Are the Spanish rude? - 2 - Parking de oído
by Ben Curtis
OK, it’s time to wrap up this ‘are the Spanish rude?’ thing. I think there are three more major points to cover, so let’s start today with parking…
Aparcar de oído, to park by ear, means reversing into a parking space until you hear, or more accurately ‘feel’, your rear bumper whack into the car behind, then going forward until you shunt the car in front, and repeating as necessary until the car more or less fits into the space provided. This method of parking, commonly seen on the streets of Spain, is obviously a lot quicker than the over-polite pussyfooting around you see in other countries (e.g. the UK) as drivers carefully ease themselves into empty spots in terror of being spotted nudging the car behind. And anyway, what are those big bumpers for, if not for a bit of harmless bumping? Rude? Not really. Lazy perhaps… and you can bet no-one in Spain is paying extra cash for those pointless systems that use radar or sonar or some such nonsense to tell you how close you are getting to the vehicle behind when reversing.
However, what IS rude is parking de oído when the owner of the car behind you is sitting in their car! It’s not as if I spend a lot of my time on the streets of Madrid doing just that, but on several occasions that I’ve been waiting for my other half to dash in an out of a shop, I have been interrupted from a brief siesta by a seismic shift of the whole vehicle as some idiot in a car twice the size of the available space in front of me seems to try to push my car backwards to open up the necessary extra room.
P.S. If you think this all sounds a bit unlikely, 80% of the trees planted on the streets of Valladolid (and you really know you can speak Spanish when you can pronounce that town properly!), have been damaged by fine de oído parking techniques.
P.P.S. Walk down any street in Spain and look at the sides of the cars parked on the road and you will clearly see that some people don’t always go bumper to bumper. Without doubt, parking de oído against the sides/doors/wings of other cars is definitely, 100%, 10 out of 10 Rude!
P.P.P.S. I don’t think this is Spain, but it might as well be (warning, very very very excruciating video):
Posted: May 7th, 2007 under Defining the Spanish, Spanish Culture and News.
Comments: 21
Comments
Comment from Edith
Time: May 7, 2007, 10:20 pm
Wow, this woman has got a lot of patience! She must be one of those positivos who believes in the impossible, LOL
BTW, which language were these guys speaking? An Italian dialect or maybe Lunfardo? (heavy Buenos Aires slang) I didn’t catch a single word of what they were saying.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: May 7, 2007, 11:04 pm
Driving such small cars and still have to bang up bumper to bumper to park?
Comment from Stuart
Time: May 8, 2007, 1:16 am
VS, that’s a relatively large car in Europe. 
Comment from luke
Time: May 8, 2007, 4:00 pm
Not only have I seen regular Madrid drivers parking on zebra crossings but also the police. When it comes to crossing roads, life for a pedestrian in Madrid is that of a second class being. I think one of the world’s best artists, Francis Bacon, was run over and killed in Madrid. If you’re trying to cross the road from Atocha station, then run for your life!
Comment from Oh brother
Time: May 8, 2007, 4:24 pm
How long before Jose Antonio weighs in on this topic?
Comment from Steve
Time: May 8, 2007, 5:09 pm
I agree with Luke, the pedestrian is certainly a third class citizen in Madrid. It is the height of selfishness when people park on zebra crossings. I think it is rude when people bump into your car when they are parking, they obviously don´t have to pay the higher insurance premiums which seem to increase every year, they might not take pride in the appearence of their cars but others do (or at least try to do).
Comment from Frank
Time: May 8, 2007, 7:54 pm
I’m afraid that while the police are so inept and allow people to park on zebra crossings, on bends, double yellows etc, people will continue to do it. Not really sure why they bother with zebra crossings, they’d be better off saving the paint, nobody (no Spanish) ever stops. I know when I do in Spain, I get looks of total disbelief that I have stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross.
