PIROPOS - VERBAL COMPLIMENTS

Pilar en su blog ha tocado un tema que me llega al alma--los piropos. Cuando llegué a España a los 20 años, una de las cosas que más me llamaron la atención fueron los piropos. En Canada, estaba acostumbrada al típico silbido (ya los conocereis por las pelis) y nada mas. Excepto el zapatero italiano, Carmen Pantaleone, que cada vez que volvía del colegio con mi uniforme, y tenía que pasar forzosamente delante de su zapatería, salía y me gritaba "¡Bela, bela!" (era un exagerado...). Como iba diciendo, al llegar a Madrid, me encantaron los piropos. Los encontraba originales y salados (como yo más bien tenía "tipín" y no era demasiado exhuberante no atraía piropos soeces, más bien graciosos, tipo: "¡Morena, te haría madre de mis hijos!"). De hecho solía pasearme por la Gran Vía sólo para oirlos. Hubo uno que me hizo mucha gracia aunque era un poco guarrete pero mas bien por la puesta en escena: Un joven viene corriendo, se arrodilla delante mio y me suelta: "¡Morena, de ti me comía hasta los mocos!" Otro dia que llevaba una falda negra y un top ceñidito amarillo casi paro el tráfico. Desde no sé cuántos coches me gritaban: "¡Canaria, canaria!" Y lo de "mmm....qué rica" era otro muy recurrido. Un dia iendo con mi madre, no sé cuántos decían: "La madre con Dios y la hija conmigo" mi madre me agarraba del brazo y me advertía: "No hagas caso...". En fin, el último que me hizo mucha ilusión fue en Ibiza. Tenía 51 años. Sentados en el Montesol había unos cuatro treintañeros andaluces, guapos, con clase. Delante de la terraza pasaban jovenes extranjeras muy "fashion", con el ombligo al aire, muy guapas. No decían nada. Cuando pasé yo vestida con un vestido largo muy "ad-lib" (moda ibicenca) me dijeron: "¡Qué mujer más hermosa y debe ser española!" Me di la vuelta (no les di un beso de milagro) y les dije: "¡Gracias!" Qué simpáticos, me alegraron el dia.

Pilar in her blog has touched a subject which I'm very fond of, the typical Spanish verbal compliments that men say to women. When I arrived in Spain, I was twenty-years-old. I wasn't used to these verbal compliments because in Canada, the maximum compliment I used to get was the typical wolf's whistle except for the Italian shoe-maker, Carmen Pantaleone, who, everytime I forcefully had to pass his shoe-shop when I came back from school in my uniform, would come out of his shop and scream: "Bela, bela!" (beautiful, beautiful) (he was soooo exaggerated...). As I was saying, when I arrived in Madrid, I used lo love hearing these verbal compliments. I found them original and fun. Since I wasn't a "bombshell", I had a cute little figure, I didn't really attract dirty compliments. They were more the type: "Brunette, I'd love you to be the mother of my children!". As a matter of fact, I liked them so much that one of my passtimes was walking up and down the Gran Vía just to hear them. One that I remember (although it's a bit "yucky") most of all because of the mise-en-scene was: a young man comes running towards me, kneels down in front of me, and says: "Brunette, I would eat all of you even your mucus!" One day that I was wearing a black skirt and a tight yellow top, I almost stopped the traffic! I don't know from how many cars, they shouted: "Canary, canary!" (meaning from the Canary Islands). However, the most common was: "Mmm, how sweet..." One day walking with my mother, I don't know HOW many said: "The mother with God and the daughter with me!". My mother would grab my arm and say: "Don't pay any attention...". Anyway, the last one that I enjoyed very much was in Ibiza. I was fifty-one. In the terrace of the "Montesol" there were four Andalusian very good-looking and classy young men (they must have been in their thirties). Many foreign, beautiful young women passed by, very "fashion" with their naked bellybuttons. They didn't say anything. When I went by with my long "Ad-Lib" (Ibizan fashion) dress, they shouted: "What a gracious woman and she must be Spanish!" I turned around (actually, I wanted to kiss them) and said: "Thank you!" They were so nice. They made my day!