Something Typical

[Escriba]

At least she has the consolation that her father died in the most weird and embarrasing way.

I'm sorry, but you think you can leave it at that????

Ehhh... well... As it seems, her father (my great-grandfather) was on a tree and he fell, with so bad luck that he fell on a branch, which put in (or introduced into) his anus and he bled to death.

Yeah, ouch...

It's very likely that the Santurce in Puerto Rico was named for the Santurce in Spain. Puerto Rico was a former colony of Spain (as you know ) and many of the place names are named for existing places in Spain when Columbus and the other Spanish 'explorers' settled the island.

Oh, yes, yes, I understand that. But I can belive somebody named it "Santurce". Madrid, Guadalajara, Santander... even Bilbao. But Santurce... I bet it was something like this:

"EXPLORER" 1: How can we name it?
"EXPLORER" 2: (joking) Why not "Santurce"?
"EXPLORER" 1: You don't have balls to call it "Santurce".
"EXPLORER" 2: What? Of course I have!
"EXPLORER" 1: I bet you a beer that you won't call it Santurce.
"EXPLORER" 2: Bet accepted.

Because everybody knows that the best way to force a Basque to do something is making a bet with him/her. We can't resist a bet.

As I understand it from various Caribbean and Spanish History courses I've taken a majority of the sailors that sailed with Columbus and the other Spanish explorers to the island colonies were from a region in the southern part of Spain that were considered outcasts and degenerates and the Spanish they spoke did not have the characteristic Spanish lisp you hear amongst Spaniards.

In the first trip, yes, they were. Later the "conquistadores" were from all the places in Spain and not just criminal (you know, there was a continent, it wasn't a suicidal mission anymore.)

Escriba are you Basque or Spanish? I know that Basque is nothing and sounds NOTHING at all like Spanish. In fact the differences are quite remarkable, I was quite shocked when I first heard it spoken in a Basque soap opera several years ago.

That's quite a political question But you can say I'm the two things, Basque and Spanish. I know the two languages, at least. And yes, Basque and Spanish doesn't look anything alike.

You watched a Basque soap opera? How come? I only know one (my grandma's favorite: "Goenkale".)

[Alelou]

Ehhh... well... As it seems, her father (my great-grandfather) was on a tree and he fell, with so bad luck that he fell on a branch, which put in (or introduced into) his anus and he bled to death.

Oh man, that's like the universe really has it in for you.

[Asso]

Ehhh... well... As it seems, her father (my great-grandfather) was on a tree and he fell, with so bad luck that he fell on a branch, which put in (or introduced into) his anus and he bled to death.

I shiver!

[leslina]

Oh, yes, yes, I understand that. But I can belive somebody named it "Santurce". Madrid, Guadalajara, Santander... even Bilbao. But Santurce... I bet it was something like this:

"EXPLORER" 1: How can we name it?
"EXPLORER" 2: (joking) Why not "Santurce"?
"EXPLORER" 1: You don't have balls to call it "Santurce".
"EXPLORER" 2: What? Of course I have!
"EXPLORER" 1: I bet you a beer that you won't call it Santurce.
"EXPLORER" 2: Bet accepted.

Because everybody knows that the best way to force a Basque to do something is making a bet with him/her. We can't resist a bet.

I wonder how many more districts and barrios in San Juan are named for places in raunchy Spanish songs?

As I understand it from various Caribbean and Spanish History courses I've taken a majority of the sailors that sailed with Columbus and the other Spanish explorers to the island colonies were from a region in the southern part of Spain that were considered outcasts and degenerates and the Spanish they spoke did not have the characteristic Spanish lisp you hear amongst Spaniards.

In the first trip, yes, they were. Later the "conquistadores" were from all the places in Spain and not just criminal (you know, there was a continent, it wasn't a suicidal mission anymore.)

::nod:: Indeed. That explains my uppity paternal relatives who feel that their fair hair and eyes make 'em above everyone else. My maternal relatives are of the fairer persuasion as well and had a bit of land and property and weren't nauseating assholes about it.

The inheritance scandal was a whole separate issue. But that's more the fault of my grand aunts and uncles and not my great grandparents. My great grandfather had something like 10 or 13 children from three or four "wives". My grandfather was one of his eldest children from his first wife and for a rather Casanova type of person, my great grandfather was generous with all his children and before he died he divided his land and property amongst all of them.

However, my grandfather was a drunk, and there were times when he would disappear on a bend. When his father died he wasn't anywhere to be found, but instead of passing his part of his inheritance to my grandmother and their children, my grand aunts and uncles kept it all for themselves. My mother's family never received anything. Not a penny, acre of land, let alone a trinket. My grandmother, being the quiet and forgiving person that she was never made an issue of it and my mother claims to have forgiven them a long time ago, but when I hear the story and other events surrounding it, it pisses me off. Especially since one of my grand aunts lives not ten miles from where I do in a big fancy house she bought with a large portion of that inheritance. I'm not nearly as forgiving a person as my grandmother or mother. Whenever there's a family function or gathering or my grand aunt invites us to her house I make an excuse not to go. I just can't bite my tongue and nod and smile like my mother does. It makes me crazy.

Escriba are you Basque or Spanish? I know that Basque is nothing and sounds NOTHING at all like Spanish. In fact the differences are quite remarkable, I was quite shocked when I first heard it spoken in a Basque soap opera several years ago.

That's quite a political question But you can say I'm the two things, Basque and Spanish. I know the two languages, at least. And yes, Basque and Spanish doesn't look anything alike.

