Death in the afternoon
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Destronque: the damage suffered by a bull through too sudden twisting of his spinal column by turning him too shortly with cape or muleta.
Diestro: skillful; generic term for the matador.
Divisa: the colors of the bull breeder which are attached to a small harpoon-shaped iron and placed in the bull's morillo as he enters the ring.
División de Plaza: dividing the ring into two parts by running a barrera across the centre and giving two bullfights at once. Never seen now since the bullfight has become formalized except very occasionally in nocturnal fights when it is done, for lack of other attractions, as a curiosity and relic of old days.
Doblar: to turn; a bull that turns after a charge and recharges; Doblando con el: a bullfighter who turns with the bull keeping the cape or muleta in front of the bull to hold his attention when he has a tendency to leave after each charge.
Doctorado: slang for alternativa; taking the doctor's degree in Tauromachia.
Dominio: the ability to dominate the bull.
Duro: hard, tough and resistant. Also slang for the bony structure which the sword may strike in killing; also a silver five-peseta piece.
E
Embestir: to charge; Embestir bien: to follow the cloth well; to charge freshly and frankly.
Embolado: a bull, steer or cow whose horns have been covered with a leather sheath thickened at the ends in order to blunt the points.
Embroque: space between the bull's horns; to be between the horns.
Emmendar: to correct or improve the position he has taken the bull in, to change from a place or a pass in which he is compromised to another that is successful.
Empapar: to centre the bull's head well into the cloth of either cape or muleta when receiving a charge so that the animal can see nothing beyond the folds of the lure as it is moved ahead of him.
Emplazarse: for the bull to take a position well out in the centre of the ring and refuse to leave it.
Empresa: organization in charge of promoting bullfights in any given ring.
Encajonamiento: the putting of bulls into their individual travelling boxes or cages for shipment from ranch to ring.
Encierro: the driving of fighting bulls on foot, surrounded by steers, from one corral to the corral of the ring. In Pamplona the running of the bulls through the streets with the crowd running ahead of them from the corral at the edge of the town into and through the bull ring into the corral of the ring. The bulls to be fought in the afternoon are run through the streets at seven o'clock in the morning of the day they are to be fought.
Encorvado: bent over; bullfighter who works leaning forward in order to hold the lure so that the bull will pass as far as possible from his body. The straighter the man stands the closer the bull will come to his body.
Enfermería: operating room attached to all bull rings.
Enganchar: to hook into anything with the horn and raise it into the air.
Engaño: anything used to deceive the bull or the spectator. In the first case the cape and muleta, in the second any tricks to simulate a danger not really experienced.
Entablerarse: for the bull to take up a position which he refuses to leave along the planks of the barrera.
Entero: complete; a bull which has arrived at the stage of the killing without having been slowed or weakened by his encounters with the picadors and banderilleros.
Entrar á Matar: to go in to kill.
Eral: two-year-old bull.
Erguido: erect and straight; bullfighter who holds himself very straight when working with the animal.
Espada: synonym for the sword; also used to refer to the matador himself.
Espalda: the shoulders or back of the man. A man who is said to work from the back is a sodomite.
Estocada: sword thrust or estocade in which the matador goes in from the front to attempt to place the sword high up between the bull's shoulder blades.
Estoque: the sword used in bullfighting. It has a lead-weighted, chamois-covered pommel, a straight cross guard five centimetres from the pommel and the hilt and cross guard are wrapped in red flannel. It is not jewel hilted as we read in Virgin Spain. The blade is about seventy-five centimetres long and is curved downward at the tip in order that it may penetrate better and take a deeper direction between the ribs, vertebrae, shoulder blades and other bony structure which it may encounter. Modern swords are made with one, two or three grooves or canals along the back of the blade, the purpose of these being to allow air to be introduced into the wound caused by the sword, otherwise the blade of the sword serves as a plug to the wound it makes. The best swords are made in Valencia and their prices vary according to the number of canals and the quality of steel used. The usual equipment for a matador is four ordinary killing swords and one straight-tipped sword with slightly widened point for the descabello. The blades of all these swords except that used for the descabello are ground razor-sharp half way up their length from the tip. They are kept in soft leather sheaths and the complete outfit is carried in a large, usually embossed, leather sword case.
Estribo: metal stirrup of the picador; also the ridge of wood about eighteen inches above the ground which runs around the inside of the barrera which aids the bullfighters in vaulting the wooden fence.
Extraño: sudden movement to one side or the other made by either bull or man.
F
Facultades: physical abilities or assets in the man; in the bull preserving his facultades is called keeping his qualities intact in spite of punishment.
Facultativo: — Parte Facultativo: official diagnosis to be sent to the President of the fights of a bullfighter's wound or wounds dictated by the surgeon in charge in the infirmary after he has treated or operated on the man.