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: May 8, 2007, 9:37 pm
The four sides of the crossroads outside my flat have a small row of parking spaces on each one, but they soon fill up. People park double, and then freak out with their horns when they’re blocked in (normal practice here), but the other Saturday night, I saw a new parking technique that seemed to keep everyone satisfied. One driver parked his car just slightly to one side, but still almost “in the middle” of the actual junction (and a busy junction at that!). He was far enough away from the parked rows of cars to not block them, and given that the junction is fairly wide, passing cars could still drive around him. Problem solved! Ingenious! (Until more than one person tries it per junction!)
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: May 9, 2007, 1:15 am
True that, Stuart! I’d hate to see what that driver would do if she drove a Hummer or a Lincoln Navigator in New York City. 
Comment from Carl
Time: May 9, 2007, 4:34 am
My friend Fernando, in Madrid, is the best driver and parker I have ever seen. And I come from a culture of driving. I, and every native Angeleno, have driven every day since we were 16 years old. And before that we were driven around since we were born.
I kind of like the “hay que dar” un poco parking method. He could fit in spaces I would never attempt. He never does any damage. You just bump a little. Of course in LA this could never happen, but then it doesn’t have to, we have more space. The fish adapt to the size of their bowls.
Comment from Stuart
Time: May 9, 2007, 3:54 pm
VS,
People actually drive in NYC? I thought they just sat in grid-locked streets, slamming the horn every few seconds and yelling out of the window at the car in front. Driving? forgeddaboutit!
Comment from Keith
Time: May 9, 2007, 9:24 pm
whilst I can confirm that was Italian I would have to leave it to a native to confirm the region. My guess would be Rome or to the south of Rome. Needless to say that this type of parking “technique” is not limited to Spain….
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: May 9, 2007, 10:34 pm
Well Stuart, there is the occasional automobile movement in the Big Apple and yes, Offensive Driving is practiced in NYC, otherwise you won’t go anywhere. Its sort of Darwinian.
Comment from David
Time: May 10, 2007, 3:24 pm
I second what you’re all saying that this parking technique is not limited to Madrid or Spain. It is also employed in Mexico, although it’s not considered the best style. In Mexico it’s called dándole un llegue o un beso al otro coche. If you weren’t supposed to do it, cars wouldn’t have bumpers right?
Cheers from the other side of the pond.
Comment from mike
Time: May 11, 2007, 10:06 am
Hi everyone!
I agree totally with the “rude” angle - especially when someone is sat in their parked car. However, there is someting I do like about this Spanish charateristic. Its the fact that it shows that the Spanish are not totally “in love” with their cars - unlike in some other European countries (UK, Germany…?) where cars often get more love than wives/husbands.
I remember one of my first trips to Spain. A friend of mine was asked to move someones newish car to make room for something or other. The car who moved the car proceeded to reverse the car into a rock, damaging the back bumper and scratching a wing slightly. I was shocked (and now totally impressed) that the owner of the car didnt even look at the damage. He was genuinely not interested when he said “its only a car”. A great attitude in my opinion
Comment from Edith
Time: May 11, 2007, 11:27 am
@ Mike,
So true! Many people in my neck of the woods (Holland) would get a cardiac arrest if this happened to their car! 
Comment from Rachel
Time: May 11, 2007, 11:50 am
I have forwarded this to all of my family and friends so that they can see I am actually just very trendy and European when I park the car, rather than the “kind of driver that makes insurance premiums what they are today”!!!!
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: May 11, 2007, 2:58 pm
Uh, Mike and Rachel, remind not to bother you to move my car. 
Comment from Andrea
Time: May 16, 2007, 9:03 am
Actually this takes place in Rome, because they are speaking a heavy slang used just in Rome…After this I’m ashamed of my nationality! =)
Comment from Edith
Time: May 16, 2007, 9:31 pm
@ Andrea,
Ah, so my first guess was correct! It thought it might be an Italian dialect. Do Italians from other regions understand this kind of heavy slang?
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Time: August 15, 2007, 8:00 am
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