AustLit

In this column, Balcells recounts the distress of an Hispanic couple whose daughter has started going out with an Australian boy who dresses as a punk. The daughter's mother says, 'he has a ring in his ear, his hair in a mohawk as high as the horses of the queen. A disaster!' [con un aro en la oreja y todo. Con el pelo cortado al rape en los costados, un penacho alto como los caballos de la reina... qué sé yo, ¡un desastre!]

Balcells counsels her, saying that adolescents are the same everywhere and that she shouldn't get too upset. The mother admits that the boy is from a good family, and at least he's clean ['Lo único a favor, es limpio; parece que se baña']. Some time later, the mother contacts Balcells to thank him for his advice to stay calm. Her daughter has broken up with the punk Australian boy and is now going out with a Spanish-speaking boy named Carlos, the son of Spanish, or Argentinian parents - she's not sure which.

Two days later, though, the mother rings Balcells again, again distressed. She has now met Carlos, and he also is 'punk', but worse, he's dirty, smelly and he smokes marijuana [Es sucio, maloliente y fuma marihuana].