Of certain words, terms and phrases used in bullfighting

A

 

Abanico: spread like a fan.

 

Abano: a bull which comes out in a cowardly way, refusing to charge, but may improve under punishment.

 

Abierto de cuerna: wide horned.

 

Abrir-el-Toro: to take the bull out into the ring away from the barrera.

 

Aburrimiento: boredom, the predominant sensation at a bad bullfight. Can be alleviated slightly by cold beer. Unless beer is very cold the aburrimiento increases.

 

Acero: the steel. A common word for the sword.

 

Acometida: the charge of the bull.

 

Acornear: goring with the horn.

 

Acosar: part of the testing of young bulls on the ranch. The horseman cuts the young bull or calf out of the herd, pursues him until he turns at bay and charges.

 

Acoson: when the bullfighter is closely pursued by the bull.

 

Acostarse: a tendency in the bull to come closer to the bullfighter on one side or the other when charging. If the bull cuts in close on one side the bullfighter must give him room on that side or he will be caught.

 

Achuchón: the bull bumping the man in passing.

 

Adentro: the part of the ring between the bull and the barrera.

 

Adorno: any useless or flowery theatricality performed by the bullfighter to show his domination over the bull. They may be in good or bad taste varying from kneeling with the back toward the animal to hanging the straw hat of a spectator on the bull's horn. The worst adorno I ever saw performed was by Antonio Marquez who bit the bull's horn. The finest was by Rafael El Gallo who placed four pairs of banderillas in the bull and later, very delicately, in the pauses he gave the bull to refresh him while working with the muleta, extracted the banderillas one at a time.

 

Afición: love of bullfights. It also means the entire bull ring public, but is usually used in this generic sense to denote the most intelligent part of the public.

 

Aficionado: one who understands bullfights in general and in detail and still cares for them.

 

Afueros: the part of the ring between the bull and the centre of the ring.

 

Aguantar: a method of killing the bull with sword and muleta in which, if the bull charges unexpectedly while the matador is profiled and is furling his muleta, the matador awaits him as he stands, guides him past with the muleta held low in the left hand while with his right hand he puts in the sword. Nine out of ten of the killings in this form that I have seen turn out badly since the matador will not wait for the bull to get close enough to place the sword properly, but lets the blade slip into the neck which can be reached by the man practically without exposition.

 

Aguja: agujas or needles are one of the names for the bull's horns. It also means the top forward ribs beside the shoulder blades.

 

Ahondar el estoque: to push the sword farther in after it has been already placed. This is often attempted by the sword handler when the bull is close to the barrera if the matador is showing himself unable to kill the bull. It is sometimes accomplished by the banderilleros throwing a cape over the sword and pulling down on it.

 

Ahormar la cabeza: getting the bull's head in correct position for killing. The matador should accomplish this by his work with the muleta. He brings it down with low passes and up with high, but sometimes a few high passes will bring down a head held too high by making the bull stretch his neck so high that he tires it. If the matador cannot bring the bull's head up a banderillero will usually raise it with a few upward flops of a cape. Whether the matador will have much or little regulating to do depends on the manner in which the bull has been treated by the picadors and how the banderillas have been placed.

 

Aire: the wind; worst enemy of the bullfighter. Capes and muletas are wet and scuffed into the sand to make them more manageable in wind. They cannot be made much heavier than the cloth is naturally or they will deaden the bullfighter's wrist and if there is enough wind the man could not hold them. The cape or muleta may at any time be blown clear of the man so that he will have the bull on top of him. In each fight there is some part of the ring where the wind is least strong and the bullfighter should find that lee and do all his fancy work with cape and muleta there if possible, if the bull can be worked with in that section of the ring.

 

Al Alimón: a very silly pass in which two men each hold one end of the cape and the bull passes under the cape between them. There is no danger in this pass and you will only see it used in France or where the public is very naïve.

 

Alegrar al Toro: to rouse the bull's attention when he has become logy.

 

Alegría: lightheartedness, in bullfighting; a graceful, picturesque Sevillian style as opposed to the classical tragic manner of the Ronda school.

 

Alguacil: a mounted bailiff under the orders of the president who rides at the head of the bullfighters in the entry or Paseo wearing a costume of the reign of Philip II, receives the key of the toril from the president and during the bullfight transmits any orders of the president to those engaged in the bullfight. These orders are usually given by a speaking tube which connects the president's box with the runway between the ring and the seats. There are ordinarily two alguacils at each bullfight.

