spanishNY.com

Mensa, not *that* smart

The paragraph below is from Mensa, a society of folks who think they are smarter, more intelligent than the rest of the mankind who doesn't belong to that exclusive group of sharp-witted people:
What is Mensa? Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, a barrister, and Dr. Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership of which was a high IQ. The original aims were, as they are today, to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. The society welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population, with the objective of enjoying each other's company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.  
What is Mensa in Spanish? Mensa in Spanish means stupid, idiot, dumb, moron, silly, foolish, mentally challenged, etc. If they really were as smart as they say, they would have chosen a different name. They may be incredibly smart for some things, but not for languages.
 

Your name here (or not)
   

Who would be willing to join a society for people who are smarter than 98% of the world population, whose name sounds like La Sociedad Mensa, The Stupid Society, The Idiot Society, The Moron Society; mensa Internacional, stupid international, idiot international, moron international? They definitely should do something about it.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
Main Entry: menso, mensa
Function: adjective
Usage: Spanish word
Mexico, familiar : foolish, stupid

From wordreference.com:
menso,-a m,f LAm fam pey dummy, jerk

20070306 (spanishNY.com) top

Cajeta

 In Mexico, this is the name of a caramel spread made with milk. Cajeta is also a taboo word in Argentina, so they, just like other South American countries, use a different name for a similar kind of sweet: dulce de leche. There is a major difference between cajeta and dulce de leche. In Mexico, the most exquisite type of cajeta must be made with pure goat milk and must be packed in wooden boxes, which give the spread a very special taste and aroma. A cheaper, more commercial version must contain at least some percentage of goat milk that could be mixed with regular cow milk. Cajeta made with cow milk only, and sold in plastic bags, is not cajeta, is dulce de leche. Cajeta is a diminutive form of the noun caja, box. The traditional Cajeta de Celaya is packed in round wooden boxes. In the picture, below right, you can see hundreds of these little boxes, cajetas, wrapped in a white paper and decorated with colorful ribbons ready for sale.
 
 
 These are examples of commercial versions of the sweet milky spread. It's funny that while Coronado products features a goat in its logo, Hershey's features Thalia, a famous Mexican telenovela actress. In the picture below you can see cajeta and some other products made of it like candy and lollipops.
 
 
 
   Click here for more information about cajeta, including some history
 
   Cajeta Coronado
 
 Now, about the word cajeta with the Argentine sexual connotation, I have no idea how they coined it, but that meaning is valid only in that South American country. It's OK to use this word everywhere else except in that country, where they won't miss the chance to make fun of it if they hear you.
 (Photos by Mexico Desconocido magazine, Productos Coronado, and Hershey's) 20070223 (spanishNY.com) top

A lo mejor

A lo mejor is one of those very useful expressions overlooked by most Spanish grammar books. It's probably the most popular way to say maybe or perhaps in spoken Spanish. It never requires the subjunctive as sometimes do quizás, quizá, tal vez, acaso, etc., so it's easier. Some people also say a la mejor, which is a little variation.
     Examples:
      A lo mejor mañana llueve = Maybe it'll rain tomorrow
      A lo mejor nos vemos mañana = Maybe I'll see you tomorrow
      A la mejor hoy se fue temprano el jefe = Perhaps the boss left early today
      No contestan, a lo mejor no hay nadie = They don't answer, maybe no one is there

 When speaking Spanish, try to use this expression more often than quizás and tal vez, you'll sound more fluent.
 20070219 (spanishNY.com) top

Pan's Labyrinth

Winner of 3 BAFTAS and winner of 3 Oscars, representing Mexico.

