Monday, September 27, 2010

Voy a romper el chanchito

If you don't know what a chanchito is (I certainly didn't) then take a look at this photo:


Cute little devil isn't he?  A pig in Spanish is also known as cerdopuerco, marrano, or cochino.  By the way, chancho is the proper form of chanchito, which is the diminutive form.  chanchito would translate to "little piggy" or "piglet" in English.

If you want to insult someone, you can use any of those terms except chancho.  I always use cochino, because that's what I learned from my Mexican amigos.  It all depends on who you talk to which one is most commonly used.  But rest assured they'll get the point.

Speaking of chanchos, there's also Los Tres Cerditos - The Three Little Pigs.  If you want to read this story to your kids or grandkids, or maybe even for yourself, just click on the link below.


If you're like me, then you'll want to see the video.  Thank goodness for You Tube:


Have fun with those.  Now it's time to get back to business.

Voy a romper el chanchito
I'm going to break the little piggy

Ouch!  Sounds a bit violent, don't you think?  Well, despite the fact it may sound like a wierd way of saying we're having bacon for breakfast, it's not.  I'm going to show you one more photo and then it will all make sense.


Chanchito is also a colloquial way of refering to a piggy bank.  The official term is alcancía.

So now we can accurately translate our sentence:

Voy a romper el chanchito
I'm going to break open the piggy bank

Yes, occassionally you have to resort to using all that loose change we've been stashing away.  And in these tough economic times, we may just have to romper el chanchito to get by.

¡Hasta pronto!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Cuidado, ahi viene el mero mero

The vast majority of us have to get up and drag ourselves into work and report to the boss.   It sucks, but hey, así es la vida (that's life).

There are several words you can use to refer to the boss in Spanish, like "el jefe" or "la jefa" for a female boss.

Then there's the very Mexican "patrón" and "patrona",  which also mean "boss".

But then also there's more informal ways of referring to the boss, like "the big kahuna", "the man", "the top dog", or "the big boss".   "El mero mero" is a way of expressing that same concept in Spanish.  Mexican Spanish that is.

Cuidado, ahi viene el mero mero
Watch out, here comes the boss

Habla con él, es el mero mero
Talk to him, he's the boss


Mi hija cree la mera mera
My daughter thinks she's the boss

El mero mero can also be used to say something, or someone, is the best.

¡Soy el mero mero!
I'm the best

El blog My Spanish Notes es el mero mero
The blog My Spanish Notes is the best

OK, Maybe I went a little overboard on the last one.

So now translating our expression should be pan comido (easy as pie):

Cuidado, ahi viene el mero mero
Watch out, here comes the big boss

This is a great expression, you can have a lot of fun with, I certainly do.

¡Hasta pronto!

Monday, September 13, 2010

¿Te gustan los jitomates?

Sometimes Spanish really throws me for a loop.  What seems so simple and straight-forward sometimes isn't.  Like talking about tomatoes.

For most of the five years I spent learning Spanish, I was happy knowing that tomate was Spanish for tomatoe.  And it is.  But so is jitomate

Jitomate is a word you'll hear in Mexico for tomato.   The good old round red tomatoes that we know so well.  And just for giggles, here's a picture.



Now, there is another type of tomato.  You know, what we call cherry tomatoes.






These are called tomatillos.

So there's one more kind of tomatoes we still have to talk about, the green ones.



Guess what these are called?  Tomates.  Or a tomate verde.

Well, wasn't that interesting? But guess what?  It gets better.

These variations on the names of tomatoes vary regionally within Mexico.  I found an interesting thread in WordReference that has a very nice discussion about tomates.  Check it out:

Jitomate

I would have never thought a discussion on tomatoes would be so complicated.  ¡Ni modo!

¡Hasta la próxima!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Las rocolas de mi abuela

I went out to lunch with a few co-workers to a new Mexican restaurant.  It's gran apertura (grand opening) was just 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, I noticed they had a brand new jukebox.  It wasn't like the ones I grew up with, it was a modern version that took credit cards.  And then it dawned on me, what the heck do you call a jukebox in Spanish?   Lucky for me the waitress told me.  A jukebox is called a rocola



Since we're on the topic of rocolas and music, let's talk about a few more things.

To talk about playing music, whether it be on a rocola or on the radio, you need to use the verb tocar.  Here's a good example:

¿Cómo se llama esa cosa que toca musica?
What do you call that thing that plays music?

That's what I asked the waitress in order find out what you call a jukebox in Spanish.

When you listen to Spanish radio, you'll probably hear:

Tocamos solo éxitos
We only play the hits

You may have noticed our next word, éxitos - hits.  You'll probably also hear things like "los mejores (grandes) éxitos.  The best hits.  Usually the best hits are pegajoso - catchy, which is what makes them éxitos in the first place.

And just to be thorough, a song is called a cancíon, and the lyrics are called letras.  

Now let's take a walk down memory lane.  At least it is for those of us old enough to remember the old-fashioned record, or album, known in Spanish as a disco, which you could buy in a disquería.  Which you had to play on a tocadiscos.    But these days we tocar our music on a reproductor de MP3 (MP3 Player)

All of this reminds me of another word I learned, traganíquel.   I learned this from a panameña (a woman from Panama).  It's a word they use for jukebox, and if I'm not mistaken, it's used in Nicaragua as well.  Traganíquel can also refer to any machine that takes coins (monedas), like slot machines. 

That leaves us with one last piece of unfinished business.

Las rocolas de mi abuela
My grandmothers jukeboxes

That's actually the name of a short blog entry talking about old-fashioned jukeboxes.  For some of you this will just a be a great opportunity to practice your Spanish, and for the rest of you it wil probably bring back some good memories.  Here's the link:

http://peruinside.com/blog/2008/01/17/las-rocolas-de-mi-abuelo/

That's it for today!

¡Cuídense!