cultureta [n, m/f; ironic, disparaging] – culture vulture, a culture snob, nerd, arty farty type
Do you love Spanish and Latin American films, like I do? Does that make us nerds or culture snobs, do you think?
The other week, Alejandro (my hub) and I went to see a film at our favourite little local cinema. We arrived a bit early and there were a bunch of people milling around in the lobby.
Alejandro said to me in an undertone, “Tiene que ser en esta sala, por la pinta de culturetas que tiene la peña.” [It has to be in this room, judging by the look of the nerds in this crowd.]
He likes to call a spade a spade, my husband. (No tiene pelos en la lengua, mi marido.) I stopped making apologies for it years ago.
The film we saw was Argentina, 1985, and both Alejandro and I really loved it. It’s a difficult subject (the true story of the civilian justice system taking on the leaders of the dictatorship), dealt with in a light, sometimes funny and yet respectful way.
We were a bit gutted to find out afterwards that it’s already available on Amazon Prime here in Spain!
I’m not a film nerd. I don’t know a lot about cinema. (Alejandro is slowly educating me and our boys in his favourite all-time classics). But I do love Spanish and Latin American films, and I much prefer small, local cinemas over the big, soulless chains. And I will never, ever, ever, go to see a film that has been dubbed in another language. (Versión original o no lo veo.) Perhaps I am a bit of a cultureta after all.
PS – We went to see a Spanish film the following weekend too. The Galician film As Bestas. I enjoyed it, although it was a bit heavy-going and about half an hour too long for my liking. La última media hora sobraba, a mi juicio. [The last half hour was superfluous in my opinion.] Alejandro loved it. I think we’ve found our cultureta litmus test, folks.
Have you seen As Bestas? Did you like it? 😉
Vocab
to mill around – pulular, merodear
lobby – vestíbulo, “hall“
judging by the look of – por la pinta que tiene
nerd, culture snob – cultureta
crowd, this bunch, this lot – la peña [colloquial]
to call a spade a spade – no tener pelos en la lengua
take on – enfrentarse a
dealt with in a light, sometimes funny and yet respectful way – tratado de manera ligera, a veces graciosa y sin embargo respetuosa
gutted – decepcionado/a
nerd – un friki
soulless – sin alma, desalmado
never ever ever – nunca jamás; jamás de los jamases
a dubbed film – una peli doblada
original language version or I’m not watching it – versión original o no lo veo
the film was a bit heavy-going – la peli se me hizo pesada
it was about half an hour too long in my opinion – la última media hora sobraba a mi juicio
litmus test [figurative] – la prueba de fuego, prueba del algodón, la prueba definitiva
litmus paper/test [literal] – papel/prueba de tornasol
folks [colloquial] – gente
Photo credit: Image by Dariusz Sankowski on Pixabay
My Little Spanish Notebook 