Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Wizard

El profesor titubeó antes de le pedió a Gilligan para ayuda. = The professor hesitated before asking Gilligan for help.

You need a do over.

Let's see... The professor hesiteated before of the asking to Gilligan with help.

That's not a literal re-translation, but rather one mean to preserve the meaning, or lack thereof, in the original.

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast rabo y cola.

Rabo is a short tail. Cola is any kind of tail. Cola also means glue (and this is true in portuguese as well), anda line where people wait for something, like ana dmission line to a show (but not a reception line at a wedding).

Quote: Nareed

.. and a line where people wait for something, like an admission line to a show (but not a reception line at a wedding).

What is the preferred way to tell people to "line up" (or form a queue in BrE)?
1) formar en una fila
2) hacer cola

I also saw the border in TJ referred to as "la linea". The nglish-Spanish dictionary says border is translated as "la frontera", but we use "frontier" in English to refer to the region near a border, not the actual borderline itself.

Quote: Pacomartin

What is the preferred way to tell people to "line up" (or form a queue in BrE)?
1) formar en una fila
2) hacer cola

Yes (how very Vorlon of me; it comes from following CLaudia Christian on Facebook, I guess).

Both are acceptable.

Quote:

I also saw the border in TJ referred to as "la linea". The nglish-Spanish dictionary says border is translated as "la frontera", but we use "frontier" in English to refer to the region near a border, not the actual borderline itself.

Frontera means border. There is no Spanish word for "Frontier," which means something like on the borderline of the known or explored or well-known, or past the broderline, or a new region being carved out, etc. You may hear something like "En las fronteras de la ciencia," meaning "on the frontiers of science," but not often, as the association is with a borderline.

Quote: Wizard

Today's SWD means to ramble on/digress.

Not quite. In usage it means to speak aimlessly without making a point or even imparting much information. In Mexico the wrod is "Cantinflear," which I'm sure we wither covered before or Paco can explain in a jiffy.

It also means to wonder around aimlessly, without reaching a destination or even heading anywhere in particular. Though the propper word for that should be "vagar."

Quote: Nareed

Not quite. In usage it means to speak aimlessly without making a point or even imparting much information. In Mexico the wrod is "Cantinflear," which I'm sure we wither covered before or Paco can explain in a jiffy.

Most eponyms are nouns like sandwich or silhouette.

To me the highest honor is to get an eponym that is a verb. You have done something so good or bad that the very action is named after you. In English bowdlerize, boycott, galvanize, gerrymander, guillotine, lynch, mesmerize, or pasteurize.

The most famous Mexican comic actor of all times was Cantinflas. This news report is about how his name became a verb

I once knew the speech he gives in "Un día con el Diablo," which pretty much exeplifies what Cantinflear means. I can recall the opening:

Patriotas! patriotas de la Patria!
Sabeís lo que esta palabra significa?
Pues si no lo sabeís, no seré yo quien os los diga,
por que para eso están los que si lo saben.

And a bit later he's asking whether the audience knows the reasons for the war. Then he says something like "Hay tres razones, todas importantes. Y estas son: La primera! La segunda! y La tercera! Que cosas, no?"

Quote: Nareed

Que cosas, no?

"Que cosas" is idiomatic. Literally it seems to mean "What things". I am not sure how you would translate it into English. Someone suggested it might be translated as
"How about that!".

Thanks for the quote. The guy was a genius.

Quote: Pacomartin

"Que cosas" is idiomatic. Literally it seems to mean "What things". I am not sure how you would translate it into English. Someone suggested it might be translated as
"How about that!".

That's good enough. Another possibility would be "Ain't that something?"

Quote: Pacomartin

Thanks for the quote. The guy was a genius.

See if you can get this scene. It happens during army training, with Cantinflas (C) addressing the seargent (S):

C: Joven! Oiga, joven!
S: Dígame, señor. (abruptly) Sargento! Soy su sargento!
C: Si, joven.