| It happened many years ago, that I met a man | | | | spoke as his own; he also spoke Catalan and |
| from Barcelona at a bar in England whom I asked | | | | would not want to forget this language which he |
| if he considered himself to be Spanish or | | | | felt was a part of his ancestry. I even detected a |
| Catalonian. At first this man seemed surprised by | | | | certain tone of dignity in his voice as he made |
| my question till I explained to him that I had | | | | clear that Catalan was not a dialect as many |
| always heard that certain groups in Spain | | | | might think but a language which should be |
| considered themselves to be more from a certain | | | | respected as such. |
| region then the country. For instance that some in | | | | Many were the topics this gentleman from |
| the Basque country felt themselves not to be | | | | Catalonia and I discussed on that evening |
| Spanish but Basques only. I even mentioned how | | | | however one I did find particularly comic and that |
| this seemed a bit odd to me, as I would never | | | | was when Jorge told me that many a tourist |
| say when asked that I was not British but | | | | went to Spain looking to buy a Mexican hat |
| Scottish. | | | | known as a charro. These hats are often |
| Once I explained my question to this gentleman | | | | referred to as sombreros though this word in |
| whose name was Jorge, he told me that the | | | | fact in Spanish simply means hat, which could |
| matter was not such an easy one. Yes, he did | | | | apply to anything one puts on ones head. Jorge |
| say he was Spanish and was proud of it but on | | | | found it odd how mostly American tourists came |
| the other hand he wanted it to be clear that his | | | | to Spain looking for something which was basically |
| part of the country was of a different culture | | | | Mexican though he could understand that it was |
| then the rest of Spain. For instance he mentioned | | | | the money offered by these tourists that made |
| how in Catalonia, the sport of bullfighting was not | | | | them available. This despite the fact that these |
| one that was practiced, given that it was not a | | | | rather large hats had nothing to do with the |
| part of their culture. This to the extent that there | | | | culture of Spain. |
| was not even a single bullfighting rink to be found | | | | In all I would say that this man showed me how |
| in all of Catalonia. | | | | one can both be proud of ones region while at |
| Jorge also went to include in his arguments that | | | | the same time not forgetting the country where |
| though Spanish was his native tongue, which he | | | | one was born in. |