Like a month or two ago a friend of mine had some visitors in town from Madrid and when they were down in my neighborhood I went all around with them and showed them it and I was talking with them quite a bit. Somehow we got on the topic of gypsies -- I love talking with Europeans about gypsies! -- and the guy ("Luis") was telling me that there's these gypsies who put up a tent on the corner of the street he lives on in Madrid not too far from the windows of his apartment, and that they're there all day and night dancing flamenco, so when he leaves for work, they're there dancing flamenco, and when he comes home from work, they're there dancing flamenco, and when he come home from a night out at like four or five or six, they're there dancing flamenco, and when he's hung over on Sunday and just wants to sleep in, they're there dancing flamenco and have the music turned up at six or seven or eight in the morning and they always wake him up.
"Oh," I was like, "So they steal money from people who stop to watch them dancing?"
"No," he was like, "They sell cocaine."
"Oh," I was like, "So the dancing is a cover" -- I quickly realized he might not know this word, and so tried to think of something that would probably have a Spanish cognate -- "you know, a deception, so they can sell cocaine?"
"No," he was like, shrugging, "They like flamenco."
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P.S. -- I also found that incredibly endearing, these cocaine-dealing gypsies from Madrid who dance flamenco all day simply because they like it.
It is endearing.
I like how Luis responded to me in simple English sentences. The pithiness increased the humor-effect of his last statement.
You might enjoy this discussion on the cognate.
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