lorax

Rafael Correa Delgado, not Harvey Correia. They're not even spelled the same way!

john_ny

Beth - joke, joke

A long time aquaintance/ friend of mine who is a prominent local businessman had a relative that spelled his name the same, but pronounced it differently.
One morning, some time ago, when I ran into him, in the local diner, I mentioned that there were pictures in the newspaper, of a Supreme Court Justice, that spelled his name the same, but pronounced it different, and even looked a little like my friend. His reply was, "Oh yes, We're cousins. Our grandfathers were brothers." I guess that makes them something like second cousins, but the point is, over the years, many families change the pronunciation or the spelling of their names.
In any case, it was only meant as a joke, and I hope that Harvey wasn't offended.

(BTW: my last name is Johnson, the second most common name in the U.S. Do you know how many criminals are named Johnson, none related to me?)

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John

Patty in Wisc

You are lucky to have a name like 'Johnson'. When my grandfather came here - off the boat, they tried to americanize his name with a completely different spelling. We have 3 different pronunciations for it LOL. And, it's only 2 syllables!!
Once in a while, I'll see a name similar & wonder if they are a relative. One was listed in credits in a Spielburg movie.

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Got a lite?
Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

harveyc

No offense taken, John, I thought it was funny too.

My Godfather spelled his name the same and was my dad's best friend, being raised about 200 yards from my dad. But there was no blood relationship between them, my grandparents came from Madeira and my Godfather's parents came from the Azores.

I once met a Portuguese guy with the last name of Terry and I remarked that it was an uncommon Portuguese name. He told me that his father had come to California and lived in San Leandro under the name of Tieceirra (or close to that) but there were seven other families on the same street with the name and mail always got mixed up so he changed his name in a big way. My own name is pronounced locally as Korea while in Portugal it would be something like Ko ray ah but I've also met someone who pronounced their name (spelled the same way) like Corrie.

Beth, what do you think is corrupt about your government?

Our own president not only has many policies I disagree with, but I'm one of the few how would like to see him prove his eligibility to serve as President by showing us proof of a U.S. birth certificate. The document in Hawaii which has had some copies floating around is just a document saying he was born, but not where. People that have tried to take this up in the legal system have been told that they don't have "legal standing" in the matter. That' s a corrupt system, IMO.

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buzzwinder

Question.
IS there an honest Government official? I'm 52 and have never seen this elusive creature. I live in Illinois, Home of the most, past governors and politicians doing time, and our most recent candidate Rod Blagojevich looking at possibly 200 years for corruption. Will Rogers an american humorist, made many a comment on politicians. My favorite being, " I guess congress should get that pay raise they asked for! Only problem with that, is every young man in america will want to run for public office. And everybody knows that once a young person has held public office, they aint no good for no Honest work anymore" Will Rogers ( gotta love him )

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Bill for my friend

lorax

You mean beyond the top politicians' blatant acceptance of bribes and the police's extensive extortion rings and the use of public funds to pay for an extensive electoral campaign, and the 47 (count 'em 47) provincial deputies who were recently caught and sentenced for accepting money from the FARC for looking the other way when the guerrillas run cocaine from Colombia through the country to points south? Or do you mean the way that one has to quietly pass money under the table to ministerial officials if you want to even have a pale hope that your request will be looked at, or the same manner of bribery to ensure that your problems are solved at the phone company, the power company, and the water company? Or are you talking about the "Gringo Tax" that inflates prices for me by between 10 and 100% depending on what I'm trying to buy, simply because I'm tall, blonde, and pale-skinned (like about 12% of natural Ecuadorean citizens)?

Don't get me started. Yeesh.

chong

There is one, but he was so misguided when he was in office, and probably the worst and most ineffective one to be in that position. His name is Jimmie Carter. I had great hopes for him when I voted for him the first time he ran. He lived in a world of Disney. I'm afraid we're headed that same way again now, as when he was in office. His appeasement attitude towards the Iran hostage situation led us to be where we are now. IMHO. Of all the US leaders, I believe that Gen. Douglas MacArthur best understood eastern cultures and their attitudes. Just look at Japan's reaction to him when he toured Japan after the war. He was treated like a king. The Korean War, and for that matter, the Vietnam War, would not have lasted as long as they did had he been in command and allowed to run the war the way he knew how. Too many politicians and their appeasement attitudes caused wars to be prolonged.

