Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Pacomartin

It does not actually know any grammar.

This is the bigger problem for humans learning a language too, no?

Messing around with Google Translate, I find you can type in something, copy it, then paste it back on the left side. There is an immediate icon to switch the function. Sometimes you can get an idea that way for a better translation. In the above case it does not help, then again it is sloppy perhaps to start the sentence without a subject.

Providing a subject I now get,

una persona puede buscar "Google Translate" y échale un vistazo!

this may be more correct, but it seems the verb tense has changed from your suggestion. Or there is bad grammar again [g]

PS: the computer I am using at the moment is so old it can't use Google Chrome, but I see a message that says,

"Try a new browser with automatic translation.Download Google Chrome"

will have to check it out later

Quote: odiousgambit

This is the bigger problem for humans learning a language too, no?

Of course. Most people don't remember their grammar from school, and have to relearn grammar when they study a foreign language.

Verbs are usually divided into regular and irregular verbs, and when you are taught the language you learn them in the opposite order that you learned your language naturally as a child.

For example since the verb "to go" is in the 10 most common verbs used in a language it is one of the first ones a child learns. They usually learn to say "I go to the store every day with my mom", and "I went to the store yesterday". Children don't say "I goed to the store yesterday". But after a while they lean that the default way to say the past tense is to add an -ed, "I talk all the time", and "I talked to my mother".

But when you go to school to learn a language they teach you the default way to conjugate a verb, and call it a "regular" verb. But then almost every time you use a verb it is not conjugated the default way, and is called an irregular verb. So then you sit down to learn scores of "irregular exceptions".

It seems confusing since a "regular" verb is just a default way to deal with the possibly thousands of verbs that you may end up using if you are fluent.

In English and Spanish (and presumably most languages) the common verbs are all irregular, so in English well over half the time you are using an irregular conjugation.

Quote: odiousgambit

Providing a subject I now get,

una persona puede buscar "Google Translate" y échale un vistazo!

this may be more correct, but it seems the verb tense has changed from your suggestion. Or there is bad grammar again [g]

Puede is basically the verb "can" (more literally it is to have the power to..)
If your English was "A person can search for "Google Translate" ..." then it is a correct translation.

If your English was "You can search for "Google Translate" ..." addressed to familiar then it should be "Puedes buscar 'Google Translate'... "

If that seems like a minor change to add an 's', then think how ignorant the sentence "He think a lot" sounds compared to "He thinks a lot". People are actually very attuned to small changes in language.

English used to have a familiar form of the pronoun "you". It was "thou" which is now archaic and you primarily see it in religious texts. As a result since most people see it in phrases like "Thou art great, my God.." they think it is a form of address to a high level person . In reality it is a form of address to a familiar, while "you" is the more formal address.

The Wizard has not contributed a word since before he went to Costa Rica. Here are Costa Rica's top three most common slang expressions:

Mae can be used to mean "dude" between friends, or simply to refer to any man or woman ("ese mae te está llamando" = "that guy is calling you").

Pura vida means "pure life," but more than anything, it's a way of life. This phrase symbolizes the Costa Rican idea of letting things go, and simply enjoying life. Use it as an answer to "como estás?" ("how are you?"), or to say "thank you" or "you're welcome."

Due to a quirk of speech, Costa Ricans are called Ticos. A Costa Rican man is a Tico, and a Costa Rican woman is a Tica.

Did you hear any of these?

Quote: Pacomartin

The Wizard has not contributed a word since before he went to Costa Rica.

It is nice to be missed. Thanks for noticing.

Quote:

Mae can be used to mean "dude" between friends, or simply to refer to any man or woman ("ese mae te está llamando" = "that guy is calling you").

I don't recall hearing this one.

Quote:

Pura vida means "pure life," but more than anything, it's a way of life. This phrase symbolizes the Costa Rican idea of letting things go, and simply enjoying life. Use it as an answer to "como estás?" ("how are you?"), or to say "thank you" or "you're welcome."

I didn't so much hear this but saw it on lots of t-shirts and other souvenirs. When I got back and bought a Costa Rica license plate from somebody on eBay, he always closed his communication with that expression. However, I would bet he is a gringo that moved there. Nevertheless, it does fit mesh with the philosophy down there of just accepting things as they are without complaining. That philosophy, of course, does not sit well with me. If I see inefficiency in anything you're sure to hear me complaining about it.

