Barcelona Local Custom Tips by Laura_Mexico

"Go to Spain.... I think it's very near" Things Catalan Review

People in Barcelona have a strong sense of belonging..... but not to Spain. They are Catalans (ie. from Catalunya), and most of them speak in Catalan too. My hubby was surprised to see that this doesn't only apply to old people, but to youngsters as well. They feel proud to be Catalan and thus try to preserve their own culture and language (which doesn't mean you'll have problems to communicate with them, they all speak Spanish too... which is great because, even though Catalan is similar to Spanish, we native Spanish speakers can't grab a single word of what they're saying when they speak in Catalan).

But we didn't realize the extent of this feeling until one day, while walking around the Barri Gotic, we heard 2 men arguing in the middle of the street, and when the argument was almost over and one of the guys was walking away, the other one yelled at him so everyone else could hear: "Gilipollas, por que no te vas a España?? Al fin creo que esta aqui cerca..." ("Dumba$$, why don't you go to Spain?? I think it's near here"). This would be pretty much like saying "go f--k your mother" or something like that, in our terms. We mentioned this to some bookshop clerks shortly after it happened and they confirmed that this was a rather strong offense for a Catalan. They accept and have resigned themselves to the convenience of belonging to Spain, but that doesn't mean they're happy to be called Spaniards as they don't feel like one. So make sure you don't do it if you don't want them to feel insulted! I'm sure there must be people who wouldn't mind or take it to heart, but it's better to be safe than sorry.... We thought this was a very funny and meaningful experience so I wanted to share it and also save it for myself (before my memory starts being mean and makes me forget the incident).