Gracias: one of the few Spanish words used more (probably) by Brits than by Spaniards.

“Gracias, muy amable,” I said to the car mechanic who could be about to charge me the earth for repairing my car, and probably rightly so if I’m too mechanically stupid to do the job myself. When I got outside, I looked at the card he’d given me. His name is F. Amable. Will his invoice live up to his name, or will it be an antipático invoice?

“Gracias,” said the Man of Little Hygiene and Large Belly who always stands outside the VIPS near Plaza de España and hoarsely shouts “rubio!” at me whenever I walk past. You’ve seen him yourselves: he’s somewhere at the edge of your consciousness. I’ve been walking past him for years without ever giving him any of what he so obviously wants, so today I surprised us both by putting a euro in his plastic cup – my own humble contribution to his belly size.

Gracias to me for not mentioning by name a Certain Soccer Player who might soon be playing for either Barcelona or Real Madrid. But if he does come, he might find this handy.
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