LIFE IN SPAIN: Fuente Ovejuna, is it a town? Is it a drama? Is it an idea? [Video]

Fuente Ovejuna means a lot to Spanish people. It’s a bit like “Hamlet” for native British folks – something you read in school, and which takes its place as part of the nation’s culture.

Before we get into it, a quick word about English, and how it’s different from all the other European languages. Countries like Spain and France have a ‘language academy’, which decides which words are officially permitted.

For example, recently the Spanish Academy announced that it’s now OK to use ‘solo’ without an accent (the word used to be ‘sólo’). English doesn’t have any such controls: it’s a totally democratic language. The people decide how to use it. If someone had said to you, 50 years ago, that their ironing-board was ‘user-friendly’, the expression would have been meaningless, but now we all accept it.

The village of today’s discussion is either called “Fuente Ovejuna”, or “Fuenteobejuna”. Both …