Yes, I definitely did enjoy it, especially since I will seriously take up studying Spanish in no time. So I may be coming up with all sorts of questions about Spanish in the near future. :-)
As a matter of fact I have realised that saying "el agua" must be definitely due to phonetical reasons, there being no other justification for it. Sometimes being interested about the "why's" in connection with a given language will make it easier to understand the "how's" of it, too.
No problemo is like any loan word or loan expression in a language. These loan expresssions usually get corrupted. so what. No problemo. Why do the French "faire du footing"?, the Japanese eat a "Viking" and so on.
I still laugh when I read or hear in interviews "c'est finger in the nose". I can't think of any expressions in French remotely similar to that. Well let's just say it's as easy as picking your nose!
<<No problemo is like any loan word or loan expression in a language.>>
Don't be so naive. It has more sinister connotations in the US.
Juan, who the hell do you think you are to call me naive? You do not know me and you do not know what I know. You are typical of the self-styled arbiters of what is true and right who do not feel obligated to substantiate their insinuations. To your ilk, just the fact that someone of your political persuasion makes the insinuation means it is so.
Please spell out your thesis on the sinister connotations of 'no problemo" in the US. I hope it also works here in Canada where people also say "no problemo". They also say "deja vu" and pronounce it wrong, and use a number of other foreign expressions , most of which are corrupted.
Steve K sez:
<<Juan, who the hell do you think you are to call me naive?>>
I didn't say you "were", I said "don't be". There is a difference. Just because in your experience you believe that "no problemo" is a harmless borrowing of a foreign phrase into the English venacular, doesn't make it so.
Juan,
Thank you for that link which proves your point as far as consideration of Spanish in some US states. I have the feeling most of those pictures are from southern states.
I had lots of laugh at that "caca de toro" milk mug. "Caca de toro" would be childish talk, meaning "the shit of a bull" in Spanish since "caca" is something like "poo" said by a child, so they have translated "bull's poo" Isn't that sweet and tender? No Spanish-speaking family would dare have her children have their milk where a bull shat, let alone "pooed", although I'm still wondering where they got that faeces sample from. I imagine it isn't from a bullfight since it's probably from a Texan ranch. Would they have put "bull's poo" or a plain "bull shit" (as two words) on a child's breakfast mug in English? Do they know that Spanish-speaking people see those things in the store? Aren't some of them supposed to be learning Spanish? Does that mean that some Americans really think that Spanish-speaking people have their breakfast in some old-fashioned chamber pot that is rinsed at 7 am after a heavy night? I encourage Americans to take such companies to the court. There certainly are laws in Spain in that sense --for any language-- and I'm sure that a civilised country like the US must also have its own.
Regarding the correct translation of "bullshit" in Spanish, meaning "nonsense", I suggest "porquería" or "jilipolladas", which is really what's it's all about but at your poorest neighbour's expense. "Porquería" means "filth" although it originally means a "pigsty". Would "pigsty" be a nice little name for a WASP child's mug? It all depends on your sense of humour I suppose, although I don't imagine them having one when it affects them...
The words "cack" and "cacks" feature in Scottish dialects.....meaning just what you think they do.
Juan,
First a point of English.
Don't be so naive" in reply to a post of mine means you are saying to me "you are naive, please stop it", no?
Second
I checked out your link.
Mock Spanish: A site for the Indexical Reproduction of Racism in American English
http://www.deaflibrary.org/nakamura/courses/linguisticanthro/hill1995-slides/
If you consider that use of Spanish to be racist you must have a low opinion of Spanish speaking people. So it is your problem. There are many similar examples of the use of French, German or Italian etc, in English, or English in other languages, even accompanied by cartoon caricatures .
Let me guess, you are a teacher in the public school system and regularly go to anti-racist meetings to tilt at windmills and feel good about yourself
Sinister connotations to "no problemo"??? It's just an expression (as Steve said, it's corrupted) and barely used at that.
Speaking of which I take great offense at Juan's use of sinister to mean something evil. I am left-handed. I am in a victim group too you know. Victims are everywhere.
We must be vigilant to make sure that no human being is in any way disrespectful or insensitive to any other human being. All the meanness of mankind's more than 100,000 years of history can be eliminated if could just control what everyone thinks and says.
You may choose to look elsewhere and to think we've got some kind of agenda but I would say the agenda, in some parts of the US, is clearly against the poorer Spanish-speaking population. I suppose it's part of popular Anglo-Saxon culture in those areas but it still hurts those who are affected.
Let's forget your "no problemo" for a while, but the mock Spanish list in the link Juan gave us includes, further to the "bull shit mug", where children are supposed to have their milk and that no one dares mention, beauties such as:
1) A mug with the word "peón" meaning in Spanish "labourer" or "servant".
2) A message that says "adiós cucaracha" (good-bye cockroach). No comment.
3 Más música less talk (more music, hablar menos) quite a different message to "less music, hable más.)
Since I live in Spain where Spanish is treated as well as English is in the US I'm as shocked as you would be. I assure you that going to anti-racist meetings wouldn't disturb me at all if I thought that's what I should do.
Come on! Get down from your high horse! If you spoke Spanish and had understood all those messages (there are many more) you'd know what Juan and I mean.
Mira, Juan, la verdad es que me duele tanto como a ti y te comprendo perfectamente. No hay derecho.
Look, Juan, the truth is I'm as hurt as you are and I understand you perfectly. There's no right.
Jordi,
?Como sabes tu que yo no hablo castellano? Tu puedes visitar mi sitio web www.thelinguist.com y escucharme utilizando el idioma de Cervantes. Castellano me encanta, tanto como la cultura espanola.
But in the meantime calm down and get a life. If people are not allowed to make a mug with "bull shit" "merde de taureau" or "caca de toro" or any other version of the same idea, the world would be a sad place. Ditto for all the other examples you mentioned.
<<I am in a victim group too you know. Victims are everywhere>>
Tell me about it! I know the feeling. I happen to be left handed as well, but I don't refer to that in the context of victimhood or prejudiced discrimination. All of that has a postive side in that it builds character and makes you stronger.
<<get a life>>
After an evening of study I am going out to do just that...I can scrape a few quid together till pay day Friday....everything in life has a price tag! LOL Cheers! See you later guys.
