Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Wizard

Palabra: Macizo

Better ;)

If you've eaten carnitas, one kind of taco is called "maciza." I've no idea what it means, or what it's called that, but it is made with meat from the pork's leg. In the food business that'a also the name of leg of pork meat, deboned, and as "maciza de res" beef leg meat, also deboned.

Quote:

Esta moneda es hecho de plata maciza. = This coin is made of solid silver.

"Esta moneda ESTÁ HECHA de..."

Quote: Wizard

I asked already for recommendation for books written originally in Spanish, that aren't too old or advanced, and got nothing.

I know. I think I explained. I have since recalled which was the last book in Spanish I read. It was "La Estatización de la Banca" by Luis Pazos, in 1984 or so, for a term paper.

Quote:

I'm glad to see you didn't count that as a Spanish dialect. My Grand Canyon rafting trip had a couple from Barcelona but I couldn't understand a word they said to each other in Catalan.

Catalán is a mishmash of regional languages and dialects, as far as I know. Whereas Basque is from another planet, in a far away glaaxy, in a parallel univeres made of dark anti-matter.

Or so it seems.

Quote: Nareed

If you've eaten carnitas, one kind of taco is called "maciza." I've no idea what it means, or what it's called that, but it is made with meat from the pork's leg.

This reference says "shoulder", but it could easily be wrong.

Maciza Carnitas Taco is actually the Pork Shoulder. The Maciza has the least amount of remaining fat after the cooking process, and is on the dry side, slightly crisped and lightly salty. It's probably the healthiest type of Carnitas. The other side of the spectrum is Nana Carnitas Taco (Braised Pork Uterus Taco).

The DRAE does not specify shoulder or leg, just that the meat is "sólido y bien fundado".

Quote: Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

macizo, za.
(Del lat. massa, masa, e -izo).
1. adj. Lleno, sin huecos ni vanos, sólido. U. t. c. s. m.
2. adj. Dicho de una persona: De carnes duras y consistentes.
3. adj. Sólido y bien fundado.
4. m. Prominencia del terreno, por lo común rocosa.
5. m. Grupo de alturas o montañas.
6. m. Cebo que emplean los pescadores, consistente en una mezcla de residuos de pescados triturados, como sardinas o chicharros, o sus desperdicios, o más comúnmente, en salvado y arena.
7. m. Agrupación de plantas de adorno con que se decoran los cuadros de los jardines.
8. m. Arq. Parte de una pared que está entre dos vanos.

Inexpensive books for Spanish and for Latin American Spanish
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lonely-Planet-Fast-Spanish-Phrasebook/dp/1741794838/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_23_72TF?ie=UTF8&refRID=0J43WM5PNSTR0BFVH42F
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lonely-Planet-American-Spanish-Phrasebook/dp/1741791154/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=09NW3MDP3MQE73V57HH3

Quote: Pacomartin

This reference says "shoulder", but it could easily be wrong.

Wouldn't the shoulder on an animal with 4 legs qualify as a leg? I mostly deliver smaples and help set prices. I've no idea where in the animal it comes from. The price for "maciza" is the same as deboned pork leg, either whole or in chunks.

Quote:

Maciza Carnitas Taco is actually the Pork Shoulder. The Maciza has the least amount of remaining fat after the cooking process, and is on the dry side, slightly crisped and lightly salty. It's probably the healthiest type of Carnitas.

I agree with all that. And it's the only type I ever order.

Quote:

The other side of the spectrum is Nana Carnitas Taco (Braised Pork Uterus Taco).

Really? Yuck.

Quote: Wizard

I asked already for recommendation for books written originally in Spanish, that aren't too old or advanced, and got nothing.

I would recommend the Pazos book I read ages ago, but it's hopelessly dated. The banks have since long been returned to private ownership.

Now, as I said I haven't read any Spanish fiction since high school, and not much of it then either. I woulnd't therefore recommend anything from experience, and would hesitate in any other way. Still, I do read a weekly column by Mario Vargas Llosa in the paper (or try to, somethimes he just dissembles all over the palce without coming close to a point). I've never read any of his fiction, but his column is easy to read and usually agreeable. If you want to look up any of hsi fiction on the strength of what i just said, let me know how it goes.

Or you might look up newspaper websites. I don't know the addresses or any, but the two big ones in Mexico are Reforma and Excelsior.

Quote: Pacomartin

Inexpensive books for Spanish and for Latin American Spanish
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lonely-Planet-Fast-Spanish-Phrasebook/dp/1741794838/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_23_72TF?ie=UTF8&refRID=0J43WM5PNSTR0BFVH42F
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lonely-Planet-American-Spanish-Phrasebook/dp/1741791154/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=09NW3MDP3MQE73V57HH3

Thanks, but I'm not looking for a Spanish textbook but a book that tells some kind of story written in Spanish.

Quote: Wizard

Thanks, but I'm not looking for a Spanish textbook but a book that tells some kind of story written in Spanish.

I realize what you want, since we discussed this point a year ago. But it is surprisingly difficult to find.

I talked to my aunt (who studies Spanish literature) and wrote to some authors who had their books translated, and they all told me that translations are normally done in European or Argentine Spanish.

Surprisingly, very few stories written in Spanish outside of classics, get translated into English. Gabriel García Márquez and other award winning contemporary writers are available in both languages, but they are not books for beginners.

http://www.amazon.com/Stories-America-Historias-Latinoamerica-Edition/dp/0071701745

I was hoping that the Disney stories would be available in both Latin American and European Spanish, but I can't find any references online to books in both kinds of Spanish (just films).
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For individual words that Google ngram viewer should be helpful. Since "rebosar" is fewer than one in 4 million words in the Corpus, you can bet most people don't use that word.

Even the word "thou" in English shows up once in every 85,000 words in modern English.

Fecha: 20-3-14
Palabra: Fresno

Today's SWD means ash tree.



Until now I thought it was just a city in central California, where one of my brothers live.

The assignment for the advanced readers is what other south-western cities are named after trees? To get you started, another is Paso Robles.

Ejemplo time.

Ate un cinta amarilla alrededor de el fresno viejo. = Tie a yellow ribbon around the old ash tree.

Quote: Wizard

Ate un cinta amarilla alrededor de el fresno viejo. = Tie a yellow ribbon around the old ash tree.

Amarra un listón amarillo al viejo fresno.

Pinellas County, Florida: Pinellas is named from the Spanish words Punta Piñal ("Point of Pines" or "Piney Point").
Alameda County, California: Alameda is named for the Spanish word for a cottonwood grove.
Tulare County, California: Tulare is named for the Spanish word for place of tules or rushes, aka cattails. (not really a tree)

Quote: Wizard

Ate un cinta amarilla alrededor de el fresno viejo. = Tie a yellow ribbon around the old ash tree.

"Amarra un listón amarillo alrededor DEL..."

Cinta = Tape, as in scotch tape, masking tape, police tape, duct tape, etc. It can also mean "strip." A word for a movie in spanish is "cinta," refering to the film strip it's made of.

Listón = Ribbon

Ate is the formal conjugation of the second person, but it's also the name of a type of gelatinous fruit candy.