Basque excessiveness

Basques are like any other of the world people, excessive in one way or another. I have been observing this wonderfully unique culture for the past six months and I still can't believe my eyes (and ears) at times.

First and foremost, Basque people swear too much. I knew that Spanish people swore an unnecessary amount, but I thought that it was more the youth. My host mother would swear, but she only used the typical filler word, joder (fuck). Needless to say, I was blown away when one of my students used "no me jodas" (don't fuck with me) and "gillipollas" (asshole, bastard, etc) in the same sentence. Confused, I punished the student and he was a bit taken back. Later, speaking with my teachers, they say swearwords are more or less terms of endearment. I most recently saw a bestseller in a bookstore in Basque titled Fucking Artists.

The second thing that gets me is there constant and unnecessary abuse of beer. In Spain, the more foam, the better the pour. In Wisconsin, this would be considered a terrible pour and you'd have to wait a couple minutes for it to go down. Unfortunately, I have yet to learn "tilt the glass when you pour" so that I may explain my reasoning reaching over the bar to pour my own glass. Last weekend I watched a bartender pour a glass, level off the foam overflow with a metal rod, pour more, level it off again. He repeated this sequence two more times before giving me my beer with an inch of foam in the glass.

The last thing is how the Basque excessively baby their children. I've seen 5 year old children still riding in their strollers. I want to stop the stroller and ask the person what they're thinking. Not to mention I've never seen children as well dressed as they are in the Basque country. They have nicer clothes than I have.


Spanish Beginners
Encantado (in-con-ta-doh)--Enchanted; Nice to meet you (usually used after you meet someone)

Spanish Advanced
Al Azar--at random

Basque
Gela (Gay-lah)--Room

British English
Full Stop--what they say for the punctuation mark known most as the period.