I recently took a bus from San Jose over the Cerro del Muerte to Pérez Zeledón. The driver was a young man around thirty. He wore dark glasses and a cap that read:
BORRACHO PERO
BUEN MUCHACHO
A funny hat, telling people that though you are a drunk, you are a good young man. A hat you might wear to the bar or a card game with the guys, but unusual headgear for a guy about to drive fifty people in a 12 ton bus valued at around a quarter million dollars, over and down a 3,000 meter high mountain.
It was early morning so I assured myself he was not borracho, but left open the possibility he could be hungover. He drove the bus over the mountain and got us to our destination without a problem. If I was his boss, I would suggest another hat.
At least the driver knew the meaning of his hat’s message. When a person with little or no knowledge of English chooses to wear clothing with a message in English, the result can be inappropriate, shall we say.
My Tico brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and her daughter met with us for a Sunday trip to the beach. The girl, who was eight years old, wore a shirt that read:
Sometimes I can be a Real
B**CH
The word “b**ch” was in glittery caps. I explained the definition of the word bitch in English, and the connotations in which it is used. Happily, they had packed extra clothes and the eight-year-old was given a less nasty shirt to wear.
The language barrier can lead to interesting choices of attire. I once had a campesino neighbor, a small wiry guy slightly stooped from years working in the fields. His favorite t-shirt featured the silhouette of a shapely female body overlaid with this message:
My Fantasy is to Have 2 Men:
One Cooking, One Cleaning
He really liked that shirt, so I never commented on it or explained the translation. When I was in college I had a couple of Chinese friends from Malaysia. One sometimes wore a shirt with the words “Foxy Lady”. It was a popular style of pullover at the time for women. I finally asked my friend why he wore the shirt. He explained Foxy Lady was the name of a well known singer in Malaysia.
I explained to him that nobody in the US had heard of Foxy Lady and most people would wonder why a guy was wearing a woman’s t-shirt. I never again saw him in the shirt after that clarification.
Think of all of the Ropa Americana stores there are in Costa Rica, then think of all the rejects of the clothing world that arrive here: the mislabeled shirts, the knock-off outfits, the sports teams logos with the wrong colors, the overstocked items that didn’t sell.
That is thousands of items on sale daily, many with messages in English that may or may not be understood by the purchaser. Keep this in mind the next time you see a guy on the street wearing a shirt that says Grrrl Power across the chest. It may just be his favorite item of clothing.
