Spanish newspaper El País has this Sunday once again passed through the wringer of social media, this time in response to a description (link in Spanish) of the terrorists that attacked Barcelona and Cambrils: "The town [of Ripoll], in a state of shock, tries to explain how some young men who studied, played and grew up in catalán de payés are today tragic news". That expression, "catalán de payés", literally translates as "peasant farmer Catalan". The description, surely naive but clearly derogatory, has been torn apart for "classism" and "negligent journalism" by personalities like the writer Milena Busquets and philologist Màrius Serra. The Madrid newspaper has been a protagonist of social media for three days, and is still generating indignation and, like today, being the laughing stock of Twitter users. Such descriptions bring back difficult memories of Francoism for Catalans, when the language was dismissed as a patois and banned in schools and public administration.
Translation: "In perfect peasant Catalan" on the front page of El País. You're joking, right?
So, a doubt, the idea is that farmers don't speak correct or perfect Catalan. Is that it?
It's a comment of unacceptable classism, stupidity and ignorance.
"Perfect peasant Catalan"
Note: The picture is of Jacint Verdaguer, one of the most famous Catalan poets and one of the leaders of the 19th-century Renaixença Catalan cultural revival movement. He's shown in traditional payés clothes on a Franco-era 500 peseta note.
'Peasant Catalan', this Spain catches the Francoist national progressivism
As a member of the Institute for Catalan Studies, it makes me very happy to note the birth of the new variant "peasant Catalan". Thanks for everything, El Pais.
You speak "peasant Catalan" with your mouth full of "pantumaca".
Note: Pa amb tomàquet is one of the most famous Catalan dishes and a symbol of the region. In its simplest form it's bread with tomato rubbed over, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. In Spanish, it's often known by the invented, sound-alike word pantumaca.
Peasant Catalan or negligent journalism?
The languages of the Spanish Levant: Valencian, Mallorcan, Menorcan, Ibizan, Lapao, peasant Catalan
Note: "Lapao" was the name given by the PP (Popular Party) government to the Catalan spoken in Aragon along the Catalonia border.
But there must be subvarieties: "peasant Catalan" from Empordà, from Pallars, from Baix Ebre, from Osona, from la Segarra, etc.
'Perfect peasant Catalan' they write in a careful, flowery and musical Spanish of idiots
Peasant Catalan. The Musical.
I'm going to check the "Peasant Catalan - Spanish" dictionary