25 things that a US citizen finds funny in Spain
 

I just came across this post on http://lacabezallena.com/social/made-in-spain/ (in Spanish), that tells about those things that an American (from the USA) living in Spain finds funny or weird about this country. Most of them I find to be true...following, a rough translation:

1. Everyone smokes (well, this is not true anymore...30% of the population is smoker, similar to the US)

2. There are bars everywhere (correct...but it´s true that bars in Spain are much more different to those in the US...here they are places where you socialize with friends and family (kids are often see inside) and you don´t really go there to drink

3. Social healthcare, you can go to the doctor or hospital anytime and you won´t get an invoice afterwards.

4. Alcohol is cheap (this is true...and also part of our culture)

5. There are red haired Spaniards (the writer believed they were just in Ireland)

6. No drier for clothes at home (mostly true, yes, we hang them outdoors)

7. Funny names...a Spanish tortilla has nothing to do with a tortilla the way we know it and El Corte Inglés is not English at all.

8. Everyone keeps his childhood friends (true)

9. There are many bus and taxi lanes. In the US we have special lanes for cars with more than two occupants.

10. There are way far more old people in the streets than in the US. Maybe because we keep them in residences?

11. There are many small shops. And no Wallmarts. And people that don´t know what Wallmart is.

12. Plane tickets are very cheap. And public transport is excellent

13. There are several official languages and people actually use them in their daily life.

14. Supermarket cashiers are sitting down!!

15. You pronounce the brand names in English in a totally different way. My ears hurt every time I hear how you say "Colgate" (and I´d add Wifi or Levi´s)

16. Each town has an official Virgin and a Saint (true...in the US there´s just one virgin Mary...here there are thousands!!)

17. “Joder” (our f***) is not as offensive as "f***" (see? Fodor´s don´t allow this language and in Spain it´s not that offensive.

18. You have many days off and festivities, in the US people work to the day they die!

19. In many places in Spain people stare at black persons (not true anymore, I believe)

20. Clothes are very cheap, Zara is a luxury brand in the US and you can find shoes for 5 eur at Primark.

21. I´ve never seen before a "banking book" before until I arrived in Spain.

22. Soccer is practically a religion for Spaniards.

23. Iberico hams hanging in bars...scary for me, you can see the hoof of the pig, too real for me.

24. Much more variety of meat cuts and seafood than in the US.

25. Where you come from is not important in Spain and people are more liberal in habits and customs... (maybe)

I´d add that nudity is not rare on TV programmes and that going topless on any beach and kids going naked is very normal.

There´s also a link to those things that a Spaniard finds funny about the USA, I may also translate it. I hope nobody find offense on this!!

Most of the examples cited above, are not funny any more either in the ha ha sense or by being odd.

The one that is still true is

15. You pronounce the brand names in English in a totally different way. My ears hurt every time I hear how you say "Colgate" (and I´d add Wifi or Levi´s)

No matter how many times we see "Ja, ja", the Spanish response for the online "ha, ha" we think it is funny. And the Spaniards never understand why we think it is funny, even after the explanation.


The American car Dodge is pronounced doe-Khay and Colgate is pronounced Cole-got-tay.

Yeah, pretty dated and a lot of it not unique to Spain. Wonder what the author made of British pubs.

Just about everything in that list is the same in France as well.

But what is a banking book?

"Banking book"?

Search tuned up this definition from investorwords.com:

"An accounting book that includes all securities that are not actively traded by the institution, that are meant to be held until they mature. These securities are accounted for in a different way than those in the trading book, which are traded on the market and valued by the performance of the market."

Doubt he meant that, lol, but wikipedia has this:

"A passbook or bankbook is a paper book used to record bank transactions on a deposit account."

I struggle to see what I said this got my input moderated. Ah well.

We Used to havé bankbooks when I was a kid in Belgium.
Mostly for saving accounts for kids. So we could see the history of our savings I suppose.
For kids born long ago.

Pronunciation in Belgium can be interesting too.
Q8 fuel stations are often called kew weet in the French way.

And in south france a guy opened a chain of fast food called 'mes couilles Mickey'. When asked why he said a chain was called 'ma queue Donald'.

Banking book is something that is being phased out (this year)
This is just one version as designs vary with each bank.
http://www.todocoleccion.net/documen...1980~x27094629
or this one
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KdZTAAYpCn...orro-banco.jpg
They allow the client of the bank to see what transactions have taken place. They can be updated at any time by a machine usually inside the bank. Some ATMs also allow the books to be printed.
The bank stills sends bits of paper to your home when a transactions has taken place and they can still send monthly statements. However it is said that a lot of banking is being undertaking electronically these days so the older generations are being left behind. We know a number of families who still have no internet or smart phones!

