# I fear I'm about to lose my country **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 22, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926 "2023-10-22T16:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/961 "2026-08-18T17:52:19Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > guess reading it as a single sentence without a comma it can be understood as ordering Thiel not to be born… I was considering that as a possible meaning, yes. Not so much as ordering it, but as meaning that it would have been better if he hadn’t been. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/962 "2026-08-18T17:56:15Z")
To clarify, **Pardel-Lux** interpretation is the correct one. I guess the insult is so well known here that nobody considered necessary to separate it from the rest of the sign. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/963 "2026-08-18T18:37:45Z")
Learning from Théoden’s poor example, when even a _single_ wizard shows up, I would pay attention and reconsider my actions. If 8+ Grey Wizards were at my doorstep… * * * For those of us who might be missing the nuance (and I find computer translations fail horribly on the nuance of insults) could we have an English version of how it should read out? [This](https://www.ingles.com/traductor/la%20concha%20de%20tu%20madre) gives it to me as: Go fuck yourself. * * * Anyway, on the subject of Theil and the US support of Milei, I was reading an article from last month on the details (or rather, LACK of details by plan) of the Trump’s nearly open ended “loan” of funds to Argentina contingent on Milei staying in power. > **[The U.S. loan to Argentina is a bet on Javier Milei's reforms](https://reason.org/commentary/the-u-s-loan-to-argentina-is-a-bet-on-javier-mileis-reforms/)** > > Argentina’s economic turnaround will depend on whether President Javier Milei can overcome political opposition and deliver lasting reforms. [this is from a Libertarian think tank, and generally leans right, which given the Very minor criticisms it offers, checks out] One of the very few details mentioned, was that by October of 2025, only $2.5 billion had been drawn. Here we are, the better part of year later, and I was wondering if anyone reading along had a better idea of the total use of the funds, and _where they were going_. My cynical self has suspicions, but I was wondering if there was _any_ credit being offered on the Argentinian side (which would please Trump) or if it was just a silent slush fund of any sort. And if Milei has in any way addressed how he was/will be paying it back. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/964 "2026-08-18T19:01:36Z")
AFAIK the funds were used to buy Pesos, thus keeping the value of the Peso stable, one of three things that the Milei administration can offer as a legitimate positive result. Of course the overvalued Peso is killing our industrial exports and the cheap imports are killing our industries but Milei doen’t care about it. (The other 2 things are: “low” inflation, caused by nobody having money to buy anything and fiscal superavit, caused by letting infrastructure rot away) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/965 "2026-08-18T20:24:09Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > could we have an English version La concha de tu madre? In English? OK, if **Frodo** does not want to go that route, I will do my best, although I am not Agentinian myself. May _la puta madre que les parió_ (that is more like my kind of Spanish) have mercy on my soul. So no blur spoilers or anything, we are not prude like that, and this is liguistics, but sure this is NSFW from now on. You have been warned. Literally it means _your mother’s cunt_. I think a translation like the _go fuck yourself_ from your on-line dictionary gets the general spirit of the expression, but remains much too polite. Perhaps English is too reliant on _fuck_ and _shit_ to genuinely convey the depth and rudeness of the insult. On the other hand, in Argentinian Spanish it has lost some of its purely semantical heft: it has been overused and it has worn off. Probably even children say that today. But there were times when shouting it (and I really miss an exclamation mark or two in that banner, because insults are either shouted, or whispered very slowly to the ear) could give you a knife deep in the abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/966 "2026-08-18T20:31:13Z")
This, basically 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/967 "2026-08-18T20:53:46Z")
Thank you both… Eventually someone would have flagged and asked a P&E mod to say something, so I figured I’d ask first. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/968 "2026-08-18T20:59:40Z")
My pleasure, you’re welcome. And now that you know the literal meaning you understand what **Frodo** and **thorny\_locust** wrote: > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Frodo](#): > > > > guess reading it as a single sentence without a comma it can be understood as ordering Thiel not to be born… > > I was considering that as a possible meaning, yes. Not so much as ordering it, but as meaning that it would have been better if he hadn’t been. But, as **Frodo** wrote further down: this is not the correct interpretation of that banner. It is just a LOTR quote followed by a plain, simple, heartfelt insult. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/969 "2026-08-18T22:11:19Z")