 
 New York Times review
 Video Review
 Rotten Tomatoes, 96% rating 

Although the trailer above was edited for all audiences, this movie is for an audience of over 17. Pan's Labyrinth is in Spanish from Spain, as the story written and directed by Guillermo del Toro takes place in Spain during the Civil War, and it was co-produced with Telecinco of Spain. Another co-producer was Alfonso Cuarón, the director of the previous Harry Potter movie. His influence is evident on the cold colors on dark backgrounds for the real world, warm colors on dark backgrounds for the fantasy world, and the casting of Maribel Verdú, who worked with him in Y Tu Mamá También. González Iñaritú, of fame and winner of the Golden Globe for the Best Picture, contributed as well -he has a special thanks credit- and I guess he had something to do with the way they intertwined two stories, which together with Arriaga is his specialty. The English subtitles were written by Del Toro himself. 20070202 (spanishNY.com) top

Bárbaro, ¡qué barbaridad!

Bárbaro is one of those difficult Spanish words due to its many contradictory meanings:
John drives at 120 miles per hour.  ¡Qué bárbaro! (reckless)
The player has won 10 games in a row.  ¡Qué bárbaro! (fantastic)
The neighbor beat up her husband/his wife. ¡Qué bárbara! / ¡Qué bárbaro!  (barbaric, cruel)
The party was great. ¡bárbaro! (terrific, fantastic, cool; used mostly in Argentina)
The drunk was bumping into people on the subway.  ¡Qué bárbaro! (uncivilized, barbarous)
He has a massive wound. ¡Qué bárbaro! (massive, excessive)
Surprisingly enough, the horse is recovering. ¡Qué bárbaro! (terrific)
Bárbaro won the Kentucky Derby. ¡Qué bárbaro!  (extraordinary)

Bárbaro died. ¡Qué barbaridad!  (terrible, unfortunate)

Bárbaro and barbaridad come from Latin barbarus, and this from Greek, meaning foreigner.
(Photo: REUTERS/Shaun Best) 20060602 Last update: 20070130 (spanishNY.com) top

Frida Kahlo, the New York years

Frida kahlo lived in New York in the early 1930's when her husband, Diego Rivera, worked for John D. Rockefeller Jr., his wife, and their son Nelson. They lived in Manhattan at the old Barbizon Plaza Hotel (It's difficult to identify which one, since there are two hotels that claim to have had that name and they are both old, but the most likely is today's Trump Parc, at 106 Central Park South @ Sixth Avenue, which was built in 1930 as the Barbizon Plaza Hotel).

Frida Kahlo in her Barbizon Plaza Hotel room, her home for a while.
 

The next photograph was taken during a summer trip in Jones Beach, Long Island. She is sitting next to Diego Rivera. According to photographer Lucienne Bloch, who took this picture, they didn't quite enjoy the trip as it took them 4 hours to get there, and even longer to get back to Manhattan because they got lost in Brooklyn very late at night. Roads were not as they are today.


Photo by LUCIENNE BLOCH (1909-1999). Frida Kahlo with Ice-Cream Cone, Jones Beach, New York, 1933


The legendary picture below was taken by Ms. Bloch at the RCA building in Rockefeller Center, against Nelson Rockefeller's orders -and guards- by smuggling a camera under her skirt. She actually took many pictures of it moving the sliding scaffold up and down and across, so this must be a composite view of it.


"The Rockefeller mural will be 63 feet long and 17 feet high covering the east wall of the elevator bank and extending around on the north and south walls."

This unfinished mural painted by Rivera was destroyed at midnight (no witnesses wanted), February 9, 1933, by orders of the 24 year old Nelson Rockefeller; he didn't like having a portrait of Lenin on his family's wall, which occupied some 1% of the total mural surface. For a business oriented family, this was a questionable decision to make. Imagine how many millions this mural would be worth in today's dollars. They could have chosen to remove it, preserving it somewhere else. Leon Trotsky, who lived with the Rivera's in Mexico City, was at different stages of his life a mutual friend of Frida and Diego, and Lenin.

