creepy pony tail wearing passive aggressive sensitive guy fuck.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:51 (twenty-one years ago)

this is totally yate5 omg! fuck.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:51 (twenty-one years ago)

and he had those doofy lookin' tiny glasses in addition to the ponytail, too.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

OHMIGOD I forgot about those!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend works at a radio station and this one girl very noticeably mispronounced "guerrero" on the air. so he asked her 'um, why did you pronounce it like that? (i can't replicate how she pronounced it)' and she said 'that's how its pronounced' and he said 'that's not remotely how it's pronounced' and she said 'well if they want to come to america they're gonna have their name pronounced american' and he laughed and had her fired by the end of the day. here endeth the lesson.

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW I do have a problem with male Women's Studies majors, but that's cuz every one I ever met was a creepy pony tail wearing passive aggressive sensitive guy fuck.

*Giggling*

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't tell me you were a Women's Studies major, Michael, please?!?!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Andy, I think the bottom line is that you are probably giving this a little too much thought -- probably much more than the counter person is.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I worked at a few wineries and spoke Spanish all day long... But I wasn't in line in a front of people with beady wire-rimmed glasses and a sweater around my waist: "Y una horchata, tambien.."

Okay, I do have the problem.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Only informally, Alex, and with a concentration on physionomy.

xpost

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

see blount that's just as annoying too. i'm not saying everything has to be pronounced like my mom pronounces spanish words (her "fajita" is painful to hear), just cut with the "i'm one of you" crap.

incidentally, i hate it when baseball announcers mispronounce hispanic surnames.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, i went with my brother to Togos the other day and he did this shit and i was muy embarazada (hee hee - i said pregnant).

― The Ballad of El Janko (JasonD), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Every time I see a black person, I immediately break into my remedial African.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:57 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, but then you got the Jon Miller thing, and he bugs the shit out of me too. It's just ostentatious, I think...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost - but that said, i do this when i got to the taco window around the corner from my work because the lady does not speak english

― The Ballad of El Janko (JasonD), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I mean, it is funny the way you describe it... I think it's a Berkeley thing.

But the "white" thing is the bothersome problem I think... Go to Mexico City with (among many other different races/ethnicities) the largish population of blonde, blue eyed "white" people speaking (and ordering food) in Spanish and you'd probably get over this.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

― Swahili Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i think jon miller's all right. i'll take him over chip caray or charley steiner any day.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a Berkeley / Santa Cruz thing.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Go to Mexico City with (among many other different races/ethnicities) the largish population of blonde, blue eyed "white" people speaking (and ordering food) in Spanish and you'd probably get over this.

or Madrid, or Buenos Aires, or...

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Conor Oberst to thread!

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

remedial African I don't even understand you.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: Both Jon Miller and Duane Kuiper not only do the proper pronunciation of Latin players names, but also Japanese/Korean names too. It's a Bay Area thing probably.

xxpost:
Go to Mexico City with (among many other different races/ethnicities) the largish population of blonde, blue eyed "white" people speaking (and ordering food) in Spanish and you'd probably get over this.

or Madrid, or Buenos Aires, or...

I meant Mexican Food in particular.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, not white, but ANGLO or whatever's appropriate. I feel like at a Pacifica Radio board meeting.

― andy --, Friday, 4 February 2005 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 45 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

hahahaha.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

There was one great episode of the John Larroquette show where he goes to this tiny Korean deli and there's an earthquake, which collapses the front of the building, trapping them. So, for the whole episode, he's stuck inside in the deli with the female shop owner (played by Margaret Cho) and John keeps speaking Japanese to the Korean woman! Hilarious.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I was thinking of the episode where at the end the prostitute he hangs out with was doing phone sex with one of her clients and then had like a nail fan cos she was doing her nails and she told her phone client it was a vibrator and pretended to have an orgasm and then Laroquette went MEEP and that was like the whole show??? I remember nothing else about this show besides this, it aired like right after I found out what vibrators were, I think, and it stuck.

― Allyzay Dallas Multi-Pass (allyzay), Friday, 4 February 2005 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

you guys have great minds for detail. all I remember about that show was that it was the shit. like ned and stacy.

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Friday, 4 February 2005 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

DUDE NED'S UP FOR AN OSCAR NOW WHO IS SHIT???????

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 4 February 2005 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i once saw a movie w/a friend and her dad and her dad did EXACTLY what andy describes in the first post to this thread. i was embarrassed but couldn't say anything to my friend, obviously. i find this really fucking annoying. it's one reason i'm hesitant to even start speaking french around french people, unless it's clear that they don't speak english or actually want to speak french for some reason.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

But I'm not going to make any assumptions about the other's command of English until it's clear that Spanish would be easier for both of us.

i think this just about nails it.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

also when people speak a language but make little effort to pronounce it correctly (or pronounce everything in that exaggerated NPR announcer manner that hstencil refers to), it really grates on my ears. i find that sometimes people are selfconscious about trying to pronounce things correctly, perhaps for fear of tripping up or sounding like aforementioned NPR announcer. so i'm sympathetic. but it still grates on my ears.

i actually don't think i speak french very well, but i have a good accent. so maybe i'm just being a snob about people who have the reverse problem.

anyway this is "relevant" because my friend's dad speaks spanish but in a totally unconvincing midwestern, somewhat nasal affect. ouch. (he's a really nice guy btw. he just has a few habits that bother me.)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, is andy-on-this-thread me? because i could have written everything he's written, including the women's-studies-majors-just-returned-from-guatemala part.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

...that exaggerated NPR announcer manner that hstencil refers to...

i was more referring to la mega.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

unless there's a mexican npr, which there could be.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

also this reminds me when some white guy in an office will conspicuously give high-faves to or adopt a slightly more "casual" tone when speaking to a black co-worker, no matter how that black coworker speaks or comports himself.

xxxpost

but hstencil what about carlos hernandez gomez?????

