Que?

Cidu Bill on Jan 30th 2008

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Filed in Baldo, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Spanish, comic strips, comics, humor | 13 responses so far

13 Responses to “Que?”

  1. dd Jan 30th 2008 at 01:10 am 1

    I don’t know a bit of Spanish, but I’m hoping it’s an Arlo.

  2. arik1969 Jan 30th 2008 at 03:37 am 2

    This is the Babel Fish translation:

    watch that mamacita, that chulota and that pretty, I wanted it.

  3. furrykef Jan 30th 2008 at 04:10 am 3

    Well, I speak Spanish, but not very well (yet!)…

    To the best of my ability, it says, translating fairly literally:

    Look at that hot mama
    How beautiful and how pretty
    I would want/love her (they’re the same word in Spanish and I don’t know if they could be distinguished here)

    …but I’m really not the best person to ask about the precise connotations. Maybe the most idiomatic translation of the last sentence would be “I’d like to have her”, but I’m not really sure. But I do think there are supposed to be some sexual overtones in the song.

    There’s also a grammatical error. It should be “Miren *a* esa mamacita.” It’s an easy mistake to make and I could easily make it myself.

    - Kef

  4. Molly Jan 30th 2008 at 09:50 am 4

    “He’s from Barcelona.”

  5. Norm Jan 30th 2008 at 03:55 pm 5

    I’m guessing maybe the next line is a bit racy for his kids to hear and he remembered that at the last minute? Lokks like Baldo might even know the song.

  6. Frank Jan 30th 2008 at 07:44 pm 6

    Cuando uno quiere a una (When a man loves a woman)
    Y esta una no lo quiere, (but she doesn’t love him back)
    Es lo mismo como si un calvo (it’s like a bald man)
    En calle encuentre un peine. (finding a comb in the street)

    had to lift this from Wikipedia - it’s more than 40 years since my last Spanish class and time plays havoc with details. seemed to fit the strip.

  7. Brian Leahy Jan 30th 2008 at 10:39 pm 7

    I tried several online translators and Spanish dictionaries — none of them has “chulota”.

    There is “chulo/chula” - which means something like ‘cocky’ or ‘arrogant’. Perhaps chulota means something similar. I get a picture of a pretty but stuck-up latina, strutting along…

    I suspect that the JOKE here is unrelated to the lyrics shown; I’m betting it’s part of a song (perhaps one well known to many native Spanish speakers) that turns dirty in the verses to come.

    Sorta like if he’d started singing “There once was a man from Nantucket…”

  8. furrykef Jan 31st 2008 at 03:35 am 8

    “Chulota” is definitely a form of “chulo”, with the suffix -ote (changed to -ota to make it feminine). This suffix is something of an intensifier, but the exact connotations are difficult for an intermediate speaker like myself.

    - Kef

  9. Morris Keesan Jan 31st 2008 at 08:52 am 9

    I think the intended humor here is unrelated to the Spanish lyrics: I think the key is the word “remember” in the first panel, contrasted with the lack of memory in the third panel. Isn’t it just hilarious when we older folks have trouble remembering things?

  10. Wendy Jan 31st 2008 at 09:16 am 10

    Aha! I found it:

    According to the Chicano Glossary of Terms (http://www.tezcatlipoca.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=25) shows:

    Chula = Pretty
    Chulota = “Very Big Pretty”
    (by which I think they mean Very Pretty - the “ota” is an intensifier, as Kef says in #8)

  11. Sparkle Jan 31st 2008 at 04:45 pm 11

    Folks, this is simple. He was innocently trying to teach a young girl some Spanish with songs he remembered fondly, then midway realized songs from his youth were REALLY INAPPPROPRIATE to teach a little girl! It was just a funny, roll-your-eyes, “oops” moment. Don’t overthink everything…

  12. Susan T-O Jan 31st 2008 at 08:59 pm 12

    I got more of a chuckle from Molly’s comment than I did from the comic. Fawlty Towers ROCKS!

  13. Bobby Aug 16th 2008 at 12:53 am 13

    Right but it kind of only works if you know Spanish at all or are willing to go look it up. Sounds like the artist is intending this for people who know a bit of Spanish and a lot of people can’t be bothered.

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