 

Alternativa: is the formal envesture of an apprentice matador or matador de novillos as a full matador de toros. It consists in the senior matador of the fight giving up his right to kill the first bull and signifying it by presenting muleta and sword to the bullfighter who is alternating for the first time in the killing of bulls with full matadors de toros. The ceremony takes place when the trumpet sounds for the death of the first bull. The man who is being initiated as a matador goes out with a fighting cape over his arm to meet the senior matador who gives him the sword and muleta, and receives the cape. They shake hands and the new matador kills the first bull. On the second bull he returns sword and muleta to his sponsor who then kills that animal. After that they alternate in the usual manner, the fourth bull being killed by the senior, the fifth by the next in seniority and the new matador killing the last one. Once he has taken the alternativa in Spain his ranking as a formal matador is valid in all bull rings in the peninsula except Madrid. On his first presentation in Madrid after a provincial alternativa the ceremony must be repeated. Alternativas given in Mexico or South America are not recognized in Spain until confirmed in the provinces and Madrid.

 

Alto: a pase por alto is a pass in which the bull passes under the muleta.

 

Alto (en todo lo): a sword thrust or estocada placed properly high up between the shoulder blades.

 

Ambos: both; ambos manos, both hands.

 

Amor propio: amour propre, self-respect, a rare thing in modern bullfighters especially after their first successful season or when they have fifty or sixty engagements ahead of them.

 

Anda: go on! You will hear this frequently shouted at picadors who are reluctant to approach the bull.

 

Andanada: the high cheap seats on the sunny side of the ring which correspond in position to the boxes on the shady side.

 

Anillo: the bull ring. Also the ring at the base of the horn by which the bull's age can be told. The first ring means three years. There is a ring thereafter for each year.

 

Anojo: a yearling bull.

 

Apartado: the sorting of the bulls usually at noon before the fight, separating them and putting them in the pens in the order in which it has been decided they are to be fought.

 

Aplomado: the heavy or leaden state the bull is often in toward the end of the fight.

 

Apoderado: bullfighter's representative or manager. Unlike the managers of boxers they rarely get more than 5 per cent for each fight they sign for their matador.

 

Apodo: the professional nick-name of a bullfighter.

 

Aprovechar: to take advantage of and profit by the good bull a matador has drawn. The worst a matador can do is not to make the most of an easy and noble bull in order to perform brilliantly. He will get many more difficult bulls than good ones and if he does not aprovechar good bulls to do his utmost the crowd is much more severe than if he had been really poor with a difficult bull.

 

Apurado: a bull worn out and empty of force through being badly fought.

 

Arena: the sand which covers the ring.

 

Arenero: a bull ring servant who flattens out the sand after each bull has been killed and drawn out.

 

Armarse: when the matador furls the muleta, and sights along the sword, which should form a continuous line with his face and arm preparatory to killing.

 

Arrancada: another name for the bull's charge.

 

Arrastre: the dragging out by a trio of mules or horses of the dead horses and the body of the bull after each bull has been killed. The horses are taken out first. If the bull has been exceptionally brave the crowd applauds him very much. He is sometimes given a tour of the ring as he is dragged out.

 

Arreglar los pies: to make the bull put his front feet together before going in to kill. If one foot is in front of the other one shoulder blade will be farther forward than the other, closing the opening between the shoulder blades into which the sword must go or greatly reducing its opening.

 

Arrimar: to work close to the bull. If the matadors arriman al toro it will be a good bullfight. The boredom comes when they see how far away they can work from the bull's horns.

 

Asiento: seat.

 

Astas: bayonets — another synonym for the horn.

 

Astifino: a bull with thin sharp horns.

 

Astillado: a bull with the ends of one or both of his horns splintered, usually from battering against his cage or charging in the corral when unloaded. Such horns make the worst wounds.

 

Atrás: to the rear; backwards.

 

Atravesada: crosswise — a sword thrust that goes in on the bias so that the point of the sword comes out through the skin of the bull's flank. Such a thrust, unless the bull obviously deviated in his charge, shows that the man did not go in straight at the moment of killing.

 

Atronar: a stroke with the point of the puntilla or dagger between the cervical vertebrae given from behind when the bull is on the ground mortally wounded which severs the spinal marrow and kills the animal instantly. This coup de grace is given by the puntillero, one of the banderilleros, who pulls an oilcloth sleeve over his right arm to save his clothes from blood before he approaches the bull. When the bull is on his feet and this same thrust is given from in front by the matador, either armed with a special sword with a straight, stiff point, or with the puntilla, it is called a descabello.

