el crispito

Dang it. I feel like such an Amerikan bumpkin, but I must laugh when reading such foreign vulgarities

Fukin A.

[crispy says: You're not alone. I stood there snapping photos and giggling while the store owner gawked at me through the window.]

What does it mean?

This reminds me of a story in the Daily Mail about a student who died of a mysterious illness at the college in Robinson. Her mother's name was Phuct.

The publisher came back snickering that afternoon and said, "I sure hope that's not a typo."

[crispy says: Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it means. There are a lot of Asians living in and visiting Panama, and the staff and other customers in the store seemed to be Asians. Based on the sound of it, I believe that it is Japanese, although I can't tell you what "fuki" means because I don't know Japanese. It means nothing in Spanish, so most Panamanians probably don't even bat an eye when they see this.]

Re: The Unphortunate Ms. Phuct

Legitimate or not, I'm still surprised you didn't get any angry voicemails about it from readers.

I don't get as many calls as you might think, and they've really tapered off from my first couple of years. Either the paper has gotten better or people are resigned to my madness.

I've found that the things about which I'm concerned don't phase anyone. The calls I get are generally about bizarro, insignificant things that blindside me.