All Spaniards, we discovered, knew two English expressions. One was 'O.K., baby', the other was a word used by the Barcelona whores in their dealings with English sailors, and I am afraid the compositors would not print it.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Orwell notes that among Spaniards, only crude or commercial English phrases were commonly known, highlighting cultural gaps.
- In plain terms
- Spaniards knew very little English, mostly slang and crude terms used by workers with foreigners.
- What can you take from it?
- Cultural exchange is often limited to transactional or superficial language.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does language reflect power dynamics?
- What gets lost in translation?
Another view
The quote relies on generalization about a whole nationality based on limited observation.
More from George Orwell
I have no particular love for the idealised 'worker' as he appears in the bourgeois Communist's mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in confli…
Permalink to quote #64 The fat Russian agent was cornering all the foreign refugees in turn and explaining plausibly that this whole affair was an Anarchist plot. I watched him with …
Permalink to quote #66 My story ends here. It is a fairly trivial story, and I can only hope that it has been interesting in the same way as a trivial diary is interesting. ... At pr…
Permalink to quote #63
Related quotes
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, E…
James NicollJames Nicoll quote #1 Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone.
Hilaire BellocHilaire Belloc quote #41 I knew she wasn't English For she spoke it far too well The grammar was goodly and the verbs as they should be Her slang was bang on the bell But as the langua…
Peter DohertyPeter Doherty quote #51