Argentinian Slang

Argie humour

Here's a clip I subtitiled myself from the argentinian comedy show "Peter Capusotto and his rock videos" in which the only actor in the show plays "Micky Vanilla: the nazi pop artist"
I'm sorry for the fast subtitles, it was my first time doing this.
Still, I hope you enjoy it!

The Official Photos

Victor Bugge has been the official photographer of the Argentian President since 1978.
He has, therefore, had the chance of capturing the most intriguing moments of the different governments. From militar dictators to elected presidents.

Not much has escaped from his sharp lens. The magic world of photography gives us the chance to see a million different things in the very same picture, and also show us the escense of a difficult country's politics from behind the scenes.

Here are some of his pictures for you. I hope you enjoy them.

•Trying to take a picture.

 • Walk in autumn after signing a peace treaty between president Alfonsín (right) and future President Menem (left) 

• President Alfonsín in his free time.

 •  Hard times for Alfonsin.

 •Death of former President Nestor Kirchner, husband of current president (by the coffin)

 • President Alfonsin talks to the masses

• Dictator Videla in the Pink House.

 • Cristina Kirchner wins 2007 elections.

César Milstein

César Milstein was an Argentine biochemist winner of a Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1984, in  the field of antibody research, and a great human example.

Quite apart from his own achievements, Milstein acted as a guide and inspiration to many in the antibody field as well as devoting himself to assisting science and scientists in less developed countries. It is also worth mentioning, that even though the Nobel Prize would have made him a wealthy man, Milstein did not patent his enormous discovery since he believed that it was mankind's intellectual property. According to his beliefs, his work did not have any economic interest, only scientific.

He was forced into exile by the militars by then in power, (as he explains with pain in the video at the bottom) and he claimed he'd return to Argentina the day this country proved stability. He could never return.

Milstein was born in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, in  a Jewish family. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry in the Medical School on kinetic studies with the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase.
In 1958, funded by the British Council, he joined the Biochemistry Department at the University of Cambridge to work for a PhD on the mechanism of metal activation of a specific enzyme.

The major part of Milstein's research career was devoted to studying the structure of antibodies and the mechanism by which antibody diversity is generated. It was as part of this quest that in 1975 he, together with Georges Köhler (a postdoctoral fellow in his laboratory), developed the hybridoma technique for the production of monoclonal antibodies—a discovery recognised by the award of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. This discovery led to an enormous expansion in the exploitation of antibodies in science and medicine.

Milstein died on 24 March 2002 in Cambridge, England at the age of 74 as a result of a heart condition from which he had suffered for many years.

In 2010, his own niece made  a film about her heroic uncle's life and named it after a quote by the Uruguyan writer Eduerdo Galeano who once said that we all have a little fire inside of us, and that if we want to, we can make that little fire burn inside more people. The film is then called "Un fueguito" (A little fire) in memory of Milstein's ideal of inspiring others to learn and passing his own reaserch to others in order to keep that little fire of scientific knowledge in others.



Here's the trailer of  "Un Fueguito":

Tango

Tango is a world wide known Argentinian dance.

It started in early 1900's in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, in the ghetto areas.


The reason why tango is a dance that implies a lot of physical contact and sexy costume, is because Tango started as a technique used by protitutes to attract clients.

Back in those days protitutes only worked in brothels, where there was usually a band playing.



Both protitutes and men would sit at tables so everyone could see everyone and choose who they wanted to be with.

That way they would ask eachother to dance and fix a price.



In those times, immigration in Argentina was at its peak, and so French, Italians and Spaniards mixed their musical styles all together and Tango started.


Throughout Tango's popular period, Argentina wellcomed over 7 times more immigrants than its original population.

The first Tango lyrics were only about the ecomomic crisis and poverty, as it was underground music that reflected the low class life.


With time, Tango grew bigger and the lyrics developed into everyday life issues.

But Tango could never talk about anything else than sad things.

Tango lyrics are often about someone's departure or death, or someone's heart being broken.


Buenos Aires hosts the International Anual Tango Championship in wich people from all over the world compite on both stages of the contest:

"Traditional tango" (Tango salón)

and "Acrobatic Tango" (Tango exibición)


Lots of places in Argentina offer free tango classes as not many argentinians seem to show much interest for this dance.

Food. Main courses

Asado

Argentinian food is basically meat. Most dishes include meats of all types.
 
The most typical argentinian dish is asado.
Asado is charcoal-grilled beef. This cooking style is what gives asado its particular and unique taste.
It's usually advertised as Parrila or Parrillada, wich includes other parts of the cow and chicken.
For a Parrillada to be lovely -as it's supposed to be- it has be well done, respecting the cooking times. So bare in mind this means a higher price than any normal dish.
 
