Spanish Word of the Day

Fecha: 8-4-14
Palabra: Lazo

Today's SWD means knot/bow.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast lazo y arco.

Ejemplo time.

Las luces de navidad son atados en lazos. = The Christmas lights are tied in knots.

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast lazo y arco.

English uses "knot" for a variety of things.

I think a lazo is more of a decorative knot.


Nudos are more "functional knots"


The word enredó is more for knots that result from line being tangled.


The Spanish word "lazo" is directly related to English "lasso".
The Spanish word "arco" is directly related to English "arc" which was correlated to Old English boga or modern English "bow" .

Quote: Wizard

Today's SWD means knot/bow.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast lazo y arco.

This is precisely why I recommend using a dictionary in Spanish, rather than a Spanish-English dictionary.

See, your question is akin to asking to compare and contrast lace and whale. The words are not even remotely close to one another in meaning or usage.

As Paco points out, lazo means a decorative knot. But it's used more for a rope with a slip-knot used to catch horses or cattle, or, if you're Wonder Woman, villains. It can aslo mean a string to hold a apckage closed, though in Mexico that meaning is taken up by the word "mecate."

Bow translates as moño, as in a bow tie, or the decoration made with ribbons on the wrapping of a present. is has nothing to do with a wood and string weapon.

Arco means either arch or a bow as in the afore mentioned wood and string weapon. Think for a minute where the word "archery" comes from. See, a bow is shaped very much like an arch

Quote:

Las luces de navidad son atados en lazos. = The Christmas lights are tied in knots.

"...atadAs..." and "...tied in bows."

Fecha: 9-4-14
Palabra: Sigla

Today's SWD means abbreviation or acronym. It should not be confused with siglo, which means century.

The advanced readers can have the day off.

Ejemplo time.

EU es una sigla para Estados Unidos. = US is an acronym for United States.

While the Spanish singular/plural is sigla/siglas, the English singular/plural is siglum/sigla both based on a Latin word. The word was adopted into English in the 1700's.

In English the word "siglum" means strictly "A letter or other symbol that stands for a word or name". For example, an English dictionary uses symbol & to replace "and".

As people started using initial letters for words, the invented word "acronym" was coined in English. In Spanish no such word was developed, so the word "sigla" includes both the English definition plus acronyms. I always assumed that English was the world leader in acronyms.

OK is the only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (e.g. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go;" N.C. for "'nuff ced;" K.Y. for "know yuse"). In the case of O.K., the abbreviation is of "oll korrect." Along with A.D. (Anno Domini) and B.C. (Before Christ) there was very few acronyms prior to the 20th century.

Some widely asserted myths have been circulated about some words actually being ancient acronyms. Some of the best known are "to insure promptness", "fornication under consent of the king", "for unlawful carnal knowledge" and "ship high in transit" . All these stories are inventions.

Quote: Pacomartin

In the case of O.K., the abbreviation is of "oll korrect."

Mo Rocca did a piece on the word okay recently (see link). The guy he interviewed agrees with you, but there are other theories.

Quote: Wizard

Mo Rocca did a piece on the word okay recently (see link). The guy he interviewed agrees with you, but there are other theories.

The Old Kinderhook story is true, but etymologists think that Martin Van Buren was capitalizing on a fad, so the election popularized the saying, but didn't invent it. The presidential election of 1840 was groundbreaking in that, while it was the 14th election, was the first one where the candidates ran a campaign as we would recognize it today (with slogans, logos, tours, etc.). The population of the country was 17 million. There were now 5 cities with more than 50,000 people.

In any case the word acronym is only from 1943 when the militarization of the country radically increased the use of initials.

Quote: Pacomartin

In any case the word acronym is only from 1943 when the militarization of the country radically increased the use of initials.

Tiempo por Trivialidades!

Scuba is an acronym for what? No searching and please put answers in spoiler tags.

Quote: Wizard

Tiempo por Trivialidades!

This means you have time and want to exchange some of it for trivialities.

If you emant "trivia time!" the translation is "Hora de trivia!"

Quote:

Scuba is an acronym for what? No searching and please put answers in spoiler tags.

Quote: Pacomartin

I always assumed that English was the world leader in acronyms.

Maybe so. In mexico acronyms are common for fitting the names of politicians inside headlines. Since names are not getting shorter, this habit ahs persisted for decades. I'm surprised schoolchildren aren't required to recognize a list like this: LEA, JLP, MMH, CSG, EZP, Fox, Calderón, EPN (you can see the PAN presidents don't fit in, hmmm; Except AMLO got in too, so I don't know).

Other than that, Mexican politics is filled with acronyms and initials. The various cabinet departments and government agencies are known as IMSS, SRE, SAGARPA, INM, ISSSEMYM, ISSSTE, DIF, ISEM, SAT, SHCP, BLOAT (made the last one up). They're also used for government programs and amndates, like FOBAPROA, AFORE, SIEFORE, and so on.

My all-time fAvorite is "RTFM."