I know, and I was trying to figure out a way to ask without being offensive or political! But after watching that Basque soap opera I had a better understanding of the separatist perspective and how different the two cultures are. Not to compare the two, but it does share some similarities with the Independistas in Puerto Rico, who were extremely political and radical in the 40's and 50's. Idealistically I would love to see an independent Puerto Rico, but I fear for the economic and social ramifications. Things on the island are HARD enough, and that's with American aid. So, I'm a conformist and would rather things remain as is or statehood.

You watched a Basque soap opera? How come? I only know one (my grandma's favorite: "Goenkale".)

Oh yeah, in college. The university TV station/channel would run all sorts of international programming throughout the day. I was up in the student lounge late one night and the TV was on and they were playing what looked like a daytime drama, but I couldn't make out the language the actors were speaking until the programs station symbol flashed and it said " something something BASQUE". That gave it away.

[Escriba]

I can understand why you are angry with that side of your family, leslina. I always remember one of my Civil Law teacher's words: "Don't trust anybody and put everything in writing. Specially if you are dealing with family."

I wonder how many more districts and barrios in San Juan are named for places in raunchy Spanish songs?

Well, tell me some of their names and I'll calculate it

That's quite a political question But you can say I'm the two things, Basque and Spanish. I know the two languages, at least. And yes, Basque and Spanish doesn't look anything alike.

I know, and I was trying to figure out a way to ask without being offensive or political! But after watching that Basque soap opera I had a better understanding of the separatist perspective and how different the two cultures are. Not to compare the two, but it does share some similarities with the Independistas in Puerto Rico, who were extremely political and radical in the 40's and 50's. Idealistically I would love to see an independent Puerto Rico, but I fear for the economic and social ramifications. Things on the island are HARD enough, and that's with American aid. So, I'm a conformist and would rather things remain as is or statehood.

The real tragedy of our situation is that Spanish and Basques aren't different at all. Except our world famous lack of a sexual life, we are the same. Not even language makes a difference. We have some peculiarities, but not enough to say "oh, we're so different that we are almost foreigners to each other". I can understand Puerto Rico (in a idealistic way) wanting to be independent because it was a colony. But we've never been one. Basques were part of the Kingdom of Castilla since 1314 when we joined forces with it against the kingdom of Navarre. We have killed and conquered (and rounded the world for the first time) in the name of the Spanish empire. We had important administrative posts and military ranks because we were Basque, and because we were Basque we were automatically noble (hence we were high-ranking.) The (racist) idea of being different began in the XIX century, casually when the Basque Country began to being rich (and losing some of our privileges)...

That there is people who want to be independent because we're sooo cool? OK, people is free to express an opinion. But wanting to be independent based on lies. Oh, no, that no. Besides, it would be as disastrous for us as for Puerto Rico.

[Alelou]

Besides, it would be as disastrous for us as for Puerto Rico.

Good thing my husband isn't on these boards to read that. He's still an independentista at heart.

[leslina]

Besides, it would be as disastrous for us as for Puerto Rico.

Good thing my husband isn't on these boards to read that. He's still an independentista at heart.

Oh, I know. It's such an emotional issue for many of us. I know families that have been destroyed over it, but my main concern is the welfare of the people on the island and Independence would be tantamount to disaster.

[Alelou]

Besides, it would be as disastrous for us as for Puerto Rico.

Good thing my husband isn't on these boards to read that. He's still an independentista at heart.

Oh, I know. It's such an emotional issue for many of us. I know families that have been destroyed over it, but my main concern is the welfare of the people on the island and Independence would be tantamount to disaster.

Well, I won't start the arguments I know he would because I don't honestly know and it's not my fight -- or his, anymore, technically, though he would probably dispute that too.

Families do get tense on the subject. His mother once threw all his books that had red bindings, because she was convinced they must be Communist.

Of course, there are other tensions. One son married a Jehovah's Witness. The horror! And then Jaime went and married an Episcopalian -- without even getting an annulment from his ex!

[evcake]

What did Phlox say about soap operas? Sometime about them losing popularity when the Denobulans realized their own lives were much more interesting?

[leslina]

Well, I won't start the arguments I know he would because I don't honestly know and it's not my fight -- or his, anymore, technically, though he would probably dispute that too.

Families do get tense on the subject. His mother once threw all his books that had red bindings, because she was convinced they must be Communist.

Of course, there are other tensions. One son married a Jehovah's Witness. The horror! And then Jaime went and married an Episcopalian -- without even getting an annulment from his ex!

I can top that! I dated a Muslim and my brother married, then divorced a Mormon. We're not sure which started my mother's hair to gray.

[evcake]

My grandmother divorced her husband and then married his brother. Must have been an interesting if painful story, but nobody would tell it.

[leslina]

My grandmother divorced her husband and then married his brother. Must have been an interesting if painful story, but nobody would tell it.

Now that is the stuff of great novelas. I am the "product" of an affair, although I don't find that nearly as disturbing as the fact that my father's wife was a girl his parents 'adopted' when her parents died when she was fourteen.

[Alelou]

My grandfather married his stepsister ... they were teenagers when their parents married. I wish I knew more about that story, myself.

They were up to all the usual stuff, they just kept it more quiet in the old days.

[evcake]

Yeah...my real grandfather just sort of disappeared - no one spoke of him, though he live not very far away.

[Escriba]

Isn't it great all the things that families keep from telling us?

Not affairs or strange love/sex stories in my family (I bet this surprises you ), only political issues. Some of them are funny stories though (but that happens a lot to me; the "Basque conflict" should be a serious thing, but I have funny stories about it. It helps me to bear with it and see the absurd side, I suppose.)

The most weird story about marriage that I know is one of my my friend's grandmother, who was secretly married to my friend's grandfather (there is a "secret marriage" Register in our country.) I suppose it is because at that time there was a civil war and probably her grandfather was a political dissident (I was afraid to ask.)