My New Conversation Partner 2

I wanted to write down some of the things that Mario and I talked about, partly, because I want to see how much I understood (even though it was in English), and partly because I want to remember what he told me. I also think it will be interesting for you, my readers (whoever the hell you are).

One of the things I asked him about was "conchetta". We had been talking about the Italian influence in Buenos Aires, and he was talking about how they use a lot of Italian words and expressions. For example, he said when they pick up something heavy they say, "ecco", which means "here" in Italian. It is a totally different use of the word, but it comes from Italian. I thought it would be a good time to ask about conchetta because I think Conchetta is an Italian woman's name - I think I knew a Conchetta Maria something or other.

At first he didn't know if we were talking about the same word. But then the explanation got really interesting. My understanding of "conchetta" is that it is a woman who lives here in the Recoleta, has blonde hair and wears fur despite the temperature. What Mario explained is that there is conchetto (for men), and conchetta (for women), and then there is cheto (m) and cheta (f).

He said the word means snob. But the difference is that cheto and cheta are snobs but also are real, meaning they are very rich. He said something like, "soy cheto y que?" - like, I'm a snob and so what? - I took it as meaning people acknowledge their class position and make no apologies. Conchetto/a on the other hand are people who are pretending to be rich but may not really have the means to live up to their outward appearances. I guessed that maybe it referred to the nouveau riche. It seems a bit derogatory. What was really interesting is when he started explaining that there is cheto and then there is negro. Negro, meaning black, does not necessarily mean black in the way we understand it in the US, but does refer to people who are of color, and not white. But he said it is also not only about color. It is about class as well, and refers to poor people, like those who live in the "villas misera" - the shantytowns that line the outskirts of Buenos Aires - this is where the cartoneros come from every night.

He said that "los negros" and "los chetos" have different ways of dressing, different ways of speaking, and most interestingly, different styles of music that they listen to. Cheto music is electronic, and negro music is cumbia, but an Argentine style of cumbia that talks about life in the villas (villa here refers to a shantytown and is an ironic use of the word), lots of drugs and alcohol and degrades women (kind of like some rap or hip hop). I said I would be interested in hearing some cumbia and he said he'd send me some links to music.

Another interesting topic was politics. Mario explained to me first of all how Argentines really are snobs when it comes to their neighbors. This is kind of a reputation that they have among other latinos - there is an expression that Argentines are Italians who speak Spanish and think they are Brits living in Paris. I think it's kind of a cute expression now because it actually does really well in summing up the potpourri that makes up Buenos Aires and its people. But Mario told me that they hate Chileans and there has always been a rivalry between them, which was made worse when Chile sided with Britian during the Malvinas (Falklands) war. I know they don't like Brazilians or Uruguayans, which I thought was mostly due to soccer rivalries, but there may be something more there, and he told me they don't like Paraguayans either. He said everyone else is ok except Mexico. He also said that they don't like the British, partly because of the Malvinas (Falklands) and partly because of the World Cup Game where Argentina beat England. Maradonna was playing in that game and he scored the winning goal. But it seems he may have used his hand and touched the ball, but the referees didn't see it. It was referred to as the "hand of God". I have heard that expression about that goal but didn't realize it was a literal hand. So everyone knows he cheated, but Argentines were so happy that they won that they didn't care. The Brits on the other hand are not forgiving. It's a funny story and I want to find out more about it.

I asked him what people thought about the US and he said the US is kind of irrelevant to Argentines (that is nice to hear). He said about 10 years ago if you asked people where they wanted to live, they would say the US, but now no one really wants to go there because the economy is failing and they can't understand how Americans could tolerate their government and not do anything about it. Also, it is nearly impossible to get a visa these days. He did add however, that many people understand that the US media is manipulating people and they are not getting the full story of what is happening and what our government is doing, so we are kind of powerless. He contrasted that to here where even though people have a lot of national pride they are very critical of their government. When Cristina tried to raise farm taxes and the farmers protested by shutting down the roads and highways, most people were at first against the farmers because they thought they already made enough money. The country was gridlocked, and people had a really hard time getting around, supermarket shelves were empty and prices of food shot up. Eventually, people started to side with the farmers because they did not believe Cristina's promises that she was going to use the extra tax revenue to benefit everyone. They thought she would just pocket the money herself (as has always been the practice). Her promise to build a high speed train was met with a lot of suspicion and people thought that no one would be able to afford to ride the train other than the rich, so they didn't need it. Eventually through popular support of the farmers, she had to back down. Unfortunately, supermarket prices have remained high. Cristina says that since people did not support her she had to cancel farm subsidies because she had to get the money from somewhere. When I asked Mario about the role of the media in all of this, he said the media sensationalizes things, but they are by no means a mouthpiece of the government (like Fox, CNN, MSNBC in the states). He said most people will watch the news to get information and then make a decision on their own based on the news and what their neighbor told them.

I got the impression that people are much more politically aware here than they are in the US. With 30% of the American people still thinking that Obama is a Muslim, there has to be something missing in people's political awareness. Here was a 20 year old university student who could explain the complexities of the current political crisis better than I could have explained anything about our crazy government. I was quite impressed.

I am really excited about this conversation exchange. Not only is it going to be good for my Spanish, but I think I am going to learn a lot about Argentina, which is always a fascinating subject for me.