Sunday, November 05, 2006
Mucus: The Universal Conversation Starter
When I was twelve, my mom and I lived in Swansea, Wales for a gloomy, windy six months. On our way back from one of our Saturday trips to Cardiff, my mom and I were approached by an old red nosed, white haired rather classic Welsh septagenarian. My mom had been fighting a fierce cough for what seemed like months and her affliction was not helped by the living conditions in our moldy, slug infested Edwardian flat or nor by the constant tromping through freezing rain storms. The gentleman opened the conversation with my mom, who was surely holding tightly to a gargantuan wad of kleenex, with a one-word conversation starter I will never forget, "Catarrh?"
I had never heard of this word, let alone opening a conversation with it. From the context clues, I divined that he meant "Are you drowning in your own mucus?" My mom held back her laughter, affirmed that she was suffering from the cattarh and the older gentleman proceeded to start on a tedious tale of how he bought two mismatched shoes for six pounds on the High Street and on and on.
Fastforward to present day: I live in Mexico City. Almost every week I have some new fungus or unexplained illness. Living in the most polluted city in the world has not been kind on my lungs or sinuses and I have been battling the kind of lungy cough that makes me long for a vacation in an iron lung.
One early morning this week on the way to work, my cough was particularly bad, but I was excited to have my daily Spanish conversation with my taxi driver. It seems that taxi drivers are the only humans in this country who put up with my unconjugated baby talk and seem genuinely interested when I say things like "There are lots of traffics today."
I hailed my rattle trap, green VW Beetle cab, got in, started fiercely coughing and fumbling for Kleenex and clutching my throat to sputter directions to the driver. Before I could mutter a word through my coughing and snorting, I heard the word "Catarro?" and was offered a Halls cough drop. Apparently this rare word for a snotty cold is not only a surprisingly easy cognate but a one-word conversation starter to be used world wide! Try it!
When I was twelve, my mom and I lived in Swansea, Wales for a gloomy, windy six months. On our way back from one of our Saturday trips to Cardiff, my mom and I were approached by an old red nosed, white haired rather classic Welsh septagenarian. My mom had been fighting a fierce cough for what seemed like months and her affliction was not helped by the living conditions in our moldy, slug infested Edwardian flat or nor by the constant tromping through freezing rain storms. The gentleman opened the conversation with my mom, who was surely holding tightly to a gargantuan wad of kleenex, with a one-word conversation starter I will never forget, "Catarrh?"
I had never heard of this word, let alone opening a conversation with it. From the context clues, I divined that he meant "Are you drowning in your own mucus?" My mom held back her laughter, affirmed that she was suffering from the cattarh and the older gentleman proceeded to start on a tedious tale of how he bought two mismatched shoes for six pounds on the High Street and on and on.
Fastforward to present day: I live in Mexico City. Almost every week I have some new fungus or unexplained illness. Living in the most polluted city in the world has not been kind on my lungs or sinuses and I have been battling the kind of lungy cough that makes me long for a vacation in an iron lung.
One early morning this week on the way to work, my cough was particularly bad, but I was excited to have my daily Spanish conversation with my taxi driver. It seems that taxi drivers are the only humans in this country who put up with my unconjugated baby talk and seem genuinely interested when I say things like "There are lots of traffics today."
I hailed my rattle trap, green VW Beetle cab, got in, started fiercely coughing and fumbling for Kleenex and clutching my throat to sputter directions to the driver. Before I could mutter a word through my coughing and snorting, I heard the word "Catarro?" and was offered a Halls cough drop. Apparently this rare word for a snotty cold is not only a surprisingly easy cognate but a one-word conversation starter to be used world wide! Try it!
# posted by mexitymaestra : 8:17 AM
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