With non-stop rain from our good friend, Hurricane Matt(hew), the local radio has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for entertainment. Enter me. After my last on-air interview a few months ago in fuddled Spanish, my buddy Angel at Busintana 94.7FM wanted me to go on-air for some comic relief. I got out of it, trickily turning the tables to become the interviewer, and Angel the interviewee.

Angel is a nice guy from Santa Marta who has been working at the very-part-time Busintana FM radio station since the beginning of the year. (Below are pictures of the radio and Angel inside).

Today in my interview with Angel, he helped me to decode the onomatopoeia frequently used by Colombian men in search of a mate or when calling domesticated animals. He classified four categories:

  1. The “Pspspspst” – used to beckon dogs
  2. The “Psssst” – frequently used on the street to indicated interest and hopefully catch the attention of the female of the species.
  3. Whistle #1 “The doo- dooowhoop” – this is similar to how I think Roger Rabbit used to describe his wife, Jessica Rabbit. It means “Your radiance makes me catch my breath – which is why I can’t move from this street corner.”
  4. Whistle #2 The “Complex One” – this starts with a basic whistle, but then converts to a higher pitched tone than the basic using a fancy tongue technique. I haven’t ventured close enough to be able to describe quite how it works, but the meaning is clear: “Please come back, please come back, please come back.”

And there you have it: (Colombian) Men Decoded.

I officially declare this to be the best off-air interview ever had at Busintana 94.7FM.