Stinkin' Bob and the Homer Channel
When
people attempt to pronounce foreign words, the results can sometimes be
hilarious. "Stinkin' Bob" is what I hear when I watch a particular
commercial on Cable TV. It is actually advertising a battery powered
light that looks like a regular light bulb and has a base that can be
stuck to a flat surface, but when the native Spanish speaker who
narrates the commercial tries to say "Stick-in Bulb", to my ears it
becomes "Stinkin' Bob". The "Hallmark Channel" sounds like the "Homer
Channel".
A
sort of double-jointed example of this is the reference I made recently
to the word "comaron" which I heard as "camaron" or "shrimp". Panama
Bob informed me that the word is a result of laborers looking for work
in the old Canal Zone, where they were frequently told to "come around"
later and these found jobs came to be known as "comarons", and today
many Panamanians and most of us Expats think the word is camaron.
Another local example of this is the town of Arraijan, (Ah-ri-hahn)
which according to legend was derived from the directions early canal
workers gave to locals to go a certain place and that they would find
the work site "on the right hand". In light of Stinkin' Bob and the
Homer Channel, this certainly sounds plausible to me.
I'd like to compile a list of the many local words with similar origins and would welcome any reader contributions.
Gago Christmas Store
Gago
was at one time the largest chain of supermarkets in Panama. Now they
have become a wholesale supplier to the rest of the stores. As a
sideline, they also have the best stocked Christmas decorations store
in the country. Located in the industrial area of Costa del Este, near
our office, this large store has everything you might desire in the way
of Christmas decorations, from a $.99 bag of Christmas Tree Nutrient to
a $4995.00 13 feet tall artificial tree. In between those extremes lies
an enormous collection of high quality decorations. I've put together a
web page of pictures we took inside the store last Sunday. You can view
them at http://www.panamaretire.net/gago You will notice that I
took a lot more pictures of the village displays than anything else,
but they are so beautiful and incredibly detailed that they alone are
worth a trip to see them. The little cutie is our almost 3 year old
granddaughter Ana Sofia. The big cutie in the striped shirt is me.
To
get there from the City, take Corredor Sur towards the airport. Exit at
the first exit after you cross the causeway over the bay. Turn left,
pass the school, and at the intersection turn left. You will be on a
four lane street. Pass DHL and at the sharp curve to the right, turn
left into the Costa del Este Industrial area. Be careful at this
intersection, there will likely be traffic coming around the blind
curve, and it usually moves pretty fast. Pass the guarded entrance and
take the first left. At the end of that street, you will pass our
office in the J. Maloul building. Follow the street around to the right
and take the first right and Gago will be the first building on the
right, with a parking lot. I hope you enjoy your visit as much as we
did.
Rising Cost of Living
Panama
City Commuters got a double whammy this week, with a $0.19 per gallon
gasoline price increase and a 10% boost in Corredor Sur tolls.
Those
who use taxis to go grocery shopping are being charged $.50 per bag for
groceries. That is if they can find a taxi willing to take them where
they want to go. Increasingly taxi drivers are refusing to take
passengers to areas where the liklihood of finding a fare is less than
ideal. It's hard to blame the taxi drivers. They are being squeezed
mercilessly between government price controls on their fares and
skyrocketing costs of fuel. There is a major crisis looming in Panama's
public transportation system.