well, you will catch it rob, but you'll see elena's tease. i expected that, hence my use of the phrase "balkan regions". this is because wojtek's comments about this spurred a convo on the bad subjects list!
i hope you take the time to catch the rest of my comments. and someday i'll send you a jpg of my friends, the whole famdamily, and several other folks i know. peter's mother is a maid and, believe me, she's regular spoken to in spanish by well meaning guests who think she doesn't understand english. other than that, i assume my point is lost on you only b/c you haven't read the entire thread.
to reiterate, the interesting part of this--something we've explored on the cultural studies list--is that racializing stereotypes and the use of dark skin as a way to mark and label people varies on geographic region in the states.
kelley