Shortly afterwards, Diego Rivera painted some murals at what used to be the New Workers School, 51 West 14th street, top floor. Contradicting many reports that say that these moveable panels were destroyed, I was able to gather some information indicating that some of them still survive, for sure. One of them was traced down in 1997 at Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, 23 E 73 St., New York, NY. According to the Mexican Proceso magazine (Issue: 1109, February 1st, 1998; Article: 4.6438136100769 ) and to the Mexican La Jornada newspaper, September 11, 1998, a Mexican ex-president (1970-76), Luis Echeverría Alvarez (1922-), keeps at home (his home) a few of these panels, which officially belong to the Mexican nation (Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación). The last time I checked, he was about to go on trial facing a prison sentence -at home, because of his age- for genocide, so hopefully he will voluntarily return these panels to improve his poor public image. According to the Mexican newspaper, La Jornada, July 04, 2004, another panel is in the Fine Arts Palace (Palacio de Bellas Artes) in Mexico City since 1977.

These pictures were taken in 1933 at the New Workers school, 51 West 14th Street, Chelsea, New York, NY. The current 4 story commercial building at this address was completed on August 16, 1949, and modified again in 1986, which means the original building that housed this school was demolished. The current tenants at this address, some school of photography and a flower company, which by the way had no idea about the history of their address, were kind of unfriendly. Luckily, the New York City Department of Buildings staff were of a great help in gathering this information.

This is the finished mural behind Frida Kahlo; Rivera insisted stubbornly on painting Lenin and their mutual friend, and guest, Trostky. Reportedly, this is the panel seen in New York at an art dealer's gallery in 1997.

Another Panel that includes the portrait of his former patron John D. Rockefeller.

On her work, The Suicide of Dorothy Hale, Frida Kahlo painted the Hampshire House, a Central Park South, landmark building.

This ghost-clouded painting is based on a real tragedy that happened at this high-rise in 1938. The publisher of Vanity Fair commissioned the work for Dorothy's mother, but this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. What a gift!

Something interesting is that the tower was brand-new when Kahlo painted it, so the copper roof still had its original color, which later became green.

Images of Frida, Diego, Trotsky (the one on the murals), etc.

With valuable information from virginia edu, luciennebloch com, pbs org, artnet com, fbuch com, time com, proceso com mx, jornada com mx, NYC Department of Buildings. All photos except the last 2 by Lucienne Bloch. Hamshire House and Barbizon Plaza Hotel by Tom Spencer.
(spanishNY.com) 20070114 (Last updated: 20070706) top

Calzones in New York Vs. calzones in Hispanic countries

Calzones in the U.S.

Calzones in Mexico


Calzones in the U.S.


Calzones in Spain, I think these CK ones resemble a little bit the one in the previous picture


Calzones in New York


Calzones in Argentina, but imported from their neighbor Brazil of course


Calzones in Italy


Calzones in Venezuela, these ones resemble the previous one as well


Muchos calzones in the U.S.


Calzones in Costa Rica

 

I hope no further explanation on calzones in the U.S. and calzones abroad is required. This is for one of my students who is expecting another baby, and while on a craving told her Colombian babysitter, Quiero comer calzones (I want to eat calzones), and the just-arrived-in-the-U.S. nanny looked at her like Whaaaaaaaaaaat???????. You guessed, originally, in Italy, the meal was named after a piece of clothing.
20061215 (spanishNY.com) top

ABBA in Spanish

This is one of the many Spanish videos of the Swedish band. (Yes, the same band that sings the classic "Dancing Queen"). Their pronunciation is virtually perfect with just a couple of trifling flaws, like Agnethas's verano and oscuridad, or Frida's surgir and posibilidad, plus people from Spain may not like their Latin American pronunciation (gracias, felicidad, cielo, azul, cruce, vez, etc.).  For this particular song, their Spanish pronunciation is much better than their corresponding English version. One of my students was able to understand the Spanish version but not their English one. Their Spanish language coach did an amazing job.
This is the Spanish version of "When all is said and done", No hay a quien culpar, There isn't anyone to blame.
 Click here to see the lyrics



20061208 (spanishNY.com) top

Bigot, bigoted, bigotry Vs. bigote

No one is 100% certain about the origin of the Spanish word bigote, moustache or whisker, nor about the origin of the French (and English) term bigot, intolerant, racist. Some English etymology sources say that bigot in French (and English) probably originates from the Germanic expression bei Got, by God, por Dios. The Royal Academy in Spain says that bigote probably stems directly from the same bei Got expression, but some other sources indicate that it came to Spain much later via France, where bigot was already in use in the XII century with the negative meaning.   Ultimately, most theories point to the Visigoths or Normans, tribes from the north of Europe that used to say "bei Got" and that must have inspired both, bigotry and moustaches, sometime between the Middle Ages and the XVI century, after they invaded and ruled southern European regions. Mostacho is an alternate Spanish word for moustache, but it is not used as much as bigote. Spanish is not alone in this, since bigode is the Portuguese word for moustache.