 

Avíos de matar: the tools for killing, i.e., sword and muleta.

 

Aviso: a warning given by a bugle at the signal of the president to a matador whose bull is still alive ten minutes after the man has gone out to kill with sword and muleta. The second aviso comes three minutes after the first and the third and final aviso is given two minutes later. At the third aviso the matador is compelled to retire to the barrera and the steers, which are held in readiness after the first warning, come into the ring and take the bull out alive. There is a large clock displayed in all of the more important rings in order that the spectators may keep track of the time the matador takes for his work.

 

Ayudada: pass in which the point of the sword is pricked into the cloth of the muleta to spread the serge; the muleta thus being referred to as being aided by the sword.

 

Ayuntamiento: the city hall or municipal government in Spanish towns. A box is reserved for the ayuntamiento in Spanish bull rings.

 

B

 

Bajo: low. A low pic is one which is placed on the side of the neck near the shoulder blades. A sword thrust into the right side anywhere below the top of the shoulder blades and forward on the neck is also called bajo.

 

Bajonazo: is usually a deliberate sword thrust into the neck or lower part of the shoulder by a matador who seeks to kill the bull without exposing himself. In a bajonazo the matador seeks to cut arteries or veins in the neck or to reach the lungs with the sword. By such a thrust he assassinates the bull without having gone in and passed the horn with his body.

 

Banderilla: a rounded dowel, seventy centimetres long, wrapped in colored paper, with a harpoon shaped steel point, placed in pairs in the withers of the bull in the second act of the bullfight; the prong of the harpoon catching under the skin. They should be placed high on the very top of the withers and close together.

 

Banderillas cortas: short banderillas only twenty-five centimeters long. Seldom used now.

 

Banderillas de fuego: banderillas with firecrackers along their shafts which are placed in bulls which have not charged the picadors in order that the explosion of the powder may make the bull jump, toss his head, and tire his neck muscles; the object sought in the encounter with the picador which the bull has refused.

 

Banderillas de lujas: heavily ornamented banderillas used in benefit performances. Hard to place because of their weight and awkwardness.

 

Banderillero: bullfighter under the orders of the matador and paid by him, who helps run the bull with the cape and places banderillas. Each matador employs four banderilleros who are sometimes called peones. They were once called chulos, but that term is no longer used. Banderilleros make from 150 to 250 pesetas a fight. They take turns placing the banderillas, two of them placing them on one bull and the other two on the next. When travelling their expenses, except wine, coffee and tobacco, are paid by the matador, who, in turn, collects them from the promoter.

 

Barbas — El Barbas: fighters' slang term for the big mature bulls, which at four and a half years old will dress out three hundred and twenty kilos of meat with horns, head, hoofs and hide gone, know how to use their horns when alive and make the bullfighters earn their money.

 

Barrenar: pushing on the sword by the matador after he has gone in to kill and is coming along the flank after having passed the bull's horn. Once he is past the horn he may push on the sword without danger.

 

Barrera: the red painted wooden fence around the sanded ring in which the bull is fought. The first row of seats are also called barreras.

 

Basto: heavy on the feet, lacking in grace, art and agility.

 

Batacazo: a heavy fall by a picador.

 

Becerrada: benefit performance by amateurs or apprentice bullfighters in which bulls too young to be dangerous are used.

 

Becerro: a calf.

 

Bicho: bug or insect. A slang name for the bull.

 

Billetes: tickets to the bullfight. NO HAY BILLETES — a sign at the ticket window meaning all tickets sold; the promoter's dream. But the waiter at the café can nearly always get you one if you will pay scalper's prices.

 

Bisco: a bull with one horn lower than the other.

 

Blando: a bull which cannot stand punishment.

 

Blandos: meat without bone. An estocada is said to be in the blandos when the sword went in easily in the proper place without hitting bone.

 

Bota: individual wine skin, called gourd by the English. These are thrown into the ring by their exalted owners in the north of Spain as an ovation to a bullfighter who is making a tour of the ring. The triumphant fighter is supposed to take a drink and throw the wine skin back. The bullfighters dislike this practice very much as the wine is liable, if any spills, to spot their expensive frilled shirt fronts.

 

Botella: a bottle; these are thrown into the ring by savages, drunks and exalted spectators to express their disapproval.

 

Botellazo: a stroke on the head with a bottle; avoided by not arguing with drunks.

