Well, sometimes teachers have a point. I'm a Latina, and all those Hispanic surnames like González, Hernández, Fernández, etc., follow the same spelling rules: they all have accents and they always end in "ez" because they used to be patronymics. "Ez" literally means "son of". So, González = Son of Gonzalo, Fernández…

I know. My name is Spanish, but it is very uncommon. Most people think I am a man when they first see my name. I have always worked in multicultural environments and very few people actually remember how to pronounce it - just forget about spelling it correctly. I just LOL when I read emails starting with something…

I agree, it is kind of stupid. I am an atheist, who grew up as a Catholic. I think that it would be more accurate to say that you were raised within the culture of the Catholic Church. The rituals, the traditions, the schooling (catechism, all girls/all boys schools, etc.) are part of a culture that most people have…

General knowledge, really. I am an atheist, raised Catholic, and I would like my kids to know Christianity very very well. Mind you, without all the dogmatic thinking. I'd love it if my kids could understand and compare different religions from an early age. Every religion has a its load of bull, of course, but they…

Sure, she seems to be a very smart and inquisitive little girl, but at that age, she does not have all the information or the necessary knowledge to rule out all religious thought. Religion, at its core, is a mixture of philosophy, mythology, history, tradition and morality that a 7 year old is not quite prepared to…

I have heard the following reasoning: God created Earth for us. Earth has many wonders and resources, and we are entitled to exploit them. Since God is perfect, his creation is perfect as well, thus, climate change is bs. God will eventually provide for us - people who claim otherwise just have no faith in God's mercy…

My take: they have made a career out of Radiohead covers. Seriously, every Coldplay song sounds to me like a low rent version of "Fake Plastic Trees".

Germany is very very strict, but it isn't as bad as in here. The hard thing in Germany is to pass from a limited resident visa to a permanent visa. Also, the path to citizenship is more difficult than in the US. But getting in isn't that hard - moreoever, due to the Schengen agreement, people can apply for a visa to…

Those are two different things though. The Mexican border patrol are known assholes, that is for sure. But Mexican immigration laws are quite fair. Compared to the US, it is a fairly simple process without much waiting. Belive it or not, Mexico had a huge Argentinean immigration problem, because of the 2001 economic…

#1 and #2 are excellent points, but you are totally misunderstanding #3. The Mexican government was/is not promoting emigration to the US. Their intention is to dissuade people from crossing the desert. They are highlighting the consequences of trying to emigrate illegally: sunstrokes, snake bites, kidnappings,…

That's a good point. Even more: Mexico is a middle income country, the 9 th largest economy in the world, with an unemployment rate of 4-5% -a lot lower than the US. It is not a first world country, no, but it is hardly one of the poorest countries in the world. However, they are right next to us, the biggest market…

Oh, but you do. When our economy is booming, we are desperate to have these people come over and take the crappy jobs we don't want to do. We kick them out when they become "incovenient" e.g. when we are going through a recession. Sure, legal immigration yada yada yada, but please do not ignore the huge hipocrisy…

Really? Awesome! I am a freelance translator, so this is definitely good news :) Do you have any links about that?

It is not only a Spanish thing, true, but I do believe that there is a cultural element to it. I have lived in the US, Mexico, and Germany and the differences are very noticeable. German girls, as a general rule, do not get their ears pierced until their teens. Some German women my age do not have their ears pierced…

Oh, this is most definitely a cultural thing. In Latin America, baby girls get their ears pierced by default. It is the thing to do when you have a baby girl. There might be a few exeptions to this rule, of course, but believe me, from Mexico to Argentina it would be hard to find a baby girl without earrings.

This stinks of class privilege. People from wealthier backgrounds are three times more likely to have undertaken unpaid internships than those from poorer backgrounds.

You make a good point, but then she goes and says this:

That's great! Awesome! Gald to know you were in a position to save up for your intenrships. Newsflash: you are still being very privileged. I am the youngest of 3 kids, the surprise baby. My parents were 43 and 56 when I was born. By the time I was trying to intern I was already using their retirement funds to pay…

Yup. One guy friend just broke up with his girlfriend of 4 years and has been "playing the field" for a while, "dating" (err... more like sleeping with) several women at the time. The response from my other guy friends has been unanimous: Dude, stop doing that. It isn't cool to play with other people's feelings like…

Oh God, no, not wrong at all. Actually, all my boyfriends have been my friends first. It usually goes like this for me: friends -> very good friends -> most favoritest guy friend in the world-> "Damn! I think I'm in love with you". So, I can't give you shade for following the same pattern.