ARGENTINA: Piropo Time

One of the surest signs of spring in Buenos Aires is the piropo, the compliment whispered to girls by young men on the prowl. Sometimes it is a simple: "Ah, mi corazón, where are you going?" More frequently it is a formularized gambit of a sort that has been used for generations. Thus, overhauling a girl in a green dress, a gay blade breathes into her ear: "You are a miracle when green; what will you be when you are ripe?"

Legs Visible. On the broad boulevards of the Argentine capital last week,...

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