Faena: the sum of the work done by the matador with the muleta in the final third of the bullfight; it also means any work carried out; a faena de campo being any of the operations of bull raising.
Faja: sash worn around the waist as a belt.
Falsa: false, incorrect, phoney. Salidas en falsa are attempts to place the banderillas in which the man passes the bull's head without deciding to place the sticks either because the bull has not charged, in which case the man's action is correct, or because the man simply had made an error in lack of decision. They are sometimes made, very gracefully, simply to show the matador's judgment of distance
Farol: pass with the cape which commences as a veronica with the cape held in both hands, but as the bull passes the man the cape is swung around the man's head and behind his back as he turns with the bull following the swing of the cape.
Farpa: long, heavy banderilla used by Portuguese bullfighters who place them on horseback.
Fenómeno: a phenomenon; originally used to designate a young matador who showed exceptional aptitudes for his profession, it now is principally used as a sarcasm to describe a bullfighter who is advanced by publicity faster than his experience and aptitudes warrant.
Fiera: wild beast; slang for the bull. Also slang for loose woman as we would say bitch.
Fiesta: holiday time or time of enjoyment; Fiesta de los toros: the bullfight. Fiesta nacional: bullfight; used in a sneering way by writers opposed to the corrida as a symbol of Spain's backwardness as a European nation.
Fijar: to cut short the bull's running and fix him in a certain place.
Filigranas: fancy business done with the bull; or artistic refinements of any pass or act in bullfighting.
Flaco: — toro flaco: bull that is lean, flaccid or hollow. Not well filled in.
Flojo: weak, so-so, unconvincing, spiritless.
Franco: noble bull easy to work with.
Frenar: to put on the brakes; bull which slows suddenly when passing the man to stop and gore instead of pursuing his normal course; one of the most dangerous bulls to work with as he appears to be going to pass and gives no previous indication of his intention of braking.
Frente par detrás: pass with the cape in which the man's back is turned toward the bull bu
t his body covered with the cape which is extended to one side by both arms. It is really a form of the veronica performed with the back toward the bull.
Fresco: calmly, shamelessly, cynical.
Fuera: get away! Get out! Get the hell out! Depending on the degree of vehemence with which it is shouted.
G
Gachis: tarts about town.
Gacho: horns that point down.
Galleando: the man with the cape on his back as though he were wearing it looks back over his shoulder toward the bull and moving in a series of zig-zags, feints, and dodgings causes the bull to follow the turns and swings of the lower part of the cape.
Gallo: fighting cock; the professional name of the great Gomez family of gypsy bullfighters.
Ganadería: ranch where fighting bulls are raised; all the bulls, cows, calves and steers on such a ranch.
Ganadero: breeder of fighting bulls.
Ganar terreno: bull which forces the man to give ground each time he charges thus gaining it for himself.
Garrocha: synonym for the pike or pic used by the picador; a vaulting pole used for leaping over the bull in old-time fights.
Gente: people; gente coletudo or the pigtailed citizenry refers to the bullfighters.
Ginete: horseman, picador; buen ginete: a good rider.
Golletazo: sword thrust in the side of the neck of the bull which goes into the lung causing death almost at once from choking hemorrhage; used to assassinate bulls by panic-stricken matadors who are afraid to approach the horns; this estocade is only justified on bulls that have received one or more proper estocades or attempts and which defend themselves so well, refusing to uncover the space where they should be killed between the shoulders, tossing the muleta out of the man's hand as he comes in and refusing to charge, that the man has no other choice than to attempt a golletazo.
Gótico: gothic; un niño gótico in bullfighting is a conceited boy fond of striking gothic architectural attitudes.
Gracia: grace and elegance of manner while undergoing danger; gracia gitana: gypsy grace.
Grado: the balcony or covered seats in a bull ring above the open seats or tendidos and the covered boxes or palcos.
Grotesca: grotesque; the opposite of graceful.
Guardia: municipal policeman; not taken seriously even by himself. Guardia Civil: national police, are taken very seriously; armed with sabres and 7 mm. caliber mauser carbines they are, or were, a model of ruthless, disciplined constabulary.
H
Hachazo: chopping stroke of the bull's horns.
Herida: wound.
Herradera: branding of calves on the ranch.
Herradura: horseshoe; cortar la herradura: to cut the horseshoe, an estocada well placed, fairly high up but in which the blade, once in, takes an oblique downward direction into the bull's chest, cutting the pleura, and causing immediate death without any external hemorrhage.
Hierro: branding iron; brand of a bull breeder of fighting bulls.
Hombre: man, as an ejaculation expresses surprise, pleasure, shock, disapproval or delight, according to tone used. Muy Hombre: very much of a man, i.e., plentifully supplied with huevos, cojones, etc.
Hondo: deep; estocada honda: sword in up to the hilt.
