Just to add to the phone rant, I have found Spanish phone conversations much less polite than Mexican calls. In the part of Spain I stayed in they would answer the phone abruptly with Digame!! which roughly translates as Speak to me!! So after that Bueno seems quite polite to me !!!!!
Yeah I learned that in Spanish class they say "digame" in Spain when they answer the phone. I don't take it as rude, just that thats they way they do it there. "Bueno" never really made sense to me. I don't pick up the phone and say "Good". Je je. "Hola" makes more sense to me. But maybe there's a "Green Go!" story to it or perhaps the chupacabra is behind it all. Hey Kelly, Quien habla? No! Quien Eres! Quien habla!? ~CLICK~
The story I've heard (and it's most likely just a story) is that "Bueno" started when Mexico was first getting phones around the country. Lines were bad so people would answer "Bueno?", as in "Is the connection good?". It stuck. Or so the story goes that I've heard. Anyone else ever ask this question to their Mexican counterparts?
sounds good, but LINE as in phone line, is not masculino BUENO , it is femenino and would have provoked BUENA.... esta BUENA la linea... and not esta BUENO linea..... just my two cents of common sense....
customs (Anyone who has lived in Mexico knows that it is almost obligatory to say "Salud!" when someone sneezes--strangers say it to you, they say it in church, they interrupt a conversation to say it, etc.) After living in Cancun for 2 years and not having gone home all that time, I returned to Ft. Wayne, Indiana for a visit to the family. I sneezed and no one said anything to me and I wondered what was wrong with them!! Didn't they care about me?? Customs are different. What is polite in one place may not be in another place and culture. I used to think my parents had done me a disservice by teaching me manners and being considerate of others and speaking in a "nice" way. I don't think that anymore. They taught me the way to be polite and kind in only one country and culture. It is my job to learn how to do that in a new one. Customs are different in different places and times--phone manners("Diga!" is considered very polite), sneezing etiquette, standing in doorways, putting your hand out of the car means that you WILL cut in front of the person behind you--it doesn't mean you are asking permission, the cashier's job is to first take care of her other jobs before taking care of you, etc. etc. etc. Many people suggest that being bilingual is important if not necessary. I think perhaps it is equally or more important to me bi-cultural and accepting and understanding of customs that I don't always understand. I am not--after all--required to understand. "You are not in Kansas anymore" and I am the foreigner and the "stranger in a strange land" who either adapts, adjusts and accepts or I live a very unhappy life. All of that being said, I have still been know to have answered the question ¿adónde hablo? (where am I calling?) with "al número que usted marcó"(The number that you dialed!). And when they call back a second time (as they will invariabley do)I sometimes answer not with "Bueno"--but with "Strike Dos!"
Jim, You are correct in all that you say. I have learned patience above all living here in Cancun, though sometimes I revert to my "rat race" state of mind and get a little crazy. I apologize if I came across as "intolerant", I think my frustration is probably with the sheer volume of wrong numbers I get and the lack of apologies for these erroneous calls. I think I have also been spoiled by my Mexican husband who is BEYOND polite on the phone, everything is "Disculpe, no quiero molestar, Jorge a sus ordenes señor, muchas gracias, muy amable" etc.. I learn something new everyday, not only language wise, but as you say, culturally. I didn't come here to maintain "my" way of life, I came to learn and adapt and accept, and change. I have to admit, overall I am a much better person for it, much happier and my mental health has never been better. Except for "those" days, haha. "Relax" was not a word in my vocabulary in Canada, here in Cancun I have discovered it's meaning in so many ways.
Bravo, Jim, my sentiments exactly! "We" are in "their" country. I was always a bit resentful when I would speak to people in NY and they only spoke Spanish, Indian, Pakistani, Portuguese....ANYTHING BUT ENGLISH! And, they were Americans~!! I heard the story from several Mexican people about the phone lines not being good and that "Bueno" was a way to assure a clear connection. "Digame" is used in Cuba as well as Spain. I love this place...yes, life and customs are different, but I consider myself lucky to live in Paradise!
When I get a phone call I usually start with "Hable" speak or Diga "Tell" as my parent do coming from Spain. I think the "Bueno" is ineherit to generations and you do not even think what are you saying. When we first moved to Cancun and coming from a big city I use to get frustrated and desesparate even at supermarkets when the cashier seemed to have all day to pass my items across the bar code. I use to run and be in a hurry everywhere. Ask me now after 9 years, I think people form my hometown have a problem, they drive like crazy, push you to decide and want to do everything quickly :lol: yes everything. :wink:
