Re Rad

Adding ¨re¨ to a Spanish word causes it to be emphasized. Re bueno. Re rico. It´s pretty informal; it´s what the cool kids are doing.

Well, I have decided to introduce Rad to the Argentinian vocabulary and so far, so good. When rad starts sweeping across south America, just remember where you heard it first.

So, here is my Re Rad list of Buenos Aires...I applaud you, I salute you, I muse at your strangeness and I thank you for making me giggle:

1. 1. Maria Panagos, anfitriona extraordinaire: for bringing me soup and an entire bottle of wine in bed when I was sick this weekend. You are re rad.
   


2. To the guy who was walking down Avenida Alem with your headphones on and singing at the TOP of your lungs. You are re rad.
   
   

3. To the dog taking a huge dump on the grass out front of the Casa Rosada. Way to protest. Re rad.

4. To all Argentinians and your strange sense of personal space, and especially to the woman that walked straight into me in the middle of the crosswalk last week. Our little game of chicken was amusing. I respect your resolve. Re rad.

5. To Hugo in my advanced English class and to your advanced knowledge of English. You rattled off at least 4 synonyms for the word ¨pot¨....grass, weed, marijuana, shit. Re rad.

6. To Juan, you close talker, you franglais speaking, bad driver. You are re rad for so many reasons, but I´m going to put you on this list for driving your car from Argentina to Alaska 20 years ago...and still owning the car. Thanks for driving us to the party (and god-thanks for getting us there safely).

7. To the cheerleaders at La Boca football game. You have no shame showing your entire ass. Wow. Re rad.

8. To eating steak at 1 a.m. at my new neighborhood parilla, Desnivel.

9. To my female taxi driver, one of only 40 in Buenos Aires. Re rad, gerrl.

10. To the old lady who weilded a fork at my friend Brittany the other night in the bar....not so cool, in fact- a little creepy. But I´ve always liked a geezer with hutzpah. Re rad, for a goy!

chow for now!