Quilt Enthusiast Classic-- I Prove Hermandad is a Word-- April 5, 2004

Tonight I worked the closing shift at Barnes & Noble. As usual, after all the books were put away we all stood around and talked until the manager told us we could go home. Looking for a conversation to join, I found two of my coworkers (lets call them "Kathryn" and "Frances") in front of the Spanish books, several of which "Kathryn" was turning upside down.
"That'll teach the dirty spics," she said (not really).
"Frances" picked up a book by John Grisham, titled "El Hermandad."
"That's not a word." she said, pointing to the title.
"Oh come on," I said, trying to be reasonable, "Of course it is. They actually do expect Spanish speaking people to read this, they're not going to just make up some word and make it the title of a book. What kind of marketing sense does that make?"
"I know it's not a word. I took so much Spanish. I know."
I tried again: "Dearest Frances, I don't mean to be rude, but you are asking me to take your word against that of a large and distinguished publisher, Harpercollins, which is but part of a vast international media conglomerate, News Corporation, which in turn is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Surely Mr. Murdoch and the folks at Harpercollins did not get where they are today by allowing such errors as the one of which you now accuse them. They have editors; they are careful about these things."
"I was in Spain for forty days. I learned so much Spanish. Seriously, it's not a word."
For a moment I was prepared to let it go. Why argue something that could clearly not be settled? But then I realized of course, it can be settled. We work in a book store, one that sells many excellent reference books, some of which are Spanish-English Dictionaries. So I found one, and I looked up the word "hermandad." It means "association." When I told "Frances" this she corrected my pronunciation. I refrained from asking her how she knew the pronunciation of a word that she knew didn't exist. I had already accomplished my goal; it was clear that I was right.

Since I wrote this two years ago I have gotten to know both Frances and Kathryn a lot better: Kathryn hates Hispanic people even more than I thought, and Frances is a compulsive liar who has on different occaisons claimed to be both the inventor of Pop Tarts and an African-American. None of us works at Barnes & Noble anymore. Thank Goodness.
PS- Steve Riggio, you cheap son-of-a-bitch, how the hell are you? How's your blog? Care to leave a comment about how you "do good work," you self-righteous greedy prick?
Don't be mad, it's all love. Always love.