January's gem -- Be nice, por favor
[Note: Today I start a series of the Best Tattler Tales of 2005, by month.]
I've often wished I could understand other languages, and totally eavesdrop on people talking about me or someone close to me.
In this Tattler Tale I witnessed someone who totally busted a Spanish couple for dissing her without knowing she spoke Spanish:
Be nice, por favor
Three or four teen-aged girls board the Red Line after school going north in the Loop. They stand by the door chatting. They're fairly normal-looking. You know, bare midrifts, spiky hairy in various shades of red, purple and blonde. Whatever.
A few feet away stand a Hispanic couple, maybe in their 30s or 40s. They woman is working the beads on the rosary around her neck, mouthing the various Hail Mary's and Our Fathers in Spanish.
She turns to her husband, and says in a normal tone of voice:
"Las putas a la puerta."
"(There are) whores at the door."
One girl in bright purple-red hair looked straight at her and said, "Gracias!"
She must be acing her Spanish class.
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