For those of you waiting with bated breath, or simply
insufficiently curious to research the answer to last Saturday’s quiz, Chile’s official currency
between 1960 and 1975 was the escudo, which takes its name from the
country’s coat of arms (the word, however, is not exclusive to Chilean
Spanish). In the early independence era, Chile
also issued gold escudos.
The escudo replaced an earlier peso after a period of hyper-inflation, and disappeared after another similar period. The image above is the one-half escudo banknote of the time. Before
entering the European Union, Portugal and its colonies also used escudo as the name of its currency (the word is identical in Spanish and Portuguese).
In the days since I posted the quiz, I had five correct
responses; the second and third were virtual ties, so I’m giving away three
books instead of two. Those will go to Jennifer Rose of Morelia, Mexico; Steve
Behaegel of Merelbeke, Belgium; and Owen Lipsett of Incheon, Korea (my readers
are a little widespread than I had figured on, though Owen is presently
visiting his hometown of Scarborough, New York).
The Beer Amendment
Since I finished this piece, an anonymous correspondent (see the comments below) reminded me that I had overlooked another meaning for Escudo - it's one of Chile's most popular beers. I don't feel all that bad about the omission, as it's a pretty generic supermarket beer that can't come close to the craft brews Chile now produces, and my own beer consumption amounts to less than a six pack per annum - I far prefer Chilean wine (and its Argentine and Uruguayan counterparts). Still, in the interest of thorough coverage, I mention it here.
The Beer Amendment
Social Media Update
Meanwhile, I don’t recall whether or not I have mentioned
that I now have a Facebook account, which I use primarily for photography;
please feel free to visit and to give me a “like” (presuming, of course, that
you actually like it). More recently, I have opened a Twitter account (@southernconetrv),
which lets me refer readers to items of interest that I don’t have time to
explore in greater depth, and to make succinct editorial comments. Please feel
free to follow me.
4 comments:
Hey WBB, Bob Hendley here. What are the "hinterlands" of BA?
That's a good question. I would say the surrounding parts of Buenos Aires province, where estancias have become the local counterpart of North American dude ranches, but perhaps as far as the relatively low mountain ranges of Tandil and Sierra de la Ventana in the southern part of the province.
BEER!!!!
You are absolutely correct, and I have revised the text above to acknowledge that.
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