Spanish Word of the Day

Fecha: 8-1-14
Palabra: Pandilla

Today's SWD means pack/gang/group.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast pandilla y grupo.

Ejemplo time.

Gilligan fue atacado por una pandilla de conejos. = Gilligan was attached by a pack of rabbits.

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast pandilla y grupo.

For one thing, pandilla applies only to people and nothing else. Grupo applies to anything.

Quote:

Gilligan fue atacado por una pandilla de conejos. = Gilligan was attached by a pack of rabbits.

See above. It sounds a bit like saying someone was attacked by a political party made up of cats.

Quote: Nareed

For one thing, pandilla applies only to people and nothing else. Grupo applies to anything

The derivation of the word makes no sense to me. Does it mean a gang of Panda Bears?

pandilla
Etymology: From panda.

Adjective pando m
crooked, bent
shallow (water)
sluggish, slow (moving slowly)
(El Salvador) unlucky (having bad luck)
Derived terms pandear
Noun pando m
plane (open flat land between mountains)
Synonyms llano

Verb pandear
Etymology From Latin pandō, or Spanish pando + -ear.
to bend
to be inclined
to bulge out


The technical term in English is an "Embarrassment of Pandas". There’s a herd of sheep, a pride of lions, a flock of seagulls, but the technical names of many groups of animals is very unconventional.

From images it looks like pandillo implies a group of crooked guys.

I assumed the "pan" was from the root meaning "all," as in pandemic. However I don't know what the "illa" means. Seems lots of Spanish words end with that, like tortilla.

Quote: Wizard

I assumed the "pan" was from the root meaning "all," as in pandemic. However I don't know what the "illa" means. Seems lots of Spanish words end with that, like tortilla.

The suffix -illa is a dimunitive. I thought it might come from pan="all" as well, but I can't find that anywhere. It says "panda" is a French word, but it is associated with Asian animals: the red and giant panda.



I suppose the most literal translation is "little rough ones" and refers to street toughs (at least figuratively).

Fecha: 9-1-14
Palabra: Fanega

Today's SWD means a particular measurement of grain or land area. What bothers me is that is varies from place to place. Spanishdict.com says is equals:

grain measure (in Spain 1.58 bushels, in Mexico 2.57 bushels, in the S. Cone 3.89 bushels)
land measure (in Spain 1.59 acres, in the Caribbean 1.73 acres)

Then again, I'm sure anyone studying English, including me, thinks we are just nuts to use the word karat as a measurement of the size of a diamond but the purity of gold. Not to mention why we have to weigh precious metals in troy ounces, why not just regular ounces?

Ejemplo time.

¿Quieres intercambiar una fanega de trigo para un cien huevos? = Do you want to trade 2.57 bushels of wheat for one hundred eggs?

Quote: Wizard

Not to mention why we have to weigh precious metals in troy ounces, why not just regular ounces?

Why use the same word for four different measurments? An ounce (plural ounces)
An avoirdupois ounce, weighing 1/16 of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.3495 grams or7000/16=437.5 grains.
A troy ounce, weighing 1/12 of a troy pound, or 480 grains, or 31.1035 grams.
A US fluid ounce, with a volume of 1/16 of a US pint, 1.804 687 cubic inches or 29.573 531 milliliters.
A British imperial fluid ounce, with a volume of 1/20 of an imperial pint, 1.733871 cubic inches or 28.413063 millilitres.

Troy weights were probably first used at a fair in Troyes France.


I'm sure there are a lot of gold coins cut to even numbers of Troy ounces. It is simply to difficult to change the system.

Quote: Pacomartin

It is simply to difficult to change the system.

But not impossible. Almost every else has managed to switch to the metric system except us.

Quote: Wizard

Palabra: Fanega

Never heard of it before now.

Quote:

Then again, I'm sure anyone studying English, including me, thinks we are just nuts to use the word karat as a measurement of the size of a diamond but the purity of gold. Not to mention why we have to weigh precious metals in troy ounces, why not just regular ounces?

You know that's a standard practice the world over?

Quote:

¿Quieres intercambiar una fanega de trigo para un cien huevos? = Do you want to trade 2.57 bushels of wheat for one hundred eggs?

You use PARA when you need to use POR.

Also loose the UN the last part. You're saying "for A ONE hundred eggs."

Quote: Nareed

You use PARA when you need to use POR.

Exchanges are always "por" and "para"usually indicates a direction
Spanish "por" is based on Latin "per" so it is similar to the way we use "per" in English

"tres por un dólar" (3 per dollar)
"este libro es para ti."