Quote:

Due to a quirk of speech, Costa Ricans are called Ticos. A Costa Rican man is a Tico, and a Costa Rican woman is a Tica.

This one I heard lots of times. For example, a friend invited me to a bar where there were lots of prostitutes sitting around. My friend said, "The ones on this side are from Nicaragua and on this side are ticas." I asked why they segregated themselves and he simply said the two groups didn't like each other and looked after their own.

Fecha: 1-4-13
Palabra: Emparedado

Today's SWD means sandwich. It is also the past participle of emparedar, which means to confine. So, I guess the inside of the sandwich is confined, thus calling it an emparedado.

So, now we have at least three words for sandwich, including sándwich y bocadillo. I think I'm going to stick with using bocadillo. Sándwich sounds too anglified and emparedado is just too much of a mouthful.

Ejemplo time.

Morey Amsterdam no era un emparedado; era un santo. = Morey Amsterdam was not a sandwich; he was a saint.

Quote: Wizard

It is also the past participle of emparedar, which means to confine.
So, now we have at least three words for sandwich, including sándwich y bocadillo.

Pared is a noun that means "wall", So emparedar could also be translated as "to wall in". I never saw this word to mean sandwich in Mexico, and I think it is more common in Central America and the Caribbean.

A similar word is "empanar" which means "to wrap in bread". But "empanada" refers to a pastry, and not a sandwich. Although empanada's are much more common in Mexico than in the USA, and people eat them all day and not just for desert. "Empanada de atún" is a "tuna pastry" which is actually very good for breakfast, even though most Americans don't eat tuna first thing in the morning.




Sandwich as almost everyone knows dates from 1762 after the Fourth Earl Sandwich (1718-1792) who was said to eat his food in between two slices of bread because he didn't like to stop gambling for a full meal.

The Old English word "wich" refers to salt pits, and "wic" is a dwelling place. So a "sandwich" was a "sandy place", which named the territory ruled by the "Earl". The word "eorl" is also Old English meaning "brave man" contrasted with "ceorl" or "churl" which was not a brave man. The word survives in modern English mostly as the adjective "churlish" as in "churlish behavior".

The word "bocadillo" means "panecillo cortado longitudinalmente en dos rebanadas con alimentos variados en su interior", it does not mean the same as "torta".

Quote: Wizard

So, now we have at least three words for sandwich, including sándwich y bocadillo. I think I'm going to stick with using bocadillo. Sándwich sounds too anglified and emparedado is just too much of a mouthful.

I've no idea about the abrbarian nations to the south, but in Mexico the word is "sandwich." "Emparedado" is like the two dollar word no one uses outside foreign book translations and old dubbed TV shows. "Bocadillo" means either "canape" or "snack." Unless, that is, you're in the northern reaches of the country. There people will understand sandwich, but they often use the non-word "lonche." Don't even ask why or where it came from, I've no idea.

Quote: Nareed

Unless, that is, you're in the northern reaches of the country. There people will understand sandwich, but they often use the non-word "lonche." Don't even ask why or where it came from, I've no idea.

I don't know where it came from either. From the urban dictionaries the indication is that a "lonche" tends to refer to a longer sandwich. In Philadelphia they are referred to as "hoagies'. Rumor has it that the Italian immigrants who used to favor these sandwiches worked in the Hog Island ship yards and were often called "Hoggies", and the name seems to have remained attached to these sandwiches.



More popular nationwide they are called "submarine sandwiches" or "sub" for short.

Sometimes when the sandwich is baked they are called "grinders", unless the sandwich contains steak meat. Then they are always called "steak sandwiches".



A Spanish company named 100 Montaditos has big expansion plans for the USA, betting that they can expand faster than Starbucks a decade ago.

Quote: Pacomartin

A Spanish company named 100 Montaditos has big expansion plans for the USA, betting that they can expand faster than Starbucks a decade ago.

I'm a big fan of Peruvian sandwiches. I wouldn't object if this chain took over the world:

Pasquale Hnos.