Spanish Word of the Day

Looking at this advertisement from Spain
El centro de la canasta directa/indirecta fluorescente accesorio which is translated as "center basket direct/ indirect fluorescent fixture"

It might be a metaphor the way we use a light bulb for a brilliant idea.



Many countries give number grades in school instead of A+, A,, A- so there may be no direct translation to "straight A's".

Once again I assume the translator is European or Argentine.

Quote: Pacomartin

Looking at this advertisement from Spain
El centro de la canasta directa/indirecta fluorescente accesorio which is translated as "center basket direct/ indirect fluorescent fixture"

Good theory. Just two more days until Lupe's next visit, so maybe she will have a canasta directa about what it means.

By the way, I ran into a lady from Columbia at the gaming show who said that Doña Pepa was a comic strip character in some Latin American newspapers. All she could say was that she was a maid.

Quote: Wizard

And it should have been plastita, with an "s." What does that mean?

No clue. Probably some kind of South American slang.

For that matter, the original English sentence doesn't make much sense, either. Is Dookie a name or a noun used as an adjective? I've come across the word before only once, with a rather scatological meaning. Either way, stripped of non-essentials, it would mean congratulations to someone for getting good grades during a given period. if so, then "canasta directa" still makes no sense.

I'm guessing it's slang. Now, the problem with slang is that it varies widely by region, even when the use of language is relatively the same. In the case of US slang, this doesn't matter as much because it tends to be broadcast around the world via movies and TV shows (and to a lesser extent via books, newspapers, magazines and websites). Even so there are words which make sense in, say, California, but not in Nebraska; or for that matter in LA but not in Sacramento.

Quote: Nareed

Is Dookie a name or a noun used as an adjective? I've come across the word before only once, with a rather scatological meaning.

Either way, stripped of non-essentials, it would mean congratulations to someone for getting good grades during a given period. if so, then "canasta directa" still makes no sense. I'm guessing it's slang. Now, the problem with slang is that it varies widely by region, even when the use of language is relatively the same.

The character in the book stepped in dog poop as a toddler, and he acquired the nickname.

I can't find any obvious references to "canasta directa" meaning a bright person, so I am guessing here.


In lighting sometimes light sources are concealed by curved opaque shielding called baskets, which are often perforated with a pattern of small holes.
This type of fixture provides both direct lighting through the perforations and indirect lighting by bouncing light up from the basket and then off the upper light-colored opaque parts of the fixture.

Quote: Glossary of light terms

Luminaire: a light fixture. This should not be confused with the term, luminary, which is a small open paper bag, sometimes with a design on it, containing a lit votive candle set in sand. Luminaries are often used to line outdoor walkways to provide a festive mood to a setting and a certain level of safety. In Mexico and the southwest USA, the terms, luminary and luminaries, become luminaria and luminarias.

The term, luminary, can also refer to a person who has attained eminence in his/her field or is an inspiration to others.

http://www.pegasuslighting.com/glossary.html#ixzz2h0kk69Ob

Cognates in Spanish would be lumbre, deslumbrar, & alumbrar. Which from my dictionary means both to illuminate, to set fire to, or to get someone drunk.

Quote: Pacomartin

In lighting sometimes light sources are concealed by curved opaque shielding called baskets, which are often perforated with a pattern of small holes.

I don't think so. I've never heard the term "canasta" used in that connection. A lamp shade of any kind is called, I think, "pantalla." I'm not sure, as I prefer ceiling and wall light fixtures rather than lamps.

The term probably refers to basketball, where a score is called a "canasta." Why the "directa" is there I've no idea, but then I've never watched a basketball game in my life (not once). All my experience with it goes back to a few unhappy periods of gym "class" in junior highschool.

El centro de la canasta directa/indirecta fluorescente accesorio

The word canasta/basket is used in this advertisment in connection to overhead office lighting. The word Pantella is used in this advertisement for a desk lamp.

In the USA wall light fixtures were once very popular, but have pretty much gone out of fashion for home builders. Overhead lights are still common in kitchens, but not very often used in bedrooms.