Happy Thanksgiving day = Feliz día de Acción de Gracias. 20061123 (spanishNY.com) top

Language mistakes in the media

This is a headline ran by a Mexican on-line newspaper www.universal.com.mx

Viven los habitantes del Ajusco heladas inusuales y cruentas
El descenso de temperatura, desde el viernes; el termómetro ha registrado hasta -1 grados; la tormenta de nieve, sin precedente
LILI VALADEZ, FABIOLA CANCINO y MÓNICA ARCHUNDIA
El Gráfico
Miércoles 22 de noviembre de 2006

Cruento means bloody, implying, perhaps, a bloodshed. Yesterday, there was a snowstorm in a region in the south of Mexico City called Ajusco. Snow is very unusual during November in Mexico City. In fact, sin precedente means that it had never happened before. The headline reads, "Residents of Ajusco experienced an unusual, bloody freezing cold." Obviously, these newspaper's reporters and editors are not familiar with the meaning of cruento. My guess is that they confused cruento with cruel, cruel, or crudo, harsh. Fortunately, this snowstorm didn't cause any bloodshed. 20061122 (spanishNY.com) top

Seguir doesn't only mean to follow

I have noticed this problem with students who already have acquired some background knowledge of Spanish. We are reading some sentence, like ella siguió estudiando durante el verano. When I ask what is the translation, just to make sure we are on the same page, very often it is she followed studying during the summer, which is not correct. The meaning is she continued studying during the summer or she kept studying during the summer. Please note that most of the time seguir followed by a verb or an adjective doesn't mean to follow, but to continue, to keep (doing something), to keep on, or it carries the idea of still. ¡sigue! and ¡siga! are the imperative (tú and usted) forms of seguir and they mean continue!, keep going!. Sigue derecho doesn't mean follow straight, but continue ahead. Gilberto sigue borracho doesn't mean Gilberto follows the drunk man, it means Gilberto is still drunk. ¿Sigues enojado? means are you still angry?. El sigue sin decir nada means he still doesn't say anything. Armando sigue con ella means Armando is still with her.  Seguirse de largo is to pass something by. The green traffic light is often called la luz verde or la luz de siga, because it indicates that you can continue driving or walking.
 
 Seguir followed by a pronoun, a person, or a thing, means to follow. Sígueme means follow me. Siga ese coche means follow that car. ¡El siguiente! means next!, the following!. Seguido is used in Mexico instead of a menudo to indicate often, frequently.
(Graphic: www.dimadi.com) 20061104 (spanishNY.com) top

Inanimate Indirect objects

Note: This is not quite beginner's Spanish, and some of these examples apply to conversational Spanish only.
In most cases, when we think about an indirect object -i.e. the recipient of an action, a thing, or a favor- we think of a person or animal. Here is an example of a person as an indirect object:
darle algo a alguien, to give something to someone*  (*while technically "someone" is the object of a preposition in English, in Spanish it is a real indirect object).
   Yo le doy los libros a ella, I give her the books
Here is an example of a person as the beneficiary of a favor:
La sirvienta me planchó la camisa, the maid ironed the shirt for me
However, in Spanish, it is common that the indirect object is an inanimate object. The following literal translations are approximated, and some sound very odd in English:
darle cuerda al reloj, (lit: to give the watch a wind) to wind a clock/watch
   Le dábamos cuerda al reloj todos los días, we used to wind the watch every day
ponerle sal a la sopa, (lit: to put salt to the soup) to put salt in the soup
   Le puse sal a la sopa, I put salt in the soup
ponerle gasolina al carro, (lit: to put gas to the car) to fill the tank
sacarle punta al lápiz, (lit: to give the pencil a sharp) to sharpen a pencil
quitarle la tapa a la botella, to remove the cap from a bottle
subirle el volumen al radio, (lit: to give the radio volume) to turn up the radio's volume
ponerle una refacción al coche, (lit: to put a spare part to the car) to

