You are going to need just a wee bit of background to appreciate this… or not.
There is a stereotype involving Latino mothers – especially Mexican mothers – involving their ability to do accurate long distance child correction using a well launched chancla, chancla being the Spanish word for flip-flop. Practically every Latino I have spoken to more than casually has a chancla story. If you doubt the stereotype, just type chancla into the YouTube search box and you will have a wide selection to choose from. One of my favorites can be found at this link: Hispanic moms don’t miss with that chancla or the video at the bottom of this post.
I’ve been working with a Mexican young man, Saúl, via Skype for several years now for Spanish conversational practice. He actually lives in Honduras as his beautiful wife, Sarai, is from that country. Señora and I had a fantastic visit with them a couple years ago in Honduras. For an article about our trip, check this link: ¡Guau! ¡Honduras!
The other morning we were working an exercise that explored a set of moral questions reminiscent of a college freshman bull sessions. It is a method to keep a conversation going and to expand vocabulary.
One question had me saying to Saúl, “Sólo dos cosas son seguras en la vida: la muerte y los impuestos.” – There are only two things certain in life, death and taxes.
To which he replied, “Tu dicho es un poco anticuado”. Your saying is a bit antiquated/old fashion.
I said, “¿En realidad?” – Really?
Saúl went on, “Si, el dicho actual es – Sólo dos cosas son seguras en la vida: la chancla y los impuestos.” – The current saying is that there are only two things certain in life, chancla and taxes.
Cracked me up.
It really is all about your point of view.
hahaha