Jun
17
Miembro vs miembra??
Bibiana Aido, Spain’s minister of equality, has caused an itty-bitty international brouhaha by using the word miembra in public during the course of her official duties. Perhaps taking her position as the minister of equality a bit too literally, she addressed a group as “miembros y miembras de esta comisión...”
What’s the big deal? Well, the word miembra doesn’t exist in Spanish and the fact that a high-ranking government official would make such an error in her native language is embarrassing to many. To add insult to injury, when called on her mistake, Aído insisted that the word existed, saying that she picked it up during a stay in El Salvador.
Take a couple of centuries of lingering historical hard feelings, mix in the (erroneous) belief among some that the Spanish spoken in the Americas isn’t “pure” Spanish, and layer Aído’s comment casting the blame on El Salvador on top, and you’ve got a recipe for a diplomatic faux pas.
The reaction to her verbal gaffe has been swift and amusing. Defending the honor of the Spanish spoken in El Salvador, one radio commentator was quoted as saying that he wanted to know who taught Ms. Aído this palabreja (made-up word) and under what circumstances, since miembro has two meanings (one of which is penis) in Spanish. Wow, that’s harsh.
Another commentator, Mexican writer Juan Villoro, continued in the same vein wondering aloud about who she has been hanging out with.
“Todo depende de quiénes sean las amistades de la ministra. Si se reúne con políticos mexicanos, misses venezolanas o gente de televisión afincada en Miami, su idioma corre peligro.”
Villoro continues, pushing his verbal dagger in deeper:
“Nuestra lengua castellana no ha perdido vitalidad ni corrección. De cualquier forma, hay que saber con quién te juntas. Si quieres salvar tu alma y tu gramática, es aconsejable no tener trato con legionarios de Cristo, publicistas, jefes de Estado o narcotraficantes”.
Ouch.
Here’s a full account of this polémica in Spanish.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I heard some radio coverage of this, and the news person mentioned that “English doesn’t have this problem with gender-based nouns.” Funny.
Of course it’s not like English doesn’t have it’s share of perceived sexism. The default “he” pronoun for anyone. The “womyn” nutsos (nutsas?) that are annoyed by the word “woman” containing the word “man”.
Do our languages contain centuries-old sexism? Sure. Does “serviceman” really need to change to “serviceperson” for sexism to be abolished? I’m not so sure.
It’s an interesting topic for sure. Spain is considerably behind other western countries (certainly the US) in “women’s liberation” or whatever it’s properly called these days.
Thank you for highlighting this issue.
P.S. Wow, I just noticed that I unconsciously used the term “news person” in this comment.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
“Miembra”, you have to love it, it’s a wonderful word.
Regarding where or where not the purest Spanish is spoken, a Spanish Literature teacher I had at High School told us there’s no place where a language is more purely spoken, it’s the individual speakers, no matter their nationality, who make the language “pure” (meaning correct) or not.
In my opinion, the Spanish spoken on both sides of the Atlantic is quite poor. It has to do with low standards of education. Usually, the poorer the country, the worse the Spanish you will hear.
And finally, Erik, are you sure Spain’s behind other western countries in “women’s liberation”? Honestly, I’m not so sure. That’s what I used to think also, but I’m starting to think it’s a myth. I don’t know about the US, but, according to what I’ve seen, machismo seems to be alive and well in most of western Europe.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
All I know is that when the women in my wife’s family (her mother, aunts, cousins, etc.) first saw me iron my own shirt, they looked at me like I had just levitated off the ground. They immediately came over and told me to stop that and go sit over there while they ironed it for me. At first I was insulted, like they thought my gender was somehow an ironing disability. This was SO foreign to me! I later learned that most Spanish men have never ironed a shirt in their lives. Their mothers do it right up until their wedding day when their wives take over the task.
Obviously all generalizations are false, but I’ve continued to see a clear separation of duties and activities by gender in Spanish households. I’ve lived in the US, England, and Denmark, and I’ve never seen such a strict divide as in Spain.
It’s funny, Roberto, that you think Spanish is spoken so poorly and “uneducatedly”. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between the cultures of Spain and the UK is that, in the UK, as soon as you hear someone speak, you immediately know how much education they have and what general social class they’re from. That’s not at all true in Spain. Accents vary from region to region, but it’s all pretty close to “correct” Spanish. I have no experience with American Spanish, so I can’t comment on that side of the ocean.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I agree with Roberto’s teacher: It depends on the individual. Bolivia is considered a very poor country yet some of the most beautiful Spanish I’ve ever heard came out of the mouthes of a few Bolivians who were not from wealthy backgrounds. I think that accents are becoming less regional and more social. You can blame the TV, movies, a more mobile lifestyle, etc.
Regarding Minister Aído and her “miembras,” I think she just should have said that she was trying to make Spanish less sexist and help all those women out there who feel oppressed and looked over by having to refer to themselves as “miembros.” As Minister of Equality it would have made sense and not reflected as poorly on her intelligence. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Wow Erik, I’m 37 and I promise you I do iron my shirts. All my male friends do it. Our wives or girlfriends won’t do it for us. No way. I cook my meals, and so do most of my friends. I wish someone would do it for me, but no luck so far.
That separation of duties and activities by gender you describe is true in the case of the older generation, but not anymore, at least not the people I know. I guess it depends whether you live in a small town or in a city and on which Spanish region we are talking about.
Erik, it’s the same here in Spain, as soon as I hear someone speak, I immediately know how much education they have and what general social class they’re from and even which region they come from. Spanish is not your first language and perhaps that’s why it’s not easy for you to notice these things. But they are pretty obvious, believe me. I may sound a bit pretentious, but I bet I would be right 99% of the times. And yes, Spanish people, me included, speak badly and write even worse.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Very interesting discussion. Gracias, Roberto.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Gracias a tí, Erik.
Un saludo
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
[...] it’s because I’m an angloparlante, but I see nothing inherently sexist with words like miembro or joven. Using the Spanish article “la” is enough to distinguish that the person being [...]