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

(who actually is latino, and never lets you forget it.)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know who he is.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

dude, I've been thinking about Carlos Hernandez Gomez throughout this entire thread... I guess he has, you know, an excuse though..

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:27 (twenty-one years ago)

he's a local reporter for NPR who does the whole "prouncing spanish words in italics" things you mentioned earlier.

anyway, to be more sympathetic, i think all these phemonena are basically symptoms of a probably healthy anxiety that a lot of people in this country have about ethnicity and class.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:30 (twenty-one years ago)

anyway back to andy's original scenario, i think it would be acceptable to do this--just ONCE-- in, say, an armenian or, um, say, a kazakhstani restaurant, because the sheer novelty factor would probably blow everyone's minds in a happy way.

but, as ally pointed out, 99.99% of the world speaks spanish anyway (slight exaggeration i know), so doing this as a means of showing off is pretty silly.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG Carlos Hernandez Gomez! I have learned from people I know that have worked at WBEZ: (1) He is never without his porkpie hat. (2) When my friend met him, he talked to her boobs most of the time.

As for his pronunciation, the hilarious thing is that he has no trace of a Hispanic accent at all until he gets to a Spanish word or name (which is often only when he's signing off: "And I'm CARLOS HERNÁNDEZ GÓMEZ for WBEZ in Chicago.")

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

YES

(i have heard reports that he is a very nice guy. which i totally would believe. that doesn't keep me from making fun of the way he speaks on the air.)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

if that was my name, i would say it all fancy too.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Friday, 4 February 2005 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

actually this woman has the best name ever:

http://kzy.com/diva/img/fernandez0.jpg

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

(Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

ah si, Senor Amateurist, ¿ella era buena en "Diva", no?

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 4 February 2005 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Si, ella encantaba.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

People used to speak English to me in Barcelona, it was a major contribution to my dislike of the place.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Friday, 4 February 2005 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Why?

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

dear miss manners,

sometimes i like to use the "hollywood mexican" accent (when speaking in english) (e.g. carlos robante in "rio bravo"). is this socially acceptable?

thank you,

amateurist

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 February 2005 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

People used to speak English to me in Barcelona, it was a major contribution to my dislike of the place. Better than them speaking only Catalan to you.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Unless, of course, that was the purpose of your visit.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 February 2005 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

man everytime i see a russian inlondon i anna start talking to them but obv. dont for reasons that amateurist gave. i just want the practice, learning and reading a language is not reallty anything like speaking it. i am so waiting for the day some russian tourists need directions or something and obviously dont speak english. but that will never happen so i'll just keep schtum

― ambrose (ambrose), Saturday, 5 February 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

haha

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

My Norwegian is going to waste!

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

A friend of mine nearly got in a fight because of this last year! He was speaking Spanish to the guy at the bagel shop, in an admittedly kinda lame way, but then he was obviously super-drunk, and the guy at the shop seemed to find it amusing. But some other guy in line got uppity about it, and for some reason decided he had the spare time to stand around for like 20 minutes at 4 in the morning pressing his argument to (a) a laughing drunk guy and (b) two not-as-drunk guys who were like "yeah, dude, we all know it's dumb, you're right, just go home." I don't know if he wanted a written apology or what, but he just would not let it go.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

(In fact I think what the friend was saying to the guy at the bagel shop was something like "I will now order in bad Spanish because I am very drunk!")

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

Besides, I always use the bagel shop to practice my Yiddish!

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

I always order in Amharic at Ethiopian restaurants -- which, umm, you can't not order in Amharic, it's just that I pronounce things vaguely right -- and then I finish and they ask me clarifying questions in Amharic that I don't know how to answer. I need to start every order like "I do not speak Amharic but I would like the kitfo and an order of siga wat."

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

that is actually a verbatim quote from AdamRL!!!

Unnecessary.

Also the misrepresentation of Berkeley on this thread irks me.

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Also

I want a burrito!

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

I love a little ass, myself.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

MO BAY MONG!

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:05 (twenty years ago)

haha been speaking some totally unnecessary spanish on slsk today

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 15 April 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

jajajajaja

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:06 (fifteen years ago)

bo 7 mon

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:08 (fifteen years ago)

lol

― is breads of india still tite (admrl), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:12 (fifteen years ago)

Hablando espanol cuando sin necesario.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:13 (fifteen years ago)

― is breads of india still tite (admrl), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:14 (fifteen years ago)

"pip pip!"

― is breads of india still tite (admrl), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:14 (fifteen years ago)

RIP Carlos Hernandez Gomez.

― jaymc, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:15 (fifteen years ago)

speaking in a comedy british accent on IM when it's absolutely required = c/d

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 23:16 (fifteen years ago)

eight years pass...

Carnival barker at the fair, harassing the passerby.

Four young Hispanic men walking down the midway. Barker switches from FIRST ONE WINS A PRIZE! and ONLY FIVE DOLLARS! to ¡GRANDE PELUCHE!

I hear one of the guys say to the other, "What the fuck is he talking about?"

But to my ears, I'm shocked a little first because instead of hearing him bark about a big stuffed prize, I thought he was shouting the phrase that's closer to the semi-vulgar term this Sopranos character was named after:

https://i.imgur.com/J2Z4w7T.jpg

― pplains, Monday, 22 October 2018 15:12 (seven years ago)

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