Remember Gen. Norman Swarzkopf? Imagine if he were allowed to finish the job during Desert Storm. Just like with MacArthur, appeasement politicians, and even his own immediate commander, decided to get in the way of Swartzkopf. WWII ended because the US showed its might, and the US didn't even have to go to Berlin after Japan surrendered. The apparent "You're next" message was enough to get the Germans to surrender.

Beth laments the unfortunate situation in Ecuador. But that country is not unique in that regard. The majority of countries that were colonized by Latin European countries, esp. Spain, suffer from what I call the "Spanish colony syndrome". Sadly, the Philippines is one of them. Some well meaning citizens in those countries do nothing but complain about their colonizers, yet offer no solution to the current conditions other than to keep the foreigners out. Militant politicians want to kick out remaining symbols and military from their country, under the guise of "how can we learn how to run, if we don't learn how to walk by ourselves first" philosophy. As and example, the US bases in the Philippines were closed at the insistence of radical politicians because of the above philosophy. After the bases were closed, 90% of the businesses in the immediate areas closed for obvious reasons. What did these politicians do for them? Nothing. That's because they're all self-serving. And they don't need to campaign for votes, money and/or intimidation is all they need.

I realize that that is true everywhere, even here. The only difference is that here it's a lot more discreet, and politicians that actually get caught can actually get prosecuted. But then again, what about that congressman from LA, who hid $90,000, wrapped in aluminum foil, in his freezer?

Wow! Did I say all that? Wish I had more time. . . .

lorax

Chong, absolutely I know the situation vis a vis corruption is not only bad here in Ecuador. In my personal experience, it's worse in Colombia and Peru, and worse again in Canada, although better hidden (as you were saying, North Americans seem to be a bit more discreet with their corrupt practices....) Ecuador is better than most of the former Spanish colonies, in that they don't actively try to prohibit the in-migration of foreigners or foreign investment - doesn't mean that it's easy, but it's not impossible either.

On another note, I hope my American friends here won't take offence by what I say next.... I need to have my little rant, and I hope you respect that.

By and large, United-Statesians are some of the most FEARFUL people I've ever met. My god, you guys. I'll give you an example. I just returned from the hot springs at Papallacta, which are isolated in the extinct caldera complex of a megavolcano, in an extremely remote area of the Northern Andes. I met there an American couple who were so terrified of getting Swine Flu that they wouldn't even eat with the other guests and had confined themselves to their rooms when they weren't in the springs. I tried to explain to them that their odds of catching the bug in a country that has 0 confirmed cases, which immediately quarantines anybody with flu symptoms and anybody arriving from an affected country, and moreover in an extremely remote area known largely to the Ecuadorean elite and not many others, they had a greater chance of being struck by a piece of rock thrown by the extinct volcano. I've had equally frustrating conversations with US citizens who are afraid they'll be subject to a terrorist attack in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Ecuador, and others who fear to ride the bus because it might tip into a canyon (again, you've got a greater chance of being eaten by a bear here, bearing in mind that our only ursine specimens are primarily bamboo-eaters.) If y'all could just CALM THE FRICK DOWN the world would most likely be a much more peaceful place. Not everything is a threat.

Equally, coming back to what Chong was saying, if the people prosecuting the wars that America has been involved in were the ones who actually understood (or made a concerted effort to understand) the cultures they were fighting, the actions would be over that much more quickly and with less fuss.

I've said my bit. Thank you.

PS - John: you think Johnson's a bad last name? Try Campbell.

momoese

No offense taken, I actually agree with you. I don't know about other countries but there is some serious fear mongering going on here so it not hard to imagine a bunch of terrified US tourists.

My friends are completely the other way round. As a matter of fact I have a friend who is going to wed a Zulu princes in her home village after he kills a cow with his bare hands! Two of my young attractive women friends just returned from solo trips to Malaysia, one of them is blond and tall, sticks out like a sore thumb! They both had a great time.

Tog Tan

Give them my contact should they come again. I am a gracious host by any standards. If your guy friends come, I may not be in the country.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

momoese

lorax

Here, we tend to call those ones "terroristas" instead of "turistas" - they certainly tend to terrorize hosteria staff enough.