Mr Grumpy

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By Mr Grumpy - Thu 31st Jan 2013

 

It is some years since I last worked in a predominantly Spanish office, and with native Spanish colleagues, however there are some things you never forget.

Most of us knowingly admit that the majority of us Brits are repressed, socially and emotionally and it was working in such an office environment that really underlined the differences between the British and Spanish personas for me.

The Spanish majority meant that we Brits acquiesced to the preference for a Spanish speaking radio station, which basically meant that 90% of the Music was English-speaking anyway, but the pointless Gobbledegook between the tracks was all in Spanish. No great loss there then.

And the music played by such commercial radio stations always seemed to be stuck in the 1980's : The '90's simply never happened - U2 and Bon Jovi were usually as current as things got.

Whenever a popular ‘Toon’ might come on the radio there may be a little foot-tapping from the Brits, maybe the occasional hum or whistle, however, the Spaniards contributed with what I like to call "Spanioke".

Kind of like Karaoke, but instead having a gaggle of non-English speaking Spaniards making the words up to a popular English pop song as they go along.

And groups of 5 or 6 of them would all do this with total abandon, and embracing the whole "I don't give a shit" about getting all the words totally wrong thing, that us Brits just can't do.

And whilst I obviously took this opportunity to mock them, a big part of me begrudgingly admired their total abandon and lack of repression.

And maybe, just maybe, this lack of "giving a shit" is what makes it seemingly easier for the Spanish to learn the English language than vice-versa ?

Anyway, enough Psycho-babble for now - I'm off to download the ‘Macarena’ from Youtube. If I can’t learn the words I can at least give the Dance my best shot.