2024-08-27 14:45:06
The clichés about Spaniards that many foreigners know are that they are lazy, party-loving and noisebut within Spain there are a lot of local stereotypes that have not been heard of.
One of them is that man from Madrid – madrileños as we call them – proud.
It is true that people who live in big cities or major cities – whether it is Paris, London or New York – are often accused of being full of themselves by those who come from small towns and cities.
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It is also happening more, their cities are always in the news, the inhabitants of big cities are always rich, their buildings are the most luxurious, their population is large, etc., all contribute to the understanding that some see that the people of the capital look down. on others.
Madrid’s confidence is not mixed with indifference, however. Madrid is generally regarded as a welcoming city and its people are tolerant.
But it is true that many madrileños walk with a spring in their step, thinking that their city is the best, but can we consider them arrogant?
In fact there is a historical explanation that explains how the stereotype started.
The Spanish word pimp has many meanings (‘pimp’ and ‘cool’ to name a couple) but the most common among them is the adjective for ‘cocky’ or ‘brazen’.
At the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language there is another meaning for it pimp: “People who work from Madrid who are important for attractive clothes and the way they carry themselves”.
Pimps are also known for being young rogues who often commit petty crimes and manage to survive through trickery, wit and charm – artful dodgers if you will.
With the strut and sass of Spain’s Peaky Blinder, Madrid’s pimps would walk around 18th century Madrid wearing waistcoats with a carnation in the lapel, black trousers, black and white checked hats, boots and a white scarf around their neck.
The women’s clothing chula is just as eye-catching: carnations pinned to their hair under a veil, a thick skirt with ruffles at the bottom and what is known as a Manila scarf on their shoulders.
This actually describes the clothes we wear through madrileños for their local fiestas today, more commonly known as chulapos we had chulapas nowadays.
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The fact that the clothes of the cocky wheeler merchants of Madrid 300 years ago are now worn with pride madrileñosand that is the word pimp itself means pride in Spanish – goes some way to explaining a long-standing stereotype.
Madrid has more ‘old money’ in general than anywhere else in Spain, and that is best shown during the winter by the best women wearing big fur coats. Photo: Gabriel Buoys/AFP
There is certainly a lot of pride and self-assurance for coming from Madrid, especially within gatos (cat, more on that below), but not enough to call it pride.
However, madrileños who went on holiday to other parts of Spain had built a bit of a reputation for being disrespectful and annoying.
People from the green northwest region refer to regular travelers from Madrid as fodechinchos, Originally it meant fish thieves but now it is used to describe these vacationers who don’t understand that things are different there.
People from the capital have built a fairly bad reputation for arriving in droves in Andalusia and the Valencia region during the summer months and criticizing everything from work practices to beaches and food.
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Ask locals from coastal areas what they think madrileños who ‘invade’ their towns and villages in the summer months and they will tell you that they find them proud.
Then again, being a tourist in Spain at the moment, no matter where you come from, is likely to cause some grumbling within the regions due to the massive tourism crisis the country is going through.
Madrid work at a faster pace than most Spaniards, there is more “old money” and more posh people to go with it than anywhere else in Spain (so called posh or the cayetans) and the city is actually home to the best football team in history (Real Madrid that is, sorry Atlético fans).
There are many reasons for people from Madrid to have a little whiff of hubris about them, but certainly not everyone.
This city of 3.4 million people is too diverse to carry a proud label. Cheeky and cocky maybe, but not rude.
In their book “Madrid: Midnight City”, British authors Jules Stewart and Helen Crisp pay attention to it madrileños as being “very local people pretending to be global”.
“Behind the facade of hard workers who are controversial and serious, there is a spirit of compassion that still believes in the full enjoyment of life,” Stewart told the Spanish daily El Confidencial about the general population of Madrid.
That’s the feeling that many foreigners get when they go to the Spanish capital, it’s a fun and bustling city that welcomes you in with open arms, a place that feels more like a city than big cities more of Europe and beyond.
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