El galo de Barcelos, aka The rooster of Love

In keeping with the accidental blog theme of 'Animal Tales', I bring to you the legend of the rooster of Barcelos, but first some background.

Mike and I went to Portugal over Easter, specifically Estoril, Cascais, and Lisbon. All over Portugal you find these colorful roosters. They are on everything from artwork

to towels

to your basic tourist collectibles.

Now, it all started when Mike posted a picture of one of the rooster figurines from the room decor where we were staying on facebook. Someone asked what it was, and he replied 'The rooster of Love'. Now , to get the proper feel, you must channel your inner Antonio Banderas as the Puss in Boots, properly rolling or inflecting your R's, so that it becomes 'The rroost-er....of Love'.

And the name stuck. After all, look at this creation. It has hearts all over it. It's colorful. It's from one of the Romance countries. What else could you call it?

However, the legend isn't quite as romantic. El galo de Barcelos is the tale of a traveler wrongly accused of thievery. He was sentenced to be hanged, and when brought before the judge who was having guests at his house for a banquet, pointed to the dead rooster on the banquet table and swore that he was innocent and that this dead rooster would rise from the platter crowing his innocence as he was being hanged. The judge lost his appetite for bird and pushed it off to the side. The prisoner was taken to the gallows, and as he was being hanged, the rooster rose from the platter and began crowing. The judge ran to the gallows, hoping to not be too late to save the traveler, discovering to his relief that the rope used was old and snapped immediately from the weight and the traveler's life was spared and he was released.

So, while he may be a symbol of good fortune, honesty, and happiness to me he will be...the Rooster of Love...

It's all how you say it

From the moment I open my mouth and words fall out it's easy to tell I'm not from around here. Because we live here as opposed to vacationing most conclude we are Canadian. It's a lot less complicated to get a work visa if you are Canadian than American.  Understandable, as Canada is an independent dominion which still maintains the Queen as Head of State. I'm not sure if the UK is afraid that more Americans would come over here to live and work if it was less restrictive or what, but that is a topic for another day.
Although most Brits don't like to admit it, there is a certain cultural bias towards how you speak, kind of like how many Northerners in the US tend to think Southerners are stupid because they talk slow and sound funny. The same is true here. Your dialect can tell people if you are from the north or south or Wales, even if all other elements of socio-economic standings are the same.
If you are from the north, where all the rowdies, hard rockers, and Scotsmen live Bath is pronounced the same way we pronounce the word in the US. If you are from the south, home to those of more refined tastes and demeanor--and damned fine cider--it is pronounced with an 'ahh' sounding a. Some-but not all-who come from Wales or Cornwall or areas bordering Wales keep the same 'ahh' a sound but the 'th' is replaced by an 'ff' sound. Wales still teaches Welsh as well as English in their classrooms, and both languages are seen on billboards and other signage along highways and in town.
And it never fails I meet up with people from the opposing regions who correct my pronounciation regularly. Finally one of our Meetup group friends told us that we should just say it as we would in America because it sounds strange when we try to say it otherwise. Jane is a smart smart woman.
Although we both speak English, Americans have made changes to spelling(dropping u's out of many words), pronouncing them differently('sk' for schedule instead of 'sh'), and, in a number of cases, given new meaning to a word. Pissed means inebriated in the UK where as in the US it means very unhappy.    And yes, the phrase 'blowing a fag' is still used in many places to refer to going outside for a cigarette break(and probably because they get a good laugh from American's reactions!)
So, it has become a pretty good policy of mine when joining in on a conversation to listen and make sure I know what the conversation is about and if I'm not sure, play the Clueless American card.