culture

[opabinia]

Ah, shit. I can't remember the details. The gist of it is that in 1959, Pedro Juan Soto published a novel called Usmail, which dealt with socio-political problems in Vieques, an island off the coast of Fajardo, Puerto Rico. It was some sort of anti-imperialism thing: The protagonist, Usmail, is so named because his mother gave birth on the street, next to an American-made mailbox. Don't laugh, you insensitive assholes -- it's poignant.

Anyway, English continues to amuse Puerto Ricans, as it has since 1898. When Dad was in high school, he and his classmates would mirthfully sing:


Esta es una triste historia que en mi pueblo aconteció
Eran seis hermanos Jones cuando Queco se murió
Queco Jones murió del corazón
Se quedaron cinco Jones cuando Queco se murió.


At first, Mom reprimanded Dad for sharing this gem, but then she started singing along with us.

Comments

Ah yes

[deadwinter.livejournal.com]

We used to sing it to the tune of "Oh, Sussana".

Genius!

[apogeeperigee.livejournal.com]

Heh...heard that from my mom as a kid.

I recall when I was a youngin' how people here would laugh at the name "Jesus" and I would always find it really strange when someone would pronounce it, GEE-SUS.

[halo.livejournal.com]

heh. that took me a minute.

[sookyoja.livejournal.com]

what does it mean, for us non-spanish speakers?

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

"Jones," pronounced as if read in Spanish, sounds like the jones in cojones. The "Cin" in cinco is pronounced "seen," as is the word sin, which means "without."

"Queco Jones" sounds exactly like ¡Qué cojones!

There were six Jones brothers, and one (Queco) died of heart trouble, leaving the remaining five without testicles (sin cojones).

[panzerkunst.livejournal.com]

Now I'm trying to think of worse things to be named after than a mailbox.

[damiel.livejournal.com]

Ha!