A lot of it's the same in Italy, too. And most of the things are relevant only for people who live in Spain.

Are plane tickets really very cheap in Spain? In Italy, trains are usually cheaper than planes for domestic journeys.

No Catholic would ever agree that there are thousands of Virgins. There are churches and shrines dedicated to different aspects of the Virgin Mary: Mary of Mercy, Mary the Sorrowful, Mary Immaculate, etc., but they're all the same Mary.

I think the banking book is the savings account book ("libretto bancario" in Italian.) In Italy, only people who don't know how to use a computer, or don't have one, still use a libretto. That's probably also true in Spain. They used to have savings account books in the US, too.

There are many differences in banking between the US and Europe (not just Spain).

There are no separate savings and checking accounts. In theory, all accounts earn interest, but in practice your fees may more than wipe out any earnings.

Payments are usually made by bank deposit to the payee's account; checks are hardly used at all.

Payments (either by check or deposit) are honored by the bank even if you have insufficient funds, but they'll charge you interest on the amount overdrawn.

If you tell a Spaniard that the Virgen of Rocío is the same as the Virgen del Pilar, they´ll never believe you. Many people wear in their wallets images or postcards of several virgins...

That's not a view countenanced by the church.

This is just nit-picking, but I thought clothes were very expensive in Spain. My friend's luggage was delayed, and she finally bought an outfit at El Corte Inglés. Black pants, a flowered T-shirt, and a flowered over-shirt to match. $265.

The same thing at Macy's would have been half the price.

We were really pleased with the fact that she could buy her diabetes medication without a prescription.

Hours for meals are much different than in the U.S. Especially for dinner. I saw a sign outside a McDonald's that said (translated) "In Spain, if you get home at 3:00 a.m., it's not from going out (to party), it's from going out to dinner."

The smoking thing: Maybe in general 30% of people in Spain smoke, but if you regionalized that, I think it would be a lot higher in the north,at least that was our experience.

Pronunciation: How about Avis? Our first trip to France, our host at the BandB couldn't figure out where we wanted to go- the TGV station.

Friends were ordering cabinets, and struggled to understand what color of stain is Walk Lef-that would be oak leaf of course.

There are a fair few differences between banks in the US and Spain but generally in the favour of Spain. I used to run a little bit of an international business and working with (most) US banks was a bit like stepping back in time, almost as bad as Portugal.

No, Peg, you are right. Clothes are, and have always been, very expensive in Spain.
This list is generally very dated. There aren't very many differences today, and that's the way Spaniards want it. They want to catch up to other Europeans, to be done with the Franco era. Once the Semana Santa parades, bullfighting, and flamenco are gone, there will be no reason to visit Spain ( just kidding).

Some changes:- the siesta is disappearing as are printed receipts in stores, including supermarkets.

I struggle to see what I said this got my input moderated. Ah well.>>

mmm- I'm wondering too, bilbo. the new mods must be very sensitive - I had a post of mine removed recently too and I know that I didn't say anything rude or use offensive language [well, no more than usual].

That list is just silly or to try to show how dumb Americans are (or maybe the author is a dumb American, who knows).

For example, the idea that "El Corte Ingles" is not English is just ignorant. I would hope anyone actually living in Spain would know all those words and get a clue. Same for the idea that the word tortilla means different things in different countries.

Some of the items are just not true, either. Many Americans keep friends their whole life, also, some of my best friends are from high school and some of them have had friends since grade school since they lived in the same town since then. We have bus lanes in the city where I live, also, as another example, and pretty good public transportation. And oh yes, through in the stereotype about Walmart and how all Americans supposedly think Wallmart (sic) is the only place to shop in the whole world and that it must be in every country in the world.

Also, the idea that an American thinks it is "funny" or "weird" to have a govt health insurance program. Most people are more intelligent and know health insurance varies a lot in countries other than the US.

You can buy shoes for $5 where I live, also, and believe me, Zara is not a luxury brand in the US. There is a Zara in the city I live in and no one thinks it is some luxury store. It is viewed the same as Target or H&M or cheap chains like that.

#20. Primark is in the US. I love their clothes and was happy to see them at a shopping mall 45 mins away from me and now there is another one 30 mins away from me in the opposite direction.

I know what a banking book is. It was taught to me in school but I've never used one. I now no longer get bank statements sent to my house, everything is done on line.

P.S. The friend with whom I went to Spain on one trip has been a friend for 67 years, when we were in high school together.

