WHAT VINTAGE SPANISH OR ENGLISH DO YOU SPEAK?
I am surfeited with "We don´t say that in English/Spanish." This is a flash way of dismissing the language one speaks without admitting the narrowness of one´s language. Youngsters, those who are not dry behind the ears yet, are prone to defending themselves by disregarding a word or idiom they ignore and blaming you, to boot, for making up a new language. I have had the idea for classifying English, not according to levels, but according to its vintage, "su cosecha." For example, I speak English vintage 1956, "inglés cosecha 1956", which was a good year for language, by the way. (Remember "payola"?) Many of the people I interact with, speak Spanish 2000 vintage, "español joven." "Español joven", like "vino" joven", recent vintage, is fine, but lacks that Je ne sais quoi that people in the know enjoy. English vintage (cosecha) 1960 is also good English. It has a good foundation, taste, body, allure, grammar,...