Something may be happening, at least some journalists seem to have looked inside their pants and discovered… something there. In the latest press conference of the new presidential spokesman: “The gas tax is supposed to go towards road repair, and you said it’s instead being used to balance the deficit, isn’t that a felony?” “Next question” “But you didn’t answer” “Next question” (another journalist speaks) “Hi, my question is, can you answer my colleague’s question?” “I didn’t say that, next question” “Mr. Spokesman you are lying” “Next question” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/970 "2026-08-18T22:36:58Z")
I _dream_ of our White House correspondents finding theirs instead of sanewashing what our fool of a President says. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/971 "2026-08-18T22:45:12Z")
Well, we elected our idiot one year before you, so in a year may be?. On the other hand your idiot seems to be breaking things even faster than ours and from a better start too, so it could happen even faster. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/972 "2026-08-18T22:52:51Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > now that you know the literal meaning you understand what **Frodo** and **thorny\_locust** wrote I had to look up “concha”; though I recognized the “tu madre” part and presumed it was some sort of insult because I know another phrase in that form, which I’m also pretty sure I shouldn’t go around saying to people. But my Spanish is close to nonexistent, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/973 "2026-08-18T22:56:48Z")
Concha means “shell” in normal Spanish, but not in Rioplatense Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/974 "2026-08-18T23:00:45Z")
Well, “pussy” has a couple meanings as well. It’s all in the context. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/975 "2026-08-18T23:06:43Z")
True, it’s like that. You _can_ say “concha” to mean “shell” in Argentina and be understood, but you’ll receive some looks. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/976 "2026-08-19T02:13:12Z")
Hey, I figured out what “mom’s shell” might be on my own. Considering my _very poor_ Spanish, and the fact that I’m pretty oblivious when it comes to subtext, I’m dang proud of myself! ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/977 "2026-08-19T02:14:08Z")
And you should! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/978 "2026-08-19T04:54:08Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > You _can_ say “concha” to mean “shell” in Argentina and be understood, but you’ll receive some looks. Such is ordinary intercourse. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/979 "2026-09-02T01:08:46Z")
So, on the back of Trump trying to extort Britain by babbling about the Malvinas/Falklands (apparently he’s “reviewing U.S. support” to the U.K.) Milei is trying to make hay and is going to give a presidential address about the issue, probably going to tout it as a significant step to recover the islands… Which is bullshit, and worse, everybody knows it’s bullshit, the U.K. government is the one you need to convince not the U.S. The interesting thing is that internal polls on his job approval must be tanking for him to go and wrap himself in the flag, when everybody knows that he doesn’t give a shit about the islands. Like the Junta when their popularity was in the toilet he’s trying to get some popular support using the island dispute. it’s not going to work of course but it shows he may be getting desperate. Fortunately the military’s image was so negative after the last dictatorship that we’ve spent the last 40 years systematically underfunding them to the point that they are in no state to invade anything, let alone the Malvinas/Falklands (for example the air force has basically no functional fighter/bombers) so he cannot go full Galtieri. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/980 "2026-09-02T01:24:23Z")
-pauses for Reflection- I intellectually understand why the Malvinas/Falklands are a sore point for the nation, but wasn’t Milei’s whole claim to being the right candidate his libertarian and economic reforms to fight inflation and garner investment to recover the economy? I mean, it was boneheaded in the extreme, especially the way he carried it out, but… military adventurism/spending is so far in the other direction it makes no sense. Then again, Trump 1.0 was strong on the “no more foreign wars” and here he is shooting up ships, invading other nations (repeatedly in some cases after “winning”), and standing up national guard troops in the capitol and militarizing ICE, so what the hell can I say about consistency. I agree, it looks like an effort to divert attention at least, and consistency be damned. I really wonder what he’s getting from those internal polls you mentioned. It would likely be a wonderful source of schadenfreude! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926.md?page=50)