 

Boyante: an easy bull to work with and one which follows the cloth well and charges bravely and frankly.

 

Bravo — Toros Bravos: brave and savage bulls.

 

Bravucón: a bull who bluffs and is not really brave.

 

Brazuelo: the upper part of the foreleg. The bull can be lamed and ruined for the fight by the picadors wounding him in the tendons of the brazuelo.

 

Brega: the routine work that must be accomplished with each bull fought up to and including the killing.

 

Brindis: the formal salute or dedication of the bull to the president or to any individual made by the matador before going out to kill. The salute to the president is obligatory in the first bull each matador kills in an afternoon. After saluting the president he may dedicate the bull to any high governmental authority present at the corrida, any distinguished spectator, or a friend. When the matador dedicates or toasts a bull to an individual he throws up his hat at the conclusion of the toast and the person honored keeps the hat until the bull has been killed. After the bull is dead the matador comes back for the hat which is thrown down with the card of the man who has held it or some gift in it if the man has come prepared to be dedicated to. The gift is obligatory by etiquette unless the dedication is between friends in the same profession.

 

Brio: brilliance and vivacity.

 

Bronca: a noisy protest of disapproval.

 

Bronco: a bull that is savage, nervous, uncertain and difficult.

 

Buey: steer or ox; or a bull which is heavy and oxlike in his actions.

 

Bulto: bundle; the man rather than the cloth. A bull that makes for the bundle is one that pays no attention to the cape or muleta no matter how well managed, but goes after the man instead. A bull that does this nearly always has been fought before either on the ranch as a calf or, contrary to the regulations, has appeared in some village ring without being killed.

 

Burladero: a shelter of planks set close together and a little out from the corral or barrera behind which the bullfighters and herders can dodge if pursued.

 

Burriciegos: bulls with defective vision. Either far-sighted, near-sighted or simply hazy visioned. Near-sighted bulls can be fought well by a bullfighter who is not afraid to get close and by turning with the bull keep him from losing sight of the lure when he turns. Far-sighted bulls are very dangerous since they will charge suddenly and with great speed from an abnormal distance at the largest object that attracts their attention. Hazy-visioned bulls, often caused by their eyes becoming congested during the fight, when the bull is overweight and the day is hot, or, from driving into and scattering the visceral content of a horse over them, are almost impossible to do any brilliant work with.

 

C

 

Caballero en Plaza: a Portuguese or Spanish mounted bullfighter riding trained, blooded horses who, aided by one or more men on foot with capes who help place the bull for him, puts in banderillas with either one or both hands and kills the bull with a javelin from on horseback. These riders are also called rejoneadores from the rejón or javelin they use. These are razor-sharp, narrow, dagger-shaped lance points which are on a shaft which has been partially cut through to weaken it so that the point can be driven in by a straight thrust and the long shaft then broken off in order that the point will remain in the wound sinking deeper as the bull tosses his head and often killing him from what seems a slight thrust. The equestrian ability required for this form of bullfighting is very great and the manoeuvres are complicated and difficult, but after you have seen it a few times, it lacks the appeal of the ordinary bullfight since the man undergoes no danger. It is the horse that takes the risks, not the rider; since the horse is in motion whenever he approaches the bull and any wound he may receive through his rider's lack of judgment or skill will not be of a sort to bring him to the ground and expose the rider. The bull too is bled and rapidly exhausted by the deep lance wounds which are often made in the forbidden territory of the neck. Also since the horse, after the first twenty yards, can always outdistance the bull it becomes a chase of an animal of superior speed by one less fast in the course of which the pursuing animal is stabbed from horseback. This is altogether opposed to the theory of the bullfight on foot in which the bullfighter is supposed to stand his ground while the bull attacks him and deceive the animal by a movement of a cloth held in his arms. In bullfighting on horseback the man uses the horse as a lure to draw the bull's charge, often approaching the bull from the rear, but the lure is always in motion and I find the business, the more I see of it, very dull. The horsemanship is always admirable, and the degree of training of the horses amazing, but the whole thing is closer to the circus than it is to formal bullfighting.

 

Caballo: horse. Picadors' horses are also called pencos or more literarily rocinantes and a variety of names which correspond to our calling poor race horses, skins, skates, dogs, etc.

 

Cabestros: the trained steers used in handling fighting bulls. The older and more experienced these are the greater their value and usefulness.

 

Cabeza: head.