The only time I have ever been in a Walmart, I went because I had received a gift card to Walmart.

Yes, it´s obviously some thoughts of a guy from the US living in Spain and some of the odd things he found out while living here. Not a scientific study or anything!

<i> I used to run a little bit of an international business and working with (most) US banks was a bit like stepping back in time, almost as bad as Portugal. </i>

As someone who has an Italian personal bank account and a US personal bank account, I would say you don't need to run a business to find American banking antediluvian. With an Italian account, you can pay virtually everything online, but you can also deposit a birthday gift in your son's account; you can repay a friend by sending money to his account; in general any transfer of money for any reason can be done online without setting the recipient up as a valid recipient of your largess.

Any American who's ever tried to pay a deposit on a European rental using funds in an American bank account knows exactly what I mean.

When I had to rent an apartment in London, I spent an hour on the phone with my bank in the US to get it done. Then it took forever to arrive, and cost me an arm and a leg.

The next time I had to pay a deposit on a rental (in northern Ireland), I transferred the money to my Italian account (using Xoom rather than my bank's cumbersome and expensive procedure) and made the transfer online in 30 seconds. The fact that I had to exchange dollars to euros and then euros to pounds sterling was a minor inconvenience and expense with respect to what what would have been required to send it directly from my American bank.

It's money laundering legislation that keeps money from moving freely between the U.S. and Canada. In our business, we have many clients in the US, but we are unable to move money easily by transfer, so we are relegated to receiving payment by cheque from the US.

We then get penalized by one large US company because we won't (cannot) accept on-line transfers!?!

It's a bit crazy...especially for trading partners like US/Canada

I have an American bank account and a French bank account and, except for large transfers of money, which are rare for us, I withdraw money from my American bank account at an ATM and when I've got a tidy sum, deposit the cash in my French account. No fees on either side. It's a bit cumbersome, but it works better than anything else I've been able to figure out so far.

"I struggle to see what I said this got my input moderated. Ah well.>>

mmm- I'm wondering too, bilbo. the new mods must be very sensitive - I had a post of mine removed recently too and I know that I didn't say anything rude or use offensive language [well, no more than usual]."

The mods have been busy coping with the Korean spam, and some things have been deleted by mistake recently, including a whole thread by otherchelbi If you send a query to the editors, whatever it was will likely be reinstated.

Me, too, bilbo. Nothing offensive in the slightest, but it's happened to me recently, too.

St. Cirq, I also used to withdraw money from an ATM and deposit it in my Italian account, but now I prefer to use Xoom. I haven't used any of the other similar services, so I can't make a recommendation. They make money on the exchange rate, and also charge a small fee, but they're very quick and easy to use. It's worth the slight extra cost to me.

Xoom can't be used for commercial transfers, just for transfers to private individuals.

Not sure but bilboburgler's post may have been more suited to the Lounge if you get my drift :?

"
"No, Peg, you are right. Clothes are, and have always been, very expensive in Spain.
This list is generally very dated. There aren't very many differences today, and that's the way Spaniards want it. They want to catch up to other Europeans, to be done with the Franco era"

I visit Madrid every year and have no problem finding beautiful clothes and shoes in stores of Salamanca
district . Yes, they are as expensive ,but no more than what one would pay in Paris
or New York
for the same item.

And BTW, Franco died in 1975 ..

I'll look into it, bvlenci, but transfers from my U.S. credit union internationally only cost US$10 and take two business days. Mostly I am paying local contractors and businesses, though, so I'll check it out.

Interesting about the price of Spanish clothing. We were last there in Basque Country at the end of September and found some nice bargains.

Zara is not considered a luxury brand in the US.

I thought clothes in Spain were incredibly well priced at places like Zara and Massimo Dutti. I bought so much home from my last trip. Pants that cost me 29 euro at Zara would be $90 in NYC. I'd go to Spain just to shop for clothes, not to mention Loewe leather for splurges.

I doubt if I would go to Corte Ingles for clothes, but I'd look at the food department there.

only a little bit janisj :-)

The lounge. My Graal. Unreachable for common mortals.
Ahh.

What used to be funny, odd, strange was the tricornio patent leather hat worn by the Gurardia Civil, now only worn for ceremonial purposes, parades and the like. Luckily my husband picked one up in the Plaza Mayor in '02. Now used as part of a Halloween costume.

St. Cirq, I just use Xoom to transfer money from my US account to my Italian account. I wouldn't use it to pay individuals, because I'd have to pay the fee ($4.99) for each payment. Their exchange rate today is $0.91, while the official rate is $0.93, so that's how they make the bulk of their money.

Xoom has been bought by Paypal recently.