Note 130 — EL CAPITÁN VENENO[4]
Reading edition
¡cáspita...! and (20) ¡caracoles...!: note the disguised [encubierto] oath, how it starts as though to say Cristo and switches off to ca-something, any word beginning with ca- (canastos, caminos, canales, calles, culebrines, etc.), or even ca alone, or que. The commonest is caramba. In the Diario I, p. 32, and elsewhere several times, Alarcón speaks of the great amount of swearing: Valiéndose de distintas interjecciones y muletillas, usando de diverso género de oratorio, declaman, votan, refieren, arguyan, se insultan, se reconcilian..., Using different interjections and gags, using a varied kind of oratory, they declaim, swear, quote, argue, insult each other, make up.... Cf. our disguised forms for Jesus: By Joe, by George, Gewhiz, Jerusalem, Jehosaphat, Jimminy, and many more.