 

Cabeza á rabo: a pase in which the bull passes his entire length under the muleta from head to tail.

 

Cabezada: a toss of the head.

 

Cachete: another name for the despatching of the bull with the puntilla once he has gone to the ground.

 

Cachetero: one who gives the coup de grace with the puntilla.

 

Caída: fall of a picador when his horse is knocked over by the bull. Sword thrusts which are placed lower toward the neck than they should be without being intentionally bajonazos are also called caída.

 

Calle: street; the worst bullfighters are usually the ones seen most constantly on the street. It is implied in Spain that some one seen always on the street has no better place to go or, if he has, is unwelcome there.

 

Callejón: the passage way between the wooden fence or barrera which surrounds the ring and the first row of seats.

 

Cambio: change. A pase with the cape or muleta in which the bullfighter after taking the bull's charge into the cloth changes the animal's direction with a movement of the cloth so that where the animal would have passed to one side of the man he is made to pass on the other side. The muleta may also be changed from one hand to the other in a cambio, doubling the bull on himself to fix him in place. Sometimes the man will change the muleta from hand to hand behind his back. This is merely ornamental and without effect on the bull. The cambio in banderillas is a feint made by the body to change the bull's direction; it has been fully described in the text.

 

Camelo: fake; a bullfighter who by tricks tries to appear to work close to the bull while in reality never taking any chances.

 

Campo: the country. Faenas del campo are all the operations in the breeding, branding, testing, herding, selecting, caging and shipping of the bulls from the ranches.

 

Capa or capote: the cape used in bullfighting. Shaped like the capes commonly worn in Spain in the winter, it is usually made of raw silk on one side and percale on the other, heavy, stiff and reinforced in the collar, cerise colored on the outside and yellow on the inner side. A good fighting cape costs 250 pesetas. They are heavy to hold and at the lower extremities small corks have been stitched into the cloth of the capes the matadors use. These the matador holds in his hands when he lifts the lower ends of the cape and gathers them together for handholds when swinging the cape with both hands.

 

Caparacón: the mattresslike covering for the chest and belly of a picador's horse.

 

Capea: informal bullfights or bull baitings in village squares in which amateurs and aspirant bullfighters take part. Also a parody of the formal bullfight given in parts of France or where the killing of the bull is prohibited in which no picadors are used and the killing of the bull is simulated.

 

Capilla: the chapel in the bull ring where the bullfighters may pray before entering the ring.

 

Capote de brega: the fighting cape as above described.

 

Capote de paseo: the luxurious cape the bullfighter wears into the ring. These are heavily brocaded with gold or silver and cost from fifteen hundred to five thousand pesetas.

 

Cargar la suerte: the first movement of the arms made by the matador when the bull reaches the cloth to move the lure ahead of the bull and send him away from the man.

 

Carpintero: bull ring carpenter who waits in the callejón ready to repair any damage to the barrera or gates of the ring.

 

Carril: a rut, furrow or railway track; a carril in bullfighting is a bull that charges perfectly straight as though coming down a groove or mounted on rails, permitting the utmost in brilliance to the matador.

 

Cartel: the composed programme for a bullfight. May also mean the amount of popularity a bullfighter has in any determined locality. For instance, you ask a friend in the business, "What cartel have you in Malaga?" "Wonderful; in Malaga no one has more cartel than me. My cartel is unmeasurable." As a matter of record on his last appearance in Malaga he may have been chased out of the city by angry and disappointed customers.

 

Carteles: the posters announcing a bullfight.

 

Castigaderas: the long poles used from above in herding and sorting the bulls into the various runways and passages of the corrals when placing them in their compartments before the fight.

 

Castoreno: or beavers: the wide hats with pompons at the side worn by the picador.

 

Cazar: to kill the bull deceitfully and treacherously with the sword without the man allowing his body to come close to the horn.

 

Ceñido: close to the bull.

 

Ceñirse: to close in on. Applied to the bull it means those which pass as close to the man as he will permit, gaining a little ground each attack. The man is said to ciñe when he works very close to the animal.

 

Cerca: close; as in close to the horns.

 

Cerrar: to shut in. Cerrar el toro: to bring the bull close into the barrera; the opposite of Abrir. The bullfighter is called encerrado en Tablas when he has provoked the charge of the bull close to the barrera so that the bull cuts off his retreat on one side and the barrera cuts it on the other.

