Catalan women are fat and ugly, say the Greeks

Here are a couple of fragments from Antoni Rubió i Lluch’s L’Expedició catalana a l’Orient vista pels grecs (The Catalan Expedition to the Orient as seen by the Greeks (1883, 2004 edition translated from Spanish into Catalan)). This is Rubió i Lluch quoting Epaminondas Stamatiades:

Is it necessary after all that we have said that we repeat that the Catalans wherever they went brought with them destruction, ruin, death and imprisonment? It it necessary that we enumerate the miseries suffered by the unfortunate inhabitants of these lands? Even today in some areas of Greece, as for example in Eubea, to reproach someone for an illegal or unjust act one says “Even a Catalan wouldn’t do that.” In Acarnania the word “Catalan” is currently considered a synonym for savage, thief, delinquent, and they call “Catalan” the man of lewd and cruel sentiment. Today also in Tripoli in the Peloponnese they use none other than the expression “like a Catalan” to indicate that a woman is irascible, uncouth and hard. The Catalan dagger … is synonymous with that of the murderer. Why tire ourselves, though, when the Spanish historian Mariana himself called the Catalan invaders of the Orient thieves, cruel and disobedient people?

Then Rubió i Lluch cites a friend, Nicolás Politis, who writes to him that

The word Catalan is considered in Athens as a terrible insult which may only be applied to cruel and barbarous men. “What a Catalan!” say the old people of Attica as an insult… In Messenia and Laconia they call Catalan a woman who is masculine, tall, bulky and ugly…

To be fair, I believe that “Catalan” in Greek was also used to refer to Valencians, and it may have covered a multitude of other sinners as well.

Rubió i Lluch (1856-1937) was a Catalan nationalist born in Valladolid who defied the trinity of blood, language and territory and wrote in Spanish. Kipling would have blushed at some of his opinions, but there’s some good history in there too.

Related posts

• The fire and the precipice
• Anti-Catalanism
• spanish/castilian
• More Catalan thieves
• Final victory of the Catalans and Aragonese with their Turkish allies over the Duke of Athens

Comments

1. Den sez:
   3 May 2004 at 4:15 PM

   Lucky no Catalan selections are going to the Olimpics this summer

2. Catalan women sez:
   21 May 2008 at 7:12 AM

   I’d rather be old, fat, and ugly than someone from a 3rd-world country, like Greece. Who wouldn’t? Greek is only good at being Europe’s puta. Greece = Fill de putas.

3. El Ciruco sez:
   21 May 2008 at 12:43 PM

   You tell ‘em, kiddo!

4. Den sez:
   21 May 2008 at 1:07 PM

   Greek GDP per capita is only about 10% lower than Spanish, and flag production (which is the classic sign of a third world country) is actually lagging behind Cataloonier.

5. Tom sez:
   22 May 2008 at 10:50 AM

   Den - that ‘flag production’ statistic sounds like utter bollocks to me. Everyone knows the Senyeres are Made in China. If you have a link, though, I’ll withdraw that.

   Besides, Spain’s only really 2nd world isn’t it?

6. Dirty Den sez:
   22 May 2008 at 5:20 PM

   I’d better withdraw to the fat and ugly defense. In America we have real, true patriots. Check http://www.fmaa-usa.com/madeinusa/certification_program.php

   “The Flag Manufacturers Association of America (FMAA) established the “Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certification program to ensure that American flags are homegrown with pride.

   “Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certifies that your American flag has been made in the U.S. of materials that are domestic in origin and that all processes in every step of its manufacture were completed in U.S. facilities with U.S. labor.

   U.S. law requires every American flag be labeled with its country of origin. Only the FMAA “Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certification seal assures the standards and continued compliance as monitored by a professional association and its domestic members.”

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