porque no te calles?
porque no te calles? What is the origin of this phrase?
3 Answers
¿Por qué no te callas?
The phrase was uttered by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to the President of Venezuela, when the Venezuela President interrupted Spanish Prime Minister's speech in 2007 Ibero-American Summit in Santiago
Check this for more details
Hugo Chavez, while somewhat problematic, is quite a colorful character. At a UN meeting a few years ago, he called George Bush jr "The devil."
ah the moment which inspired me to learn spanish.
Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela accused the former Spanish Prime Minister, Aznar of having been a facist. When it was his turn to talk, the incumbent Spanish PM Zapatero, despite being an opponent of Aznar, came to Aznars defense and asked Chavez not to insult Aznar like this as he had been elected by the Spanish people. Chavez began to interrupt Zapatero, saying that under Aznar, Spanish companies had taken advantage of Latin America. The organisers decided to switch off Chavez's microphone, but Chavez kept talking. At this point the Spanish King, Juan Carlos interrupted Chavez, said ¿Por qué no te callas? and walked away. The crowd applauded (chavez had been talking a lot in this conference as his ally the Nicaraguan President Ortega had given up his time to let Chavez talk more)
