Crisis
As I mentioned before, the word crisis
is ubiquitous in political and journalistic discourse. It's the go-to
term to describe the current economic situation in Spain, Europe, and
the world. Of course, it is accurate: according to official figures
25% of all Spaniards are unemployed, and the figure is almost 50% for
young people. If you listen to politicians or read newspapers you'll
see the word over and over, but more interestingly it's also become a
part of basic everyday language. Sometimes a Spaniard, by way of
explaining something, will simply shrug and say, “la crisis.” And
I think I mentioned before that stores will advertise sales as
“crisis prices.”
I think that politicians in the US
would be significantly more cautious in their use of the word crisis.
For example, a politician could talk about the global financial
crisis, or the eurozone crisis, but it seems to me that they'd shy
from describing the US as in crisis. Imagine if Obama said that the
US was in crisis. I could write the attack ad myself:
[Footage of Obama giving a speech, with
a grainy or washed-out effect] “People are hurting. Our country is
in crisis...”
[Ominous voice-over] “Barack Obama
thinks our nation is in crisis.”
[Cutaway to Mitt Romney against a
light-blue background] “I don't believe our nation is in crisis.
The United States is strong. With my leadership we can overcome the
setbacks we're faced with. I believe in America.”
[Slogan on screen: Romney, Believe in
America.]
Recortes
This one is related. Recortes are cuts,
as in cuts in Government spending. The conservative government is
following austerity policies, so you hear this one a lot. I probably
hear it more than most, since I work in a school, which is directly
affected by cuts in public spending. My coworkers complain about the
cuts and there were even jokes about recortes in the school's
Christmas play. Political cartoons play on this by depicting
politicians with scissors or axes. I think this is also more common
in Spain than in the US, because Spain's public sector is,
comparatively speaking, so much larger. People in Spain are
accustomed to a higher level of public spending (for example, on the
national health care service), and so when it goes down, they feel it
personally.
Reformas, ajustes, etc
These are more positive ways to refer
to cuts, or restructuring government spending. Reforms, adjustments,
etc. This weekend I was going out my apartment door and noticed
hundreds of people marching in the street with labor union signs and
balloons and so on. I wasn't surprised, since I've seen this kind of
demonstration (English-speakers who've lived in Spain for too long
sometimes start to use the fake-English word “manifestation”)
quite a few times this year. Of course, they were protesting against
the government's cuts and reforms. The president's response: “There
will be reforms every Friday. Next Friday too”
Bonus: Dates
Political dates often follow the format
##-A. For example, 9/11 is referred to as the 11-S. The protest
movement known as the indignados (the indignant ones) is also known
as 15-M because it began on May 15, 2011 (I would say that this
movement is no longer really current, but I suppose it could stir up
again). 11-M refers to the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11,
2004. And this year's general strike occurred on the 29-M.
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