In conversational Spanish, the (redundant in these cases) indirect object  pronoun is often used when listing chores. Literal translations are nearly impossible in these cases, maybe the only exception is when using the verb dar, to give, like in give it a try. For other verbs, this would sound as is if the inanimate objects were alive:
La sirvienta le pasó la aspiradora a la alfombra, the maid vacuumed the carpet
También le quitó el polvo a los muebles, she also shook the dust off the furniture
Le limpió la jaula al perico, she cleaned the parrot's cage (in this case the IO is an animal).
Les puso agua a las plantas, she watered the plants
Le cambió las pilas al radio, she changed the radio's batteries
Le quitó la mancha a mi camisa, she removed the stain from my shirt
Le cambió las sábanas a la cama, she changed the bed's sheets
Le dio una trapeada y una encerada al piso, she moped and waxed the floor (lit: she gave the floor a mop and a wax)
Le dio una lavada al coche, she washed the car (lit: she gave the car a wash)
Le dio una cortada al césped, she mowed the lawn (lit: she gave the lawn a cut)
Le sacó brillo a la plata, she polished the silverware (lit: she gave the silverware a shine)

(Image credit: atschook.eduweb.co.uk) 20060622. Last update: 20061023 (spanishNY.com) top

Arabic Contributions to the Spanish Language

Noele A., one of my students, recommended this interesting article available on the internet. It was written by Habeeb Salloum. There are dozens of interesting words, but in one of the paragraphs, the author mentions the word arroba. Its symbol, @, was used several centuries ago in Spanish colonies and beyond to represent a unit of weight. Nowadays it is part of the syntax of email addresses. Here is a sample from this paper and then the link to the document:

      (....... Travelling across the country, one finds Arabic place-names everywhere:  Albacete is derived from the Arabic (al-basit - the plain); Albufera (al-buhayrah - the small lake); Alcalá (a1-qa1^cah - the fort); Alcantara (al-qantarah - the bridge); Almería (al-mirayah - the mirror); Alpujarras (a1-bashurah - the bastion or the news); Benicasim (Bani  Qasim - the sons of Qasim) ; Calatayud (qal ^cat  Ayyub - the fort of Ayyub [Job]); CalataÁazor (qal ^cat  al-nasur - the fort of eagles); Guadalajara (wadi  a1-hhijarah - valley or river of stone); Guadalcazar (wadi  al-qasr - valley or river of the castle); Guadalquivir (wadi  a1-kabir - great river); Guadalviar (wadi  al-abyad - white river); Madrid (majri - a type of breeze); Medinaceli (madinat Sa lim - the city of S~lim); Murcia (misriyah - Egyptian); Tarifa (Tarif - name of the first Muslim to land in Spain); Vega  (buq ^cah -  field); and Valladolid (balad al-­Walid - the town of Walid).  

                               @

  Here is the whole article

(20061017 spanishNY.com) top

Fulano, Zutano, Mengano y Perengano

Any of these words can be used, primarily in conversational Spanish, as names to call Mr. So-and-so. The first 3 names together correspond more or less to Tom, Dick, and Harry.  If you use them to replace actual names, you can capitalize them. You can say, for example, fulano or fulana to refer to some man or some woman. Fulano de tal, or fulano de tal por cual is just some guy whose name you don't even want to mention. Very often, their diminutives, fulanito, menganito, and zutanino, are used as well.  While un fulano means some guy, Don Fulano is a Tequila!
Tequila Mr. So-and-so

Zutano comes from Latin, but fulano and mengano are words of Arabic origin. It is said that perengano stems from both,  Pérez, a very common Spanish last name, and mengano. Fulano is also used in Portuguese with the same meaning, but in that language the rest of the gang are sicrano and beltrano.
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