Senora de Lima's Language Nerd Blog

Mexican Slang

2011-11-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

Love this stuff! Unstranslatable words from around the world!

2010-11-17T04:03:00.000-08:00

Numbers 10 and 20 on this list are words used in our house all the time, one I knew would be on the list. The other should be but I was surprised they found it! So fun. Do read!

24 Things You Might Be Saying Wrong!

2010-08-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

24 Things You Might Be Saying Wrong

The Reader's Digest Version of all those confusing words and seemingly random rules you missed in English class.

You never mean: Could care less

You always mean: Couldn't care less

Why: You want to say you care so little already that you couldn't possibly care any less. When the Boston Celtics' Ray Allen said, "God could care less whether I can shoot a jump shot," we know he meant exactly the opposite because 1) God has other things on his mind, and 2) God is a Knicks fan.

You might say: Mano a mano

You might mean: Man-to-man

Why: You don't speak Spanish by adding vowels to the end of English words, as a columnist describing father–teenage son relationships seemed to think when he wrote, "Don't expect long, mano a mano talks." Mano a mano (literally, "hand to hand") originated with bullfighting and usually refers to a knock-down, drag-out direct confrontation.

You might say: Less

You might mean: Fewer

Why: In general, use fewer when you're specifying a number of countable things ("200 words or fewer"); reserve less for a mass ("less than half"). So when you're composing a tweet, do it in 140 characters or fewer, not less.

You never mean: Hone in

You always mean: Home in

Why: Like homing pigeons, we can be single-minded about finding our way to a point: "Scientists are homing in on the causes of cancer." Hone means "to sharpen": "The rookie spent the last three seasons honing his skills in the minor leagues." But it's easy to mishear m's and n's, which is probably what happened to the Virginia senator who said, "We've got to hone in on cost containment." If you're unsure, say "zero in" instead.

You might say: Bring

You might mean: Take

Why: The choice depends on your point of view. Use bring when you want to show motion toward you ("Bring the dog treats over here, please"). Use take to show motion in the opposite direction ("I have to take Rufus to the vet"). The rule gets confusing when the movement has nothing to do with you. In those cases, you can use either verb, depending on the context: "The assistant brought the shot to the vet" (the vet's point of view); "the assistant took the shot to the doctor" (the assistant's).

You might say: Who

You might mean: Whom

Why: It all depends. Do you need a subject or an object? A subject (who) is the actor of the sentence: "Who left the roller skates on the sidewalk?" An object (whom) is the acted-upon: "Whom are you calling?" Parents, hit the Mute button when Dora the Explorer shouts, "Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?"

You almost never mean: Brother-in-laws, runner-ups, hole in ones, etc.

You almost always mean: Brothers-in-law, runners-up, holes in one, etc.

Why: Plurals of these compound nouns are formed by adding an s to the thing there's more than one of (brothers, not laws). Some exceptions: words ending in ful (mouthfuls) and phrases like cul-de-sacs.

You almost never mean: Try and

You almost always mean: Try to

Why: Try and try again, yes, but if you're planning to do something, use the infinitive form: "I'm going to try to run a marathon." Commenting on an online story about breakups, one woman wrote, "A guy I dated used to try and impress me with the choice of books he was reading." It's no surprise that the relationship didn't last.

You almost never mean: Different than

You almost always mean: Different from

Why: This isn't the biggest offense, but if you can easily substitute from for than (My mother's tomato sauce is different from my mother-in-law's), do it. Use than for comparisons: My mother's tomato sauce is better than my mother-in-law's.

You almost never mean: Beg the question

You almost always mean: Raise the question

Why: Correctly used, "begging the question" is like making a circular argument (I don't like you because you're so unlikable). But unless you're a philosophy professor, you shouldn't ever need this phrase. Stick to "raise the question."

You might say: More than

You can also say: Over

Why: The two are interchangeable when the sense is "Over 6,000 hats were sold." We like grammarian Bryan Garner's take on it: "The charge that over is inferior to more than is a baseless crotchet."

You almost never mean: Supposably

You almost always mean: Supposedly

Why: Supposably is, in fact, a word—it means "conceivably"—but not the one you want if you're trying to say "it's assumed," and certainly not the one you want if you're on a first date with an English major or a job interview with an English speaker.

You might say: All of

You probably mean: All

Why: Drop the of whenever you can, as Julia Roberts recently did, correctly: "Every little moment is amazing if you let yourself access it. I learn that all the time from my kids." But you need all of before a pronoun ("all of them") and before a possessive noun ("all of Julia's kids").

You might say: That

You might mean: Which

Why: "The money that is on the table is for you" is different from "the money, which is on the table, is for you." That pinpoints the subject: The money that is on the table is yours; the money in my pocket is mine. Which introduces an aside, a bit of extra information. If you remove "which is on the table," you won't change the meaning: The money is for you (oh, and unless you don't want it, it's on the table). If the clause is necessary to your meaning, use that; if it could safely be omitted, say which.

