Expatriates In Spain Have No Problems With Being Called Expats!

Online poll shows foreign nationals in Spain don’t take offence at being called expats!

A popular English language media outlet serving British expatriates living in Spain has just released the results of its survey about the possibly offensive term. Fortunately, a large majority of respondents made it clear they didn’t take offence when called ‘expats’. The reason behind the survey was that a flood of emails were sent to the newspaper’s news desk, all complaining about its usage of the word and demanding foreign residents be labelled as ‘residents’ or ‘immigrants’.

The poll took place on Facebook and garnered 971 respondents, only 26 per cent of whom said they were offended by the term. Just to make absolutely certain, the media outlet repeated the poll on Twitter, with the similar result of 68 per cent saying the use of the term ‘expat’ didn’t bother them at all. A collective sigh of relief might well have been heard emanating from the paper’s offices after the votes either way were counted, but the exercise is interesting in that it says a lot about how people who’ve chosen to live, work or retire in a foreign land see themselves!

Meanwhile, as climate change continues to show its ugly side with soaring, record-breaking temperatures across normally temperate European countries, one British hiker in the Western Pyrenees is now in a serious condition in hospital after becoming a victim of heatstroke. After the victim collapsed and lost consciousness, he was transferred to a Pamplona hospital and is now critically ill. The hiker wasn’t the first casualty of the searing heat, as one 17-year old boy who tried to cool off by jumping in a pool in Cordoba has now died, and two pensioners as well as a 62-year old victim have lost their lives in France after suffering from heatstroke and diving into cold water.