Modern ways!

In the business section of the local paper yesterday I found “la startup”. Another English borrowing and one that won’t need much adapting to become a Spanish word. Unlike “boom” which has become “bum”, as in “el bum de la moda ‘vintage’”. I see that no-one has yet found a replacement for vintage.

I love the curious blending of language that goes on through such borrowings. My favourite is probabaly what the French have done with the English “look”, as in “J’aime ton nouveau look” (I like your new look). They even made a new word: “relooker” - to remodel, to get a new look.

Discussion of the botellón also figures in local papers. Maybe the botellón arose from copying British youngsters determinedly getting as drunk as possible on a night out. British youngsters have long hung around outside corner shops and mini supermarkets asking people to buy alcohol for them. But they never organised themselves to get together in large groups with music and food as well as alcohol, or atleast  not to my knowledge. So maybe there is a climate element in there as well. Long warm summer evenings lend themselves to botellón rather more than damp, drizzly and rather chilly evenings.

Anyway, some places have been fighting the botellón. Redondela banned alcohol from their concerts in the Festival de Verano, stating that it was a family event and they did not want drunken youngsters. In Vaiona they accept it and have ambulances standing by and patrols to keep an eye out for untowrd behaviour. Vigo has been trying to remove botellon from the port area. Discos on Arenal make it hard to get rid of it completely.

And there has some concern about what happens if the botellon is chased away from the port and onto Plaza de Compostela, leaving the rather tasteful Alameda full of bottles and the well-to-do residents more than a little annoyed. But apparently in summer they tend to disappear a little from the centre of the city to go to outlying areas and their local fiestas. Spanish problems!

In our flats, the complaints are about the pool being locked up at 10.00 pm. On these hot nights, people were saying down in the gardens, some might want to linger longer in the water. More Spanish problems!

Now for a British thing. I read that almost one in 10 Britons say they buy clothes online just to post an image on social media, before sending them back immediately for a refund; among those aged 35 to 44, this rises to nearly one in five.

What a strange thing to do.

It seems that it is because of the popularity of the hashtag “outfit of the day” (#OOTD). Instagrammers upload a picture of themselves to showcase what they are wearing – in a bedroom, on a beach or on the streets – and the hugely popular hashtag has more than 2m posts. And some order clothes just to post a photo and then send the clothes back. Truly odd!

Caryn Franklin, a fashion commentator and an activist for sustainable fashion (whatever that really means), says that fashion at its best gives us the chance to explore and create our identity, to figure out who we want to be. She worked as personal stylist in her early career and comments: “I saw beautiful miracles at the mirror, as ordinary women witnessed their indisputable magnificence. Clothes are firmly embedded in our emotional experience of ourselves. We dream of who we wish to be and feel better connected to that person through the garment we inhabit.”

She waxes a bit lyrical about the clothes business: “My clothes are like longstanding loyal friends. They make me feel joyous, brave, excited. Does buying, Instagramming and returning an entire outfit in a day provide us with any but the most superficial feelings?”

And she remembers a pre-digital “fashion experience” that involved yearning for a longed-for dress or coat or pair of shoes, saving up and finally making the trip to the shops before rushing back to enjoy the new purchase. “The experience of buying, bonding with the newly acquired item and returning home for the subsequent styling session would signal the beginning of yet another fulfilling relationship. All this, without cameras.”

She goes on at greater length about “narcissism and dysfunctional consumption” and a reduction values, which has, she says, implications for the environment and the economy, as well as for our souls.

And okay, I find myself agreeing with her. I would put that with instant streaming of music, individual tracks, rather than albums that artists have given thought to, selecting the order of tracks with care. Where is the joy of waiting for an album to come out, saving up to buy it, then going home and playing it again and again and again?

Oh, dear! I am beginning to sound like a sentimental old fuddy-duddy!