Therefore a good advice would be not to go for a parrillada that's cheap only because you're not sure you'll like it.
 
If it's cheap, it's probably not going to be nice and you'll get a wrong idea of what parrillada is like.


Ñoquis

Ñoquis (pronounced nee-o-keys) are a type of pasta, despite not ben cooked the same way.

Ñoquis are made out of mashed potatoes and flour, cut into pieces and then boiled.
 
It is an argentinian tradition to have ñoquis for each 29th of each month, with a peso note under the plate, to bring prosperity to who's eating.

education

In Argentina education begins at the age of 3 with kindergarten. Until a few years ago this stage was optional.


Educational stages

3-6 years old: kindergarten


6-12: primary school


12-17: secondary school

There are various types of schools in Argentina.

Private schools:

Even though they get subventions from the Government, fees are paid to attend to these schools. They are all Catholic and in most cases bilingual. Some offer “double shift” (students attend morning and afternoon, unlike public schools) Also, students are required to dress in the specific school uniform when attending these sort of schools.






Public schools:

As they get subventions from the Government, they cannot charge students. Contributions are always required though, as money is always needed.

Religion is banned from public schools as it’s understood that in their condition of public no differences should be made with students of other religions nor should any religion be imposed to anyone.
Public schools students don’t wear a school uniform, but all students of public school are required to dress in the same white lab coat. This was a law created along with schools themselves in Argentina, so as to make everyone the same, regardless age, school, province, culture, or any other difference.

Public schools work in two or three shifts, but student only attend to one. This is, morning or afternoon, or night. Night shifts are only for overage people who couldn’t graduate.

Hence, public schools students only attend school for a maximum of 5 hours.

Dinning schools:

These sort of schools are settled in poor areas where the students main aim is to have a daily meal.


As the conditions are so extreme, the educational side is left aside a bit more, and teachers focus more in supporting and helping the students.

 
 
 
 
 
Universities:
 

 There are two types of Universities in Argentina: public ones and private ones.


Private Universities require all sorts of fees to enter, study, sit exams and graduate. But they guarantee organisation.

Public Universities are free of any charge whatsoever and let the student take his own decisions as when to sit exams, how often, whether to attend to class or not and so on.

However, just as the student provides no security to the University, neither does the University provide any kind of good organisation. By this, I refer to random strikes, random change in exam dates, and so on.

Whether you attend a private or a public University, none offer accommodation.

That Hug

An image can describe things better than a million words. And it’s precisely an image what made me write this. Or more like a series of images, that would make anyone’s heart stop for a minute, especially in this times when another World Cup is being held.

Together, this pictures constitute an incredible mix of historic witness, artistic work, and naked humanity, and this has won “El abrazo del alma” (as this series of photographs have been named) many awards. Roughly translated it means “The Hug from the Soul” and just yesterday it was their 32nd anniversary.

32 years ago, yesterday, Argentina won its first ever World Cup, in 1978. With a chaotic background of the most bloody military regime South America has ever seen; fear, ignorance, passion, anxiousness, and loads of other feelings only people who lived it can express, Argentina was achieving the national dream, a tiny little bit of fake fresh air our suffocated society needed to stay alive for a bit longer.

Here I leave you the impressive shots and hope you like them. Below, there’s the short story behind them.

25th June 1978. River Plate’s football stadium. Argentina has just become World Champion for the first time. Seconds after the referee calls the end of the match.

Tarantini, one of the Argentinean players lets himself fall on the pitch and starts crying. Fillol, the goalkeeper, goes up to him to share the same feeling and kneels next to him to put their arms around each other.

A young fan whom had been hiding for an hour before the end of the match, comes running towards them. He wants to share this glorious moment with his idols. They’ll never be so close to him again, and only God knows how long will it take for these circumstances to repeat themselves.

But he’s got no arms.

He himself recalls it: “I saw the players right there, so close to me…they held each other, so I had to stop. And right then the sleeves of my blazer went forward and rested on both their backs. That’s when Alfieri took the picture and it looks as if the three of us were holding”

Victor Nicolás Dell’Aquilla was 22 at that time, and he had lost his arms during his childhood after an accident with an electrical post.

Pictures by Ricardo Alfieri (Senior) for the classical Argentinean sports magazine “El Gráfico”.

Religion

The official religion in Argentina is Roman Apostolic Catholicism. The Constitution states that a non Roman Catholic person cannot be elected president.

(There have been cases of blatant candidates followers of other religions who have converted shortly before elections)

Nevertheless, the growing religions in Argentina are the other different branches of Christianism such as Mormons, 7th Day Church, and others.

There is a huge modern movement taking part in many countries in the world, with its headquarters in Brazil (where it originated) called “Stop Suffering”, but they’re commonly referred to as “the church of the Brazilian priests”.