 

Cerveza: beer; there is good draft beer almost anywhere in Madrid, but the best is found at the Cervezeria Alvarez in the calle Victoria. Draft beer is served in pint glasses which are called dobles or in half-pint glasses called cañas, cañitas or medias. The Madrid breweries were founded by Germans and the beer is the best anywhere on the continent outside of Germany and Czecho-Slovakia. The best bottled beer in Madrid is the Aguilar. In the provinces good beer is brewed in Santander, the Cruz Blanca, and in San Sebastian. In the latter town the best beer I have drunk has been at the Café de Madrid, Café de la Marina, and Café Kutz. In Valencia the best draft beer I have ever drunk has been at the Hotel Valencia where it is served ice cold in large glass pitchers. The food at this hotel, which has only very modest accommodations as to rooms, is superb. In Pamplona the finest beer is at the Café Kutz and the Café Iruña. The beer at the other cafés can not be recommended. I have drunk excellent draft beer in Palencia, Vigo and La Coruña, but have never encountered good draft beer in any very small Spanish town.

 

Cerviguillo: the high part of the bull's neck where the hump of muscle forms the so-called morillo or erective muscular crest of the neck.

 

Chato: snub nosed.

 

Chico: small; also means youngster. The younger brothers of bullfighters are usually referred to by the family name or professional name with Chico appended as: Armillita Chico, Amoros Chico, etc.

 

Chicuelinas: a pass with the cape invented by Manuel Jiminez "Chicuelo." The man offers the cape to the bull and when the bull has charged and is past, the man, while the bull turns, makes a pirouette in which the cape wraps itself around him. At the conclusion of the pirouette he is facing the bull ready to make another pass.

 

Chiquero: the closed stalls in which the bulls await their entrance into the ring.

 

Choto: a calf which is still nursing; term of contempt to describe under-aged and undersized bulls.

 

Citar: challenging the bull's attention to provoke a charge.

 

Clarines: the trumpets that give the signals at the president's orders to announce the different changes in the fight.

 

Claro: a bull that is simple and easy to work with.

 

Cobarde: a cowardly bull or bullfighter.

 

Cobrar: to collect; el mano de cobrar is the right hand.

 

Cogida: the tossing of a man by the bull; means literally the catching; if the bull catches he tosses.

 

Cojo: lame; a bull which comes into the ring lame may be retired. The spectators will commence to shout "Cojo" as soon as they perceive the lameness.

 

Cojones: testicles; a valorous bullfighter is said to be plentifully equipped with these. In a cowardly bullfighter they are said to be absent. Those of the bull are called criadillas and prepared in any of the ways sweetbreads are usually cooked they are a great delicacy. During the killing of the fifth bull the criadillas of the first bull were sometimes served in the royal box. Primo de Rivera was so fond of interlarding his discourse with reference to manly virtues that he was said to have eaten so many criadillas that they had gone to his brain.

 

Cola: the bull's tail; usually called rabo. Cola may also mean the line in front of a ticket window.

 

Colada: the instant in which the bullfighter finds his position untenable when through mismanagement of the cloth or through the bull paying no attention to it or abandoning it to seek the man, the man must save himself from the charge as best he can.

 

Coleando: hanging onto the bull's tail, twisting it toward his head. This gives great pain to the bull and often damages his spinal column. It is only permissible when the bull is goring, or trying to gore a man on the ground.

 

Coleta: the short, tightly braided, curved pigtail worn at the back of the head by the bullfighter to attach the mona, a black sort of hollow, dull, silk-covered button about twice the size of a silver dollar which supports the hat. Bullfighters formerly all wore this tress of hair pinned forward on their head out of sight when not fighting. Now they have found that they can attach both mona and a made-up coleta at the same time by a clasp to the hair at the back of their heads when dressing for the ring. You only see the pigtail now, once the caste mark of all bullfighters, on the heads of young aspirant fighters in the provinces.

 

Colocar: to place; a man is bien colocado when he places himself correctly in the ring for all the different acts of the bullfight. It is also used when speaking of the placing of the sword, the pic and the banderillas in the bull. A bullfighter is also said to be bien colocado when he has finally arrived at a recognized position in his profession.

 

Compuesto: composed; holding his figure straight while the bull charges.

 

Confianza: self-confidence; peón de confianza — confidential banderillero who represents and may even advise the matador.

 

Confiar: to become confident and sure of himself with a bull.

 

Conocedor: a professional overseer of the fighting bulls on a breeder's estates.

 

Consentirse: to get very close to the bull with the body or lure in order to force a charge and then keep close and keep the bull charging.

