Last week Brian Flesser, known in these parts as cuchuflete, let me know that he was in the ICU and not expected to last long (“Have had a good run for 79 yrs, so whatever happens is ok”); his wife Emma has given me the bitter news that his run was ended, and I wanted to share it with the Hattic community. He had been lurking here for many years but only started participating actively fairly recently; he sent me many excellent links for posting, and we exchanged friendly e-mails which on his part usually closed with Saludos or Até (“Brazilians love new slang and clipped phrases. Thus the closing of a letter, fully Até a próssima [until the next time…] is now usually nothing more than Até”). Once I asked him about his background, and he sent this:
Failed phd at hopkins in Golden Age Spanish Philology. Rare book dealer, bartender/waiter for Baltimore slumlord, Wandered southern Europe playing music in cafes for food while learning Portuguese and Italian. Dropped into straight world around age 30. Wharton MBA. Management strategy consultant in US, Europe and south America. Quit job I loved to be present as dad and husband. Industrial marketing and prod. Dev. director mostly logistics software. ~25 yrs until me and x700 best buddies “right sized” com a bunda no ar. So I became a daylily hybridizer cause that’s what you do with a liberal arts degree in Span. Lit. from Dartmouth.
(GT tells me com a bunda no ar is Portuguese for ‘with [our] butt in the air.’) What a pied life! This, from a 2021 e-mail, addresses hats:
Since the late 1960s my head has been subject, four seasons a year, to the benefits of a boina impermeable. It differs from a beret in width, extending out from the skull. Spaniards sometimes call it la boina de ala ancha, cap with wide wing. That helps as a rain shield—just a little—and offers a touch of shade. Looks rakish too, though at my age I doubt anyone notices. If your collection lacks a boina vasca or two, you haven’t yet become a fully fledged mad hatter or Bartholomew Cubbins acolyte.
And when I asked him about his nom de blog “cuchuflete” (I only knew the form cuchufleta ‘joke’), he responded:
The moniker has a literary history. I read it in either Rayuela (Hopscotch in Rabassa’s translation) or some short story by the whacky, wonderful Argentine, Julio Cortázar. When I registered for the wordreference forum, c. 2003, and eventually became the head moderator there, I used it because I liked the euphony of it. At the time, I had forgotten how J.C. used it, but it seemed pleasantly whimsical.
He once signed off: “Regards from Brian (cuchuflete), Emma, and a mob of barn cats including Gatinha, Tomás, Branquinha, Ferri, Ferrita, y demâs reinas y princesas del prado”; I’m glad he had Emma (whom he called “my Royal Britannic Majesty,” she being from Nottingham) and all those barn cats to brighten his life, and I sure will miss him. Saludos, Brian.
I enjoyed his comments. He’ll be missed here.
Oh, no. I really appreciated cuchuflete’s comments on Spanish and Portuguese slang and localisms of northern New England. Thanks to Brian, wherever he may be, for sharing what he learned along the way from us, and thanks to Hat for letting us know.
Mrs Cuchuflete here. Thank you, Steve for your post about my darling.
I will be visiting Languagehat myself now. He was always reading me things from the Hat.
Thank you for your kind comments, Ryan and KT. Community is a wonderful thing.
Yes, sad to hear. I always enjoyed his posts, especially on Spanish. I’m very sorry for your loss, Mrs. C.
Because of his nickname, somehow in my mind I’d thought he was Spanish or Latin American but living in the US, and decades younger. I’m looking back at recent comments of his, which should have set me right.
I’ll miss him at our little club. Thanks so much for writing, Mrs C.
May he rest in peace.
I loved his moniker. I (lurker, Brit) have lived in Spain for going on 40 years: in addition to appearing in Cortázar, cuchuflete/a (which is sort of hilarious-sounding in its own right) became well-known in these parts as a frequent term of endearment used by one of the characters in the classic Spanish comedy sitcom Aquí No Hay Quien Viva (later recycled into La Que Se Avecina). I always thought of that when I saw his posts.
Mi más sentido pésame, Mrs Cuchuflete.
He’ll be missed.
yonray: Thanks very much for that background on his moniker!
And having belatedly investigated, I find that the Diccionario de la lengua española derives it from dialectal chuflar ‘whistle,’ from dialectal Latin sifilāre. If Brian didn’t already know that, I’m sure he would have been glad to learn it.
I kinda had a crush on his sense of humor. More was not to be …
cuchuflete/a… became well-known in these parts as a frequent term of endearment used by one of the characters in the classic Spanish comedy sitcom Aquí No Hay Quien Viva (later recycled into La Que Se Avecina)
Had to check this out, because avecinarse looked like a pun involving vecina that I didn’t get. So there’s a whole English WiPe page on the sitcom: La que se avecina.
So sad. He will be missed.
I just happened on a wonderful cuchuflete comment from 2021 about corporatespeak and his response to it.
Amazing, Stu, that it has a wiki page in English! Harder than I expected to find a YT link (Amazon has the rights, etc.), but in this short we get a couple of cuchufletas. Not exactly a LOL scene, but better than nothing, I hope!
https://youtu.be/hEkbvBByY5Y?si=jD90md2Gl3PoAL2C
חבל על דאבדין ולא משתכחין.
Maybe a shame, but certainly a necessity. There isn’t enough space in the living room for all the bodies at once. That’s why memories are entrusted to books, genes and boozy yahrzeit get-togethers.
חבל על דאבדין ולא משתכחין = O for those who are gone and cannot be replaced (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate of Sanhedrin, 111a).
Search for https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.111a.8?lang=bi
On that page you will find a slightly different translation (‘Woe over those who are gone and are no longer found’)
And just above the translation you will find the context of that lament in Jewish Aramaic.
@yonray: thanks for the link. The acting is horrible, though, not compensated by the “cuchufleta”. Reminds me of the quality of American soap operas in 1960.
Вечная память. Or Veșnica pomenire as the Romance philologists have it. I am disappointed to learn that “cuchuflete” was not a zany cousin of Cuchulainn who appears in a story by Flann O’Brien. In addition to more strictly philological contributions, I much enjoyed cuchuflete’s occasional anecdotes that offered glimpses into old-timey ungentrified Baltimore. May his widow and all others who were close to him find, in time, comfort and peace.
I’m so sorry to hear that, and I’ll miss his comments! My heartfelt condolences to Mrs C.
אַ כּבֿוד זײַן אָנדענק – זאָל ער האָבם אַ ליכטיקן גנ־עדן
Sad news. May he be remembered with joy.
Descansa en paz, dondequiera que estés; serás recordado mientras exista el internet
My sincere condolences to Mrs. Cuchuflete. His interesting and very informative comments will be missed; I will have to go back and reread many of them.