You never mean: Outside of

You always mean: Outside

Why: These two prepositions weren't meant for each other. Perfectly acceptable: "Wearing a cheese-head hat outside Wisconsin will likely earn you some stares and glares (unless you're surrounded by Green Bay Packers fans, that is)."

You might say: Each other

You might mean: One another

Why: Tradition says that each other should be used with two people or things, and one another with more than two, and careful speakers should follow suit: "The three presenters argued with one another over who should announce the award, but Ann and Barbara gave each other flowers after the ceremony." (By the way, if you need the possessive form of either one when writing that business letter, it's always each other's and one another's; never end with s'.)

8 Confusing Pairs

leery, wary: suspicious
weary: tired

farther: for physical distance
further: for metaphorical distance or time

principle: rule
principal: of your school

compliment: nice thing to say
complement: match

continual: ongoing but intermittent
continuous: without interruption

stationary: stands still
stationery: paper

imply: to suggest a meaning
infer: to draw meaning from something

affect: typically a verb, meaning "to act upon or cause an effect"; as a noun, it's "an emotional response"
effect: typically a noun, meaning "something produced," like a special effect; as a verb, "to bring about," as in "to effect change"

Funny signs- lost in translation?

2010-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Funny signs - interesting translations!

2009-11-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

8 Classic Mexican Expressions to Spice things up

Funny skit

2009-10-10T06:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3p4UX47WfM

Additions to the Mexican Dictionary

2009-09-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

I know these are a bit stereotypical but the whole accent thing just is really funny:

Mexican Word of the Day: WAFER

I wanted to go to the movies with my friends, pero los mensos didn’t wafer me.

Mexican Word of the Day: Chicken

My wife wanted me to go to the store, pero chicken go herself.

Mexican word of the day: Rectum

I got 2 cars but not anymore because my wife rectum.

Mexican word of the day is: Juarez

My vieja slapped me and I said, Juarez your problem?

WATER

My vieja gets mad and I dont even know water problem is.

Pasturize

Yo vato, that bullet almost hit you. It went right PASTURIZE

CHOPPING

Me and my vieja just got our income tax so we ' re going chopping!

How NOT to be an interpreter

2009-08-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

How NOT to be an interepreter. Great for a good laugh tho'

Mexican Dictionary

2009-08-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

A clever play on words... again sent to me by email so quien sabe where I got it.

From The Mexican Dictionary

BODYWASH: I can't go to tha cantina tonite cuz no BODYWASH my kids.
SHOULDER : My tia wanted 2 become a citizen but she didn't know how to read so I SHOULDER.
COCKATOO: My friend was in the bathroom and I told him to hurry because I had to go COCKATOO!
SODAS: My vieja has beeg tetas and SODAS her sister.
JUICY: Hey vato, I will roll the joint, and ju tell me if JUICY the cops!!!
JUAREZ: My viejita slapped me and I said JUAREZ your damn problem!
TISSUE: Hey vato if you don't know how to do it, let me TISSUE how!
HEATER: My lil sister started to choke...Perro my mom told me to HEATER in the back!
BRIEF: Hey homes, my lady farted in the car and I couldn't BRIEF!
JULY : Ju tol me ju were going to tha store and JULY to me! Julyer!!!
MUSHROOM : When my familia gets in the car......There's not MUSHROOM left!
CHEESE : I went to dis bar and some vato try to hit up on my vieja. I said ay vato CHEESE with me!!
TEXAS : My pinche friend always TEXAS me with dumb jokes.
WATER : My vieja gets mad and I don't even know WATER problem is!
HERPES : Me & my ruca order some pizza, I got my piece & she got HERPES.
HIGHWAY : I turned around in bed, looked at my wife and said HIGHWAY! Put some make-up on cabrona. You scared me!
CHEER : I turned forty las CHEER!
HORCHATA : You can keep talking your crap, HORCHATA hell up!
FRITO :After arguing with the pinche policia he told me I was FRITO go!

2009-08-22T10:44:00.002-07:00

This is the kind of thing I just love as a language nerd. I received this by email so who knows who wrote it?

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this up is confusing:
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UPabout UP !

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you do n't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now ........my time is UP , so time to shut UP!

Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?

Don't mess up. Send this on to everyone you look up in your address book.
Now I'll shut up "

2009-08-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Bienvenidos! Bem Vindo! Welcome!

I thought it would be fun to have a language nerd blog. My house is full of language nerds. We all speak three languages (and a forth when we end up with Portunol). We tell language jokes, speak in accents, laugh about doble sentidos (doble entendres), send each other language joke emails, tell each other about new music we've heard, etc. But most of all we just have fun and laugh a lot.

I am a Spanish and an ESL teacher in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and I also have funny classroom stories to share, so I thought what better a place than a blog? What's more, I am a part-time Spanish medical interpreter and that's good for some hilarious (and of course sad) musings too! So feel free to comment, share or just have a good laugh for the day!