They’re not based on anything different to Catholicism but their distinctive factors are that they include “white” magic as part of their teachings and that they sell products to people during mass. Part of Christ’s toe, holy water from Turin in a plastic bottle and other things, are in their catalogue for sure.

As incredible as it sounds, the “Stop Suffering” church is a non-stop growing phenomenon that owns TV and radio station all across the world, and builds the most luxurious “temples” with the latest technology and comfortable cinema seats for mass.

Still, the church can be very influential in Politics, and that’s the reason why abortion is not legal in any case in Argentina, and the “Day After” pill was only approved recently. Also, judges (who have unlimited power in Argentina) and many politicians tend to have strong Catholic beliefs which makes that influence even stronger.

This doesn’t mean they’re the only ones against this sort of laws. There is a huge part of society that doesn’t even tolerate gay people and call it a disease because “they’re not following God’s command”.

This can be ironic, since Buenos Aires is the only city in the world that has been chosen, twice in a row, the best Gay city in the world. (That statistic takes into account spots and things to do, not amount of gay people)

But then again, Argentina is a very segregated country, even though it’s only divided in two parts socially speaking. But this point is proved by the denominations we give to those parts: Buenos Aires and Interior which represents just “the whole rest of the country”.

Going back to religion, Christianism is something taken for granted in most cases, and it can even be something unconscious that people just do.

All the different stages, in a Christian’s life are celebrated just as another birthday in Argentina. Baptisms, communions and the rest, all include party, presents, family reunion, special clothes, and sometimes even renting a special place.

A typical thing to see in many houses in Argentina, are the pictures of the children of the house taking communion, hanging from the walls. And they’re generally never removed, even after those “kids” have got married.

The last two things to say about religion in Argentina are both connected to the same thing: People’s devotion in their own special way.
What most people tend to do in Argentina is choose a specific Saint or Virgin and become its “devoto”, a faithful servant. That’s the reason people don’t go to church, because as long as they pay obedience to their specific saint or Virgin they know they don’t need to do anything else.

The reasons for which to choose their Saint/Virgin are various, it can be the day of their birth being the day of that Saint, or even just the fact that they are devoted only to the Saint of whatever it is they need.

The most popular Saints and Virgins are: San Cayetano (Saint Patron of Work), Virgen Desatanudos (Virgen that unties knots, meaning that solves complicated times) and the Virgen of Luján (Virgen of Argentina).

Also, people tend to create Saints to be devoted to, from so called martyrs to urban legends to famous people that have died tragically, especially singers. 

                                                                                                             

The ways in which people show their devotion to their Saint or Virgin go from home “rituals” (lighting a candle, have a little altar, decorative religious statues) to peregrinations across very long distances.

The ways in which people show their devotion to their Saint or Virgin go from home “rituals” (lighting a candle, have a little altar, decorative religious statues or get a tattoo) to peregrinations across very long distances.

music

 

Argentina from most aspects is nothing but a big mix of different cultures, and its music is certainly not the exception.

However, all this mix is spiced up a little bit and so transformed into what makes it ours.

This is what makes Argentinian music very different from Latin American music, and hence has given our bands and various artists international fame.

However, modern Argentinian music didn't actually take off until the late 80's or early 90's.

Before this(60's and 70's), it was european and american artists who'd flood the markets and radios with their music, and of course there's always the local artists trying to impersonate the big foreign bands.

Even previous to those days (30's-50's), Tango had taken over everyone and everything, and before Tango, it was Old European minuets and walz.

This is what makes Argentinian music very different from Latin American music, and hence has given our bands and various artists international fame.

However, modern Argentinian music didn't actually take off until the late 80's or early 90's.

Before this(60's and 70's), it was european and american artists who'd flood the markets and radios with their music, and of course there's always the local artists trying to impersonate the big foreign bands.

Even previous to those days (30's-50's), Tango had taken over everyone and everything, and before Tango, it was Old European minuets and walz.

But it was in the late 80's/ early 90's that Argentinian bands broke the mold of Latin American music which consists generally of dramatic solos, like ballads, and decided to include various rythms of different cultures and so come up with our own national style.

But it was in the late 80's/ early 90's that Argentinian bands broke the mold of Latin American music which consists generally of dramatic solos, like ballads, and decided to include various rythms of different cultures and so come up with our own national style.

Jazz, reggae, blues, flamenco, rock, ska and other styles were mixed between each other, and with our language and culture to create what's known in Latin America as Argentinian Rock. This was one of the first countries in Latin America, if not the first, to "export" our music to the rest of the continent.

Most Argentinians say that the peak of our Rock has passed though, as now the markets are more invaded of American bands and not long-lasting artists.