Comments on: Que?

By: Bobby

Bobby — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:53:13 +0000

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.

By: Susan T-O

Susan T-O — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:59:55 +0000

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

By: Sparkle

Sparkle — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:45:32 +0000

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…

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:16:27 +0000

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)

By: Morris Keesan

Morris Keesan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:52:39 +0000

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?

By: furrykef

furrykef — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:35:13 +0000

“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

By: Brian Leahy

Brian Leahy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:39:38 +0000

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…”

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:44:09 +0000

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.

By: Norm

Norm — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:55:22 +0000

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.

By: Molly

Molly — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:50:44 +0000

“He’s from Barcelona.”