Spanish Word of the Day

I cheated and looked it up. The root word you're looking for is "puerto" as in a sea port.

The antonym would be "oportuno" which means suitable. It's all related to "oportunidad" as well.

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It seems to be a synonym of "molestar" but it is a milder one, implying that the doer is not deliberately trying to interfere, but is unaware of how what he is doing.

It's also one of those $5 words hardly anyone ever uses any more.

Quote: Nareed

It's also one of those $5 words hardly anyone ever uses any more.

I don't know how many $5 words are in English. There was supposed to be about 25K words in Old English, and now there are a million words in the Oxford English dictionary. Most of the $5 words in English today are of Latin or Greek origin.

Some of the archaic forms of "to be" are considered $5 words today
(archaic) thou art, thou beest, thou wast, thou wert

The verb "brook" (OE based) is often used for effect, but it is seldom spoken
Stan Van Gundy will brook no ESPN disrespect of Erik Spoelstra

But by and large the Old English words are comfortably part of everyday language.

Quote: Pacomartin

I don't know how many $5 words are in English.

There must be plenty. Like, say, moliminous (meaning momentuous or weighty; momentuous itself is a rather expensive word, too).

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There was supposed to be about 25K words in Old English, and now there are a million words in the Oxford English dictionary. Most of the $5 words in English today are of Latin or Greek origin.

Again, I see no hard and fast rules. Here are some rather common words of Latin and Greek origin: Television, telephone, physics, airplane, automobile (ok, ot that common), local, city, urban, flammable, inflammable, inflame, inflamation (etc), refrigerator, medicine, hospital, hospice; well, you get the point.

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Some of the archaic forms of "to be" are considered $5 words today
(archaic) thou art, thou beest, thou wast, thou wert

Well, there's archaic and there's current but seldomly used.

I'd say the one near hard and fast rule is: shorter words replace longer ones. Where a shorter word does not exist, one is made up (i.e phone for telephone). But even then I think easier words replace harder words regardless of length.

Is "blane" a word?

Fecha: 3-12-13
Palabra: apachurrar

Today's SWD means to squash/crush.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast apachurrar y aplastar.

Ejemplo time.

El Capitan le apachurrá a Gilligan cuando su hamaca rompá. = The Skipper squashed Gilligan when his hammock broke.

Today it's used to mean "squeeze." You see it in squeeze bottles of things like cajeta, ketchup and marmalade as "apachurrable."

Quote: Wizard

El Capitan le apachurrá a Gilligan cuando su hamaca rompá. = The Skipper squashed Gilligan when his hammock broke.

I do need to do this:

"The Skipper does squash him Gilligan when his hamock will broke have." Or words to that efffect. (Sorry, but there's no other way to convey this; also, the accent in apachurra is out of place.)

So let's try "El Capitán apachurrÓ a Gilligan cuando SE rompiÓ su hamaca."

They put up Xmas decorations at the office. There's a set of gel stickers in a window in the ground floor which should spell "let it snow!" Instead they arranged the letters as "let it's now!" (the apostrophe is actually a snowflake).

That ranks up there with a sign at a car wash near the office which reads "Ram Car's Wash."

As you can see, the apostrophe drives Spanish speakers insane.

Quote: Nareed

Today it's used to mean "squeeze." You see it in squeeze bottles of things like cajeta, ketchup and marmalade as "apachurrable."

Is there a difference between despachurrar and apachurrar?

Quote: Pacomartin

Is there a difference between despachurrar and apachurrar?

I've no idea what the first words means.

The DRAE defines the words as follows:

despachurrar. (De despanchurrar).
1. tr. coloquial: Aplastar algo despedazándolo, estrujándolo o apretándolo con fuerza. U. t. c. prnl.
2. tr. coloquial: Estropear una historia o relato por torpeza de quien lo cuenta.
3. tr. coloquial: Dejar a alguien cortado sin que pueda replicar.

apachurrar.
1. tr. (poco usado) despachurrar (‖ aplastar).

despanchurrar. (De des- y pancho).
1. tr. despachurrar

pancho/cha. (Del lat. pantex, -ĭcis, panza).
1. adj. Tranquilo, inalterado.
2. adj. Satisfecho con algo. Tan pancho.
3. m. Cría del besugo.
4. m. coloq. Vientre, barriga, panza.

Fecha: 4-12-13
Palabra: chuchería

Today's SWD means trinket. There is a thrift store by my house that has all its signs in English and Spanish. There were lots of shelves of chucherías. The English equivalent they used was "knick-knack."

The assignment for the advanced reader is to provide an etymology for the word.

Ejemplo time.

Sra. Howell llevó muchos chucherías por un guia de tres horas. = Mrs. Howell took a lot of trinkets for a three-hour tour.