Why do Cubans call strangers mi amor?

The manners that come with it

The woman at the window calls a stranger mi amor, and it means nothing romantic: it is normal in Cuba. Cubans put -ito on almost everything, so the coffee is a cafecito and the one with milk a cortadito. Even the grammar is relaxed: the gender of azúcar wavers, so you hear el azúcar blanco and la azúcar.

On a Sunday afternoon half of Havana ends up on the Malecón, the eight-kilometre seafront wall, where a man fishes with a line and a bucket and three musicians play a son.

• Mi amor between strangers is normal in Cuba and carries nothing romantic.
• Cubans put the diminutive -ito on almost everything: cafecito, cortadito, espumita.
• The gender of azúcar wavers: el azúcar blanco, but also azúcar morena and la azúcar.
• The Malecón is Havana's seafront avenue with a stone wall about eight kilometres long; on Sunday afternoons half the city comes, and musicians play son, the Cuban music that salsa grew out of.

¿Qué te sirvo, mi amor?

What can I get you, love?

Los domingos por la tarde, media ciudad viene aquí.

On Sunday afternoons, half the city comes here.

Tres músicos tocan un son con una guitarra y unas maracas.

Three musicians play a son with a guitar and maracas.