 

Contrabarrera: second row of seats at the bull ring.

 

Contratas: contracts signed by bullfighters.

 

Contratista de Caballos: horse contractor; furnishes horses for a fight for a fixed sum.

 

Cornada: a horn wound; a real wound as distinct from a varetazo or bruising scratch. A cornada de caballo is a huge cornada, the same sort of wound in a man that the bull usually makes in the chest of a horse.

 

Cornalón: bull with exceptionally large horns.

 

Corniabierto: exceptionally wide horned.

 

Corniavacado: cowhorned. Bull in which the horns turn up and back.

 

Cornicorto: shorthorned.

 

Cornigacho: bull with low horns coming quite straight forward.

 

Corniveleto: high straight horns.

 

Corral: enclosure adjoining the ring in which the bulls are kept immediately before they are to be fought. Provided with feed-boxes, salt and fresh water.

 

Correr: to run; used to denote the running of the bull by the banderillero when the animal first enters the ring.

 

Corrida or Corrida de Toros: the Spanish bullfight.

 

Corrida de Novillos Toros: fight in which young or big but defective bulls are used.

 

Corta: short, an estocada in which the sword goes in a little more than half way.

 

Cortar: to cut; bullfighters often sustain slight cuts on the hands with the sword when managing sword and muleta. Cortar la oreja — to cut the bull's ear. Cortar la coleta — to cut the pigtail or retire.

 

Cortar terreno: the bull is said to cut in on the terrain of the bullfighter when after the man has provoked a charge ana is running toward and across the line of the bull's charge to place the banderillas, say, at the point where their two courses will meet, the bull changes his direction while charging in order to cut in toward the man; gaining ground by running sideways.

 

Corto (torero corto): matador with a limited repertoire.

 

Corto — vestido de corto: wearing the short jacket of the Andalucian bull herders. Bullfighters formerly dressed in their costume when not in the ring.

 

Crecer: to increase; a bull that increases in bravery under punishment.

 

Cruz: the cross. Where the line of the top of the bull's shoulder blades would cross the spine. The place the sword should go in if the matador kills perfectly. The cruz is also the crossing of the sword arm over the arm that holds the lowered muleta as the matador goes in to kill. He is said to cross well when his left hand manages the cloth so that it moves low and well out accentuating the cross made with the other arm thus getting well rid of the bull as the man follows the sword in. Fernando Gomez, father of the Gallos, is supposed first to have remarked that the bullfighter who does not cross in this way belongs to the devil at once. Another saying is that the first time you do not cross is your first trip to the hospital.

 

Cuadrar: squaring the bull for killing; both front and hind feet together and the head neither too high nor too low. In banderillas: the moment when the bull lowers his head to hook and the man puts his feet together, his hands together and sinks the shafts into the bull.

 

Cuadrilla: the troupe of bullfighters under the orders of a matador including picadors and banderilleros one of whom acts as puntillero.

 

Cuarteo: the most common form of placing banderillas, described in the text; a feint with the body or dodging motion used to avoid going in straight toward the bull when killing.

 

Cuidado: watch out! when it is an ejaculation. When applied to the bull as a descriptive term means one who has learned in the course of the fight and become dangerous.

 

Cuidando la línea: looking after the line; taking care that his movements shall be aesthetically graceful while working with the bull.

 

Cumbre: summit; torero cumbre: the very best possible; faena cumbre: the absolute top in work with the muleta.

 

Cuna: the cradle formed on the bull's head between the bull's horns. The one temporary refuge of a man whose position has become hopelessly compromised.

 

D

 

Defenderse: to defend; a bull is said to defend himself when he refuses to charge but pays close attention to everything and gores at anything that comes close to him.

 

Dehesa: pasture land.

 

Déjalo: leave him alone! Let him be! Shouted by the bullfighter to his peones when they have the bull correctly placed or when the matador wishes the bull left alone and not tired any more by the capes.

 

Delantal: a pass with the cape invented by Chicuelo in which the cape is swung in front of the man so that it billows out like an apron on a pregnant woman in a breeze.

 

Delantera de tendido: third row of seats at the ringside behind contra-barrera and barrera. Delantera de grada: first row of seats in gallery.

 

Delantero: a pair of banderillas or estocade placed too far forward.

 

Derecho: straight; mano derecha: the right hand.

 

Derramar la vista: scattering the vision; a bull which fixes his sight rapidly on a number of different objects before suddenly fixing on one and charging.