Quote: Pacomartin

The word Pantella is used in this advertisement for a desk lamp.

Pantella is not a word. I know that's what it says in th eURL, so it may be a trademark.

Quote:

In the USA wall light fixtures were once very popular, but have pretty much gone out of fashion for home builders. Overhead lights are still common in kitchens, but not very often used in bedrooms.

I've overhead lights everywhere, and just one wall-mounted rail in the bathroom. I like BRIGHT lights easily controlled with one switch. The idea is that the room should be as bright as a sunny day, every day. I use yellow light exclusively, too.

Quote: Nareed

Pantella is not a word. I know that's what it says in th eURL, so it may be a trademark.

My mistake in changing the vowel. The noun pantalla has a lengthy definition in the DRAE including many regional and colloquial definitions. In the past, if a word is of Catalan origin, you tend not to use it much,

pantalla
(Quizá del cat. pantalla, y este cruce de pàmpol, pantalla de lámpara, con ventalla, pantalla de lámpara).
1. f. Lámina que se sujeta delante o alrededor de la luz artificial, para que no moleste a los ojos o para dirigirla hacia donde se quiera.
2. f. Especie de mampara que se pone delante de las chimeneas para resguardarse del resplandor de la llama o del exceso del calor.
3. f. Telón sobre el que se proyectan las imágenes del cinematógrafo u otro aparato de proyecciones.
4. f. Mundo que rodea a la televisión o al cine.
5. f. pantalla electrónica.
6. f. Persona o cosa que, puesta delante de otra, la oculta o le hace sombra.
7. f. Persona que, a sabiendas o sin conocerlo, llama hacia sí la atención en tanto que otra hace o logra secretamente una cosa. Le sirvió de pantalla

8. f. América Meridinial: Instrumento para hacer o hacerse aire.
9. f. Arg. Cartelera de menor tamaño, que se coloca junto al borde de las aceras o en las esquinas de las calles.
10. f. El Salv. Apariencia falsa que da alguien que quiere impresionar.
11. f. P. Rico. pendiente (‖ arete).
12. f. pl. despect. coloq. Ur. Orejas de una persona.

~ electrónica.
1. f. Superficie en la que aparecen imágenes en ciertos aparatos electrónicos.
~ radioscópica.
1. f. Fís. La fluorescente que utiliza una sustancia sensible a los rayos X.
pequeña ~.
1. f. coloq. televisión (‖ transmisión de imágenes).
2. f. Aparato de televisión.


BTW do you use the phrase = América Meridinial ?

Quote: Pacomartin

My mistake in changing the vowel. The noun pantalla has a lengthy definition in the DRAE including many regional and colloquial definitions. In the past, if a word is of Catalan origin, you tend not to use it much,

Is it? I'd no idea.

It's very frequently used. Up to, oh, ten years ago, perhaps it was restricted to lamp shades and movie screens, but since TVs, and computer monitors, went to plasma, LCD and LED, and since even before then cell phones strated having actual screens, it's used several times a day. The main menaing is "screen," originally denoting a movie screen. You see it perhaps for the most part on advertisements for TVs, tablets and, phones.

Quote:

3. f. Telón sobre el que se proyectan las imágenes del cinematógrafo u otro aparato de proyecciones.

That's really odd. "Telón" means " a theater curtain." Stage theaters still use curtains. They're needed to hide work done on the stage between scenes, after all. In the old days, movie theaters used a curtain to cover the screen between shows (and on the intermission, if you can recall that). But that ended even before the multiplex concept finally killed off the large, single-screen theaters.

And don't get me started on "cinematografo." That's Spaniard penchant for L A R G E W O R D S :P

Quote:

BTW do you use the phrase = América Meridinial ?

No. I think it means South America, but who uses those terms any more?

Hoy es lunes, que significa mi jardinero Lamberto era aqui. Su ayudante dice que una canasta directa es un canasta en baloncesto. Creo un "swish," tal vez de la linea de tres puntos.