Learn Spanish with King Juan Carlos I

Lesson 1: "¡Porque no te Callas!?" = "Why don't you shut up"

This little phrase is at the heart of a political storm that shows no signs of dying down. The scene of the crime was the latest summit of Hispanic countries in Chile. Hugo Chavez, as always talking before and after his turn, had labelled former Spanish prime minister Aznar a 'fascist'. After a few lukewarm attempts by current prime minister Zapatero to rebuke Chavez, the king flipped his lid: "You! Why don't you shut up?!" Not exactly a diplomatic master stroke, but very effective nonetheless.

In doing so king Juan Carlos, hardly an icon of popular culture, produced the most popular sound bite in the Spanish speaking world since "olé" and "Ay Caramba". "Porque no te Callas" has been converted into ring tones, songs, dance, remixes and into some of the most watched videos on the internet.

Responding to all this hulaballoo, Chavez has been like an attention seeking missile. With the Caribbean hurricane season long gone, the self proclaimed successor to Simon Bolivar simply refuses to leave the eye of the storm. Relations with the US were already limited to trading insults before diplomatic ties with Spain were severed. Now, closer to home, Colombia is in the bad books for no longer allowing Chavez to mediate with the left wing terrorists of the FARC.

On the other hand, Chavez' friendship with Iran and its president (by all accounts much more of a fascist than Aznar ever was..) is at an all time high.. Political isolation makes strange bedfellows. In his own country meanwhile half the population is up in arms against the proposed constitutional reform designed to greatly increase Chavez' presidential powers. "Porque no te Callas" has been adopted as the mantra of Venezuelan anti-Chavism, a political protest song almost.

Back in Spain Juan Carlos' outburst was greeted with a mix of patriotic fervour and amusement. The king himself takes his own advice when asked about the row with Venezuela: He puts a sock in it..