Hueso: bone; in slang means a tough one.
Huevos: eggs; slang for testicles as we say balls.
Huir: to run away; shameful both in bull and matador.
Hule: oilcloth; slang for the operating table. Humillar: lower the head.
I
Ida: estocada in which the blade takes a pronounced downward direction without being perpendicular. Such an estocade although well placed may cause hemorrhage from the mouth through the blade going so nearly straight down that it touches the lungs.
Ida y Vuelta — allez et retour: round trip; a bull which turns by himself at the end of a charge and comes again on a straight line. Ideal for the bullfighter who can look after his aesthetic effects without having to bring the bull around at the end of the charge with cape or muleta.
Igualar: get the bull's front feet together.
Inquieto: nervous.
Izquierda: left; mano izquierda: the left hand, called zurda in bull ring dialect.
J
Jaca: riding horse, mare or pony; Jaca torera: a mare so well trained by the Portuguese bullfighter Simao Da Veiga that he was able, when he was mounted on her, to place banderillas with both hands, not touching the bridle, the horse being guided by spur and pressure of the knees alone.
Jalear: to applaud.
Jaulones: the individual boxes or cages in which bulls are shipped from the ranch to the ring. These are owned by the breeders, marked with his brand, name and address and returned after the fight.
Jornalero: day laborer; bullfighter who barely makes his living through his profession.
Jugar: to play; jugando con el toro: when one or more matadors unarmed with a cape but carrying the banderillas held together in one hand play with the bull by half provoking a series of charges; running in zig-zags or seeing how close they can approach the bull while playing without provoking a charge. To do this attractively much grace and knowledge of the bull's mental processes is necessary.
Jurisdicción: the moment in which the bull while charging arrives within reach of where the man is standing and lowers his head to hook; more technically speaking, when the bull leaves his terrain and enters the terrain of the bullfighter arriving at the place the man wishes to receive him with the cloth.
K
Kilos: a kilo equals two and one-fifth pounds. Bulls are weighed in kilos sometimes after they are killed and before being dressed out and always after they are dressed, drawn, skinned, heads and hoofs and all parts of the meat that has been damaged cut away. This latter state is called en canal and for many years the weight of bulls has been judged when they are in this state. A four-and-a-half-year-old fighting bull should weigh from 295 to 340 kilos en canal depending on their size and type; the present legal minimum that they may weigh is 285 kilos. The dressed-out or en canal weight of a bull is estimated as 52 1/2 per cent of his live weight. Just as in money where the legal unit is the peseta yet sums are never mentioned in conversation in pesetas but rather in reales or 25 centimos, a fourth of a peseta, or in duros, five pesetas, in the weight of bulls for conversational purpose the arroba or weight unit of twenty-five pounds is the measuring unit. A bull is measured or estimated in the number of arrobas of meat he will dress out when butchered. A bull of 26 arrobas will dress out a fraction over 291 kilos. That is as small as bulls should be fought if the animal is to be imposing enough to give real emotion to the corrida. From 26 to 30 arrobas is the ideal weight for fighting bulls that have not been fattened on grain. Each arroba between 24 and 30 means as definite a difference in the hitting power, size, and destructiveness as there is between the different classes in boxing. To make a comparison we may say that in point of strength and destructive power bulls under 24 arrobas are the flyweights, bantamweights, and featherweights. Bulls from 24 to 25 arrobas are lightweights and welterweights. Bulls of 26 arrobas are middleweights and light heavyweights; 27 to 30 arrobas are heavyweights, and all above 30 arrobas approach the Primo Camera class. A cornada or horn wound from a bull that weighs only 24 arrobas will, if it is properly placed, be as fatal as one from a much larger animal. It is a dagger stroke with ordinary force while the bull of 30 arrobas gives the same dagger stroke with the force of a pile-driver. It is a fact, however, that a bull of 24 arrobas is generally immature; little over three years old; and bulls of that age do not know how to use their horns skillfully either offensively or defensively. The ideal bull therefore to provide a sufficiently dangerous enemy for the bullfighters so that the corrida will retain its emotion should be at least four and a half years old in order to be mature, and weigh, when dressed out, an absolute minimum of 25 arrobas. The more arrobas it weighs from 25 up, without losing speed and not simply gaining weight by being fattened, the greater the emotion will be and the m
ore meritorious will be any work accomplished by the man with the animal. To follow bullfights intelligently or understand them thoroughly you must learn to think in arrobas just as in boxing you must class the men in the various formal classifications by weight. At present the bullfight is being killed by unscrupulous bull breeders who sell under-aged, under-weight and under-bred bulls, not testing them sufficiently for bravery, and thus abusing and forfeiting the tolerance that had been extended to their undersized products as long as they were brave and liable to provide a brilliant if unemotional corrida.