before estate agents arrived?

[gavilan]

when we came here, Axarquia Alta, looking to buy an old property some 6/7 years ago, there were no estate agents (or new build houses) then ... a spanish friend introduced us to a local man who had the keys to various old cortijos and casitas and he showed us around ... was that the way it was done before estate agents arrived? and what would he, or his profession, have been called?

[Beachcomber]

He was a 'corredor' which literally means 'runner'.

Ah, those were the days!!.

[gavilan]

thanks so much Beachcomber ... a 'corredor' presumably from 'correr' to run? ... and so people would have left him their house keys when they left in search of work in places like Barcelona?

[Grouser]

Some estate agents still use them. Or at least they did when we were looking four years ago. We had to wander round the streets of Rio Gordo and this guy would keep checking back with us about the state of play with various properties in the village.

[mark]

The guy here in our village was/is the local fishmonger! A man of many talents

[silver]

He was a 'corredor' which literally means 'runner'.

was you talk like they are a thing of the past...but they are still present in most villages.. he still picked up his commission of 5% 2 paid by the seller and 3 by the buyer (could be the other way round) apart from showing the property he will be the in-betweener when buyer and seller are discussing prices and conditions.

[gavilan]

delighted to know el corredor is still alive and well in the villages ... had never heard that word/title before yesterday on A/C ... but later that night reading the book 'Recuperando La Memoria' about the anti-Franco Maquiis in the Sierra Tejeda and Almijara in the 1940s I came across it again ... someone who used to live in Puente don Manuel was referred to as 'el corredor' as 'he was much in touch with the men of the Sierras'

also an interviewee says that there were so many men in the mountains above Alcaucin at that time that there was 'una estafeta' there ... ?some sort of secret post office? ... anybody able to give me a better/more fluent translation? I am struggling to read this book as there is so much vocabulary I do not know!

[hillybilly]

My dictionary says that una estafeta is a sub-post office, which would fit.

[nevada smith]

dictionaries don't get the attention they deserve -
some of them define words from current use to older uses -
e.g. corredor -
3. athletic runner
4. broker, commercial agent, canvasser
5. corridor, passage, gallery
6. FORT, covert way

much the same with 'una estafeta'
while being a post office substation, historical references include
diplomatic mail... couriers

it is most likely that the mountains above alcaucin were
(and probably still are)
conducive to the secrect receipt & dissemination of information
by couriers...

[gavilan]

re Nevada Smith comment that 'dictionaries done get the attention they deserve' ... I often look up words in such books and on the internet but 'cant get no satisfaction' .. like they do not give a picture of what really went on like with 'estafeta' ... dictionary says 'sub-post office' ... which hardly fits the scene of desperate men being hunted by Guardia Civil in the mounatins!

and here are some more words from the same book which even my Diccionario ... Real Academia Espanola does not include: 'tajaillos'; 'punetazo' (some sort of knock or blow?); 'enmayados' (something to do with children who were hungry?) 'canamo' (some sort of cane or esparto?)

also thinking of 1940s guerrillos and Guardia Civil ... any body heard of 'Cabo Largo' and 'Cabo Mesa'... cant work out which side they were on!

[silver]

tajaillos... is someone in a merry state due to booze...
punetazo..is a punch
enmayados..Many say they are mayado (only sounds like this but could have a en at the begining)..when they are hungry
canamo..could that be cañamo..the happy plant?

[lis48]

Quote:
'punetazo'


I know that a puňetazo is a punch with a fist (puňo). I love the way the word in Spanish conveys the object you are using to hit someone with just by adding azo. Guantazo being a slap with a glove (guanto), punterazo a kick with the toe of a shoe (puntera), tomatazo a hit with a tomato, balonazo a hit with a ball etc. etc.
Caňamo is given as hemp or cannabis in my dictionary.

[silver]

A cabo largo is a long bit of string..
A cabo is a militry name for the one under a sargent..what ever that is is English...so I guess a Cabo largo is probably inbetween.

[silver]

Cabo Largo' and 'Cabo Mesa

They could be two "Cabos" ...one who´s name was Largo and the other who´s name was Mesa...

[peteroldracer]

I don't know about Cabo Mesa, but the other one ran away to Florida, unfortunately taking the key to the sub post-office with him. When he realised, he sent it back, and in recognition of his honesty, they named the town where he was living after him.

[nevada smith]

the fault, dear gavilan,
is not in our dictionaries, but in ourselves...

taken by themselves
'network of tunnels' or 'underground railroad'
hardly fit the scene either...

[silver]

It seem that una estafeta is a safe pouch, box or base where mail can be deposited by the sender and remains there until the recipient picks it up. ...like a post office box...

[gavilan]

hemp or cannabis ... the guy was in the mountains gathering 'esparto o canamo para hacer abarcas' when he saw the Guardia Civil shoot the guerrillos ...
'estafeta' ... safe, pouch, box or base ... I was assuming that since the comment in the book was that there were so many guerrillos around Alcaucin that one of the men was the 'estafeta' ie like a postman or corredor taking messages to other Maquis in the Sierras ... but I dont know and sometimes wonder why I am doing this! but the stories of those men surviving in such hostile terrain for over 10 years are interesting to say the least.

[silver]

hemp or cannabis ... the guy was in the mountains gathering 'esparto o canamo para hacer abarcas

rope used to be made from hemp..and this rope or rope made from esparto was and is still used for making the soles of the abarcas...or alpargatas as this type of shoe is more commonly called now days.

one of the men was the 'estafeta' ie like a postman or corredor taking messages to other Maquis in the Sierras

yes probably verbal "post box"

[gavilan]

thanks to you all for your translations and information ... you are far more helpful and interesting than any dictionary!