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Say it with Banners

Posted on March 12, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Vocabulary | Leave a Comment

If you walk about any neighborhood of Montevideo you will notice banners with some message or another hung across the street. These banners, called pasacalles, are a quirky and inexpensive way to surprise other people and wish them Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Welcome Home, Congratulations and sometimes just to express one’s opinion. It is also widely used for commercial purposes to announce openings, promotions, as well as, by political parties.

They are common across Uruguay and are the subject of several pieces of legislation regulating their use and are currently illegal in Montevideo. In spite of that, they continue to be very popular. According to this article, the city needs to remove banners that are put up illegally on a regular basis. One of the articles also states that few people are ever caught or fined. As anyone strolling around the city can attest, city employees cannot hope to catch up.

In January, my wife and I were walking around in Pocitos and came across a pasacalle with the following message: “Madero, quiero doblar la apuesta”. (Madero, I want to double the bet.) My wife looked at it wistfully and said: how come you never did that for me? Hesitantly, I muttered something like: they would probably arrest me if I climbed on a tree in our neighborhood; and besides I was never good with block letters. Fortunately, she didn’t hear me as she was still in a trance trying to picture this couple renewing their commitment to each other in such a beautifully public way.

If you are in Montevideo and are interested in having a sign put up for you, make sure the message is vague enough that it cannot be traced to you. In a case of funny economics, now that they are illegal, they are even cheaper since you do not have to pay to get the banner removed. The city will do it for you, for free. In the meantime, you can take bets as to how long the sign will stay up. According to my observations, I would bet two weeks to a month.

Useful Phrases

What banner, sorry I don’t speak Spanish.
Quiero hablar con mi abogado.
Señor inspector, la idea fue de mi esposa.
Lo hize solo para alegrar mi abuelita que se está muriendo.

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• Uruguayan Mate Custom
• Marijuana Legal Status in Uruguay
• Types of Cheeses Made in Uruguay
• Things to Consider Before Hiring Household Help
• Uruguayan Knife Sharpener
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• Uruguayan Banking Vocabulary

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