 

Derrame: hemorrhage, from the mouth usually; always, if the blood is bright or frothy, a sign that the sword has been badly placed and has entered the lungs. A bull may bleed from the mouth when he has been stuck properly, but it is very rare.

 

Derribar: to knock over; the riding after young bulls on the ranch by a man armed with a long pole with which, while both bull and horse are galloping, the man upsets the bull by placing the point of the pole near the root of the tail and throwing the animal off balance so that it falls to the ground.

 

Derrote: high-chopping motion of the bull's horns.

 

Desarmar: to disarm the matador by loss of his muleta either through the horn catching in it and the bull tossing it away or through the bull deliberately chopping upward with his horns as the man comes in to kill.

 

Desarrollador: where the bulls are dressed out and the meat butchered after the fight.

 

Descabellar: to descabello or kill the bull from in front after he has been mortally wounded through an estocade by driving the point of the sword between the base of the skull and the first vertebra so that the spinal cord is severed. This is a coup de grace administered by the matador while the bull is still on his feet. If the bull is nearly dead and carries his head low, the stroke is not difficult since with the head nearly to the ground the space between the vertebra and the skull will be open. However, many matadors not caring to risk going in and passing the horn again if they have administered one estocade, whether mortal or not, try to descabello while the bull is in no sense nearly dead and, since the animal must then be tricked into lowering his head and may chop up with it as he sees or feels the sword, the descabello then becomes difficult and dangerous. It is dangerous both for spectators and matador since the bull with an upward chop of his head will often send the sword thirty or more feet into the air. Swords tossed in this way by bulls have frequently killed spectators in Spanish rings. A Cuban visitor at Biarritz was killed a few years ago in the bull ring at Bayonne, France, by a sword with which Antonio Marquéz was attempting to descabello. Marquéz was tried for manslaughter but was acquitted. In 1930 a spectator was killed by a tossed sword in Tolosa, Spain, the matador engaged in descabelloing being Manolo Martinez. The sword, entering the man's back, pierced his body completely and was withdrawn with difficulty by two men, both of whom cut their hands badly on the blade. The practice of attempting to descabello on a bull which is still strong and requires another estocade to kill or wound him mortally is one of the worst and most shameful practices of modern bullfighting. Most of the scandalous and shameful disasters suffered by bullfighters subject to attacks of cowardice such as Cagancho, Niño de la Palma and Chicuelo have been due to their trying to descabellar a bull which was in a state to defend itself against this stroke. In the proper way of descabelloing the muleta is held low on the ground to force the bull to lower his muzzle. The matador may prick the bull's muzzle either with the point of the muleta or with the sword to force him to lower it. When the point of the sword used in this thrust, the blade of which is straight and stiff rather than curved down in the usual way, is properly placed, it strikes and severs the spinal marrow and the bull falls as suddenly as light goes off when a button is turned to extinguish an electric light.

 

Descansar: to rest; the descanso is the intermission between the third and fourth bulls which occurs in some bull rings while the ring is being sprinkled and smoothed. A man may also rest the bull a moment between two series of passes while passing him with the muleta if he finds the bull is winded.

 

Descompuesto: gone to pieces nervously.

 

Desconfiado: worried or lacking in confidence.

 

Descordando: an estocade or sword thrust which accidentally going between two vertebrae cuts the spinal cord and brings the bull down instantly. This is not to be confused with the descabello or the puntilla stroke which cuts the spinal marrow deliberately.

 

Descubrirse: to uncover; in the bull to lower the head well so that the part where the sword is to enter is easily reached. In the man, to leave himself uncovered by the cloth when working with the bull.

 

Desgarradura: a torn rip in the hide of the bull made by an unskillful or conscienceless picador.

 

Desigual: a bullfighter whose performances are not consistent; brilliant one day and boring the next.

 

Despedida: the farewell performance of a bullfighter; not to be taken any more seriously than that of a singer. The actual final performances of bullfighters are usually very poor affairs since the man usually has some incapabilities which force him to retire or else he is retiring to live on his money and will be very careful to take no chances in the last time bulls will have a chance to kill him.

 

Despedir: when the man with cape or muleta sends the bull out and away from him at the end of a pass. The pushing away of the bull by the picador at the end of a charge as the picador turns his horse.

 

Despejo: clearing of the public from the ring before the fight commences. The spectators are no longer allowed to parade in the Madrid ring before the fight commences.

 

Desplante: any theatrical gesture by a bullfighter.

 

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 but 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.