Chile Forum

El Club de Toby is alive and well. We had some friends (all men) over for an “asado”, we opened up several bottles of wine, lovely marinated meat, “algo para picar”, nice fire, groovy music and everyone was laughing and talking and using INFORMAL Spanish. This is to say, the friends were calling me Mercy. I walk inside to fetch some more wine and when I return “the friends” begin to address me using formal Spanish i.e. Usted and Sra. Mercy. Being referred to as “señora” was not a sign of respect. I was an uninvited guest in my own home.

They said it was “el club de toby”; a club in which the only requisite is you must be able to pee standing up.
Chilean men following their flock and participating in weekly meetings, bragging about imagined adventures, the gorgeous babe they never touched, fabulous ideas, blindly supporting the brotherhood, and the winner, macho bonding to pump up faltering male egos.

Lawyers, bankers, engineers, sales men, politicians, vegetarians, peons, farmers, bikers, students, translators, bosses, computer geeks and even artists have this very annoying tendency to look to the MAN.
The next guy that calls me “mijita” or “reina” or “abuelita” I WILL …….well I suppose it depends on who is doing the calling, after all, El Club de Toby does have some advantages; like never having to change a flat tire.