Have you ever heard of El Cuco? He is a mystery boogeyman whose job is to scare kids into doing what they should.
But times have changed, and kids are not fazed by him anymore. Poor El Cuco does not know what to do with his life anymore.
In Spanish, we use the imperfect and past simple tenses to distinguish between repeated actions in the past and specific points. What did El Cuco use to do before he left his job? What happened when he stopped?
Find out the answers, and how to express them properly in Spanish, in this lesson.
Don't forget to show this video to your friends so you can practice together by discussing it.
You can watch it here: https://flyinglanguages.com/sourcevideo/el-cuco-portrait-of-a-boogeyman/?preview_id=7017260&preview_nonce=84962d6d1b&_thumbnail_id=7017261&preview=true
Well, my name is the coco (boogeyman). It's not the cuco (cuckoo), it's the coco, c-o-c-o, I was the greatest helper to parents in raising their children.
Basically, my task was to scare them into eating their vegetables, tidying up their rooms, and going to bed early.
Grrrrr! grrrr! In any case, children don't... they don't get scared anymore like before [give it back!] with all their video games full of zombies, gunshots, cars, blood...
And thesack on the head is an original idea of mine. It happens that as I am a little photosensitive, the light makes me feel very bad. So I had to start using it to be able to go out in the evenings.
Of course, other people saw it. The scarecrow from Batman, Jason in Friday the 13th, and now everyone wants to have a sack on their head.
But hey, modern parents don't... they don't want to scare their kids anymore.
Psychology, they call it. I think it's nonsense.
The teeth are more than anything decorative. It's an instrument to scare children [screams], but my voice comes from my belly. I never really liked the taste of children very much, but it's a rumor that spread at one point. I actually prefer hamburgers.
The job got a bit dangerous now that the kids know MMA, karate. It is no longer known how they may react. They find old photos on Facebook, they laugh at you.
It's gotten pretty complicated, especially with this new automatic lights technology. The light can't hit me directly or else I'll disintegrate.
So I decided to walk away from the profession, but I really missed scaring someone.
Scaring is what I do.
So I tried to go outside, walk around the houses scaring cats and dogs. But, well, they are also very unpredictable.
Some time passed before I decided to take extreme measures. I decided to take my life.
Well, it didn't work either. I survived.
And I feel very alone and I feel that nobody understands me.
Boo the ghost gave me a fantastic idea to start using the internet to scare children. His Instagram was having a lot of success in Spain.
Unfortunately, sometimes a misunderstood text speaking can cause you serious problems.
No, no. This is the coco, not the cuco.
Unfortunately that did not work as I would have liked.
I am now out on bail. I hope the charges are cleared soon.
[Crying]
Bueno, mi nombre es el coco. No es el cuco, es el coco, c-o-c-o, yo era el mayor ayudante de los padres para criar a sus niños.
Básicamente, mi tarea consisted en asustarlos para que coman sus vegetales, para que ordenen sus piezas y se vayan a dormir temprano.
¡Grrrrrr! ¡Grrrr! De cualquier manera los niños no... no se asustan más como antes [give it back!] con todos sus videojuegos llenos de zombies, de disparos, de autos, de sangre...
Y el saco en la cabeza es una idea mía original. Pasa que como soy un poco fotosensible, la luz me hace muy mal. Entonces I had que empezar a usarlo para poder salir durante las tardes.
Por supuesto, otra gente lo saw El espantapájaros de Batman, Jason en Viernes 13, y ahora todos quieren tener un saco en la cabeza.
Pero bueno, los padres modernos no... ya no quieren asustar a sus niños.
Psicología le dicen. Yo creo que es una tontería.
Los dientes son más que nada decorativos. Es un instrumento para asustar a los niños [screams], pero mi voz viene de mi panza. En realidad nunca me gustó mucho el sabor de los niños, pero es un rumor que se corrió en un momento. Yo en realidad, prefiero las hamburguesas.
El trabajo se volvió un poco peligroso ahora que los niños saben MMA, kárate. Ya no se sabe cómo pueden reaccionar. Encuentran fotos viejas en el Facebook, se ríen de uno.
Se volvió bastante complicado, en especial con estas nuevas tecnologías de las luces automáticas. La luz no me puede dar directo o si no me desintegro.
Así que I decided alejarme de la profesión, pero extrañaba mucho asustar.
Asustar es lo que yo hago.
Así que i tried salir a la calle, pasear por las casas asustando gatos y perros. Pero, bueno, también son muy impredecibles.
Pasó otro tiempo hasta que I decided tomar medidas extremas. I decided quitarme la vida.
Bueno, tampoco funcionó Sobreviví.
Y me siento muy solo y siento que nadie me entiende.
El fantasma Bú me dio una fantástica idea de empezar a usar el internet para asustar a los niños. Su Instagram estuvo teniendo mucho éxito en España.
Desafortunadamente, a veces un texto incomprendido hablando puede causarte serios problemas.
No, no. Este es el coco no el cuco.
Lamentablemente eso no funcionó como hubiese querido.
Ahora estoy en libertad bajo fianza. Espero que los cargos sean absueltos pronto.
