Joke of the day!

I found this online somewhere, I take no credit! Enjoy! ...I'm going to try to stop watching Sex & the City and study for my linguistics final...

El argentino está visitando a su amigo mexicano en Los Angeles. El argentino no sabe inglés y le pide a su amigo mexicano que le enseñe como pedir comida.
--Fácil --le dice el mexicano--. ¿Te gusta el bistec con huevos?
--Claro --le dice el argentino.
--Eso lo puedes decir así: "y usté quien es", diciéndolo bien rápido. Suena como "steik an egs", que quiere decir "bistec con huevos".
--Ah, eso es fácil…
Al otro día el argentino va solo al restaurant y el mesero le pregunta:
--May I help you?
El argentino le pregunta:
--¿Y vos quién sós?

<3

Spanish word of the day

simón:
yes

The way my Mexican coworkers say "sí." For the first few weeks, I kept trying to figure out who was named Simon. Ha.

(David-does anyone say this in Barcelona?)

Encuentro by José Agustín Goytisolo

José Agustín Goytisolo was born in Barcelona and was a child during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). His poetry captivates me because it is incredibly conversational. An English-language equivalent might be a poet like Billy Collins.
Anyway, I've been reading through his book "Palabras para Julia" (1979). Here is a poem I'm currently falling in love with:

Alegría yo te
he buscado y buscado
por todos los lugares
por todos los caminos
que andaba y desandaba,
alguna vez oí tus pasos en el bosque
otra vez escuché
tu risa pero nunca
te tuve entre los brazos
para poder hablarte
para decirte que
mi vida iba cayendo
como una gota de agua
que hacía frío y
que te he esperado siempre
roto y amante como
me ves como me tienes
contra tu pecho amiga.

The beauty of this poem is in its pacing. I read it fast, like a desperate prayer. I love the absence of punctuation and how he chose to put pauses in the poem with each new line.

Here is a rough translation:

Happiness, I have
looked and looked for you
in all of the places
in all of the streets
that I walked and unwalked
once I heard your steps in the forest
another time I listened
to your laugh but never
have I had you in my arms
to be able to speak to you
to tell you that
my life has gone falling
like a drop of water
that was cold and
that I have waited for you forever
broken and lover like
you see me as you have me
against your chest friend.

I read this as if it were one long run-on sentence. I think the ending is purposefully more ambiguous because the emotion is stronger and the reader/writer is getting closer and closer to a sob.

Hace tiempo!

Hello again.

Yesterday Joel told me this joke (probably need to read it aloud):

¿Que dice un jaguar a otro jaguar?
Jaguar you?
(How are you?)

Ice cream plans fail, Cassidy learns to chill

Jesús and I were supposed to get ice cream on Monday, but things didn't work out. This didn't phase my easy-going (therefore, clearly non-estadounidense) friend.

"Sabes que dice el camello?" (Do you know what the camel says?)

"Aún nos queda mucho desierto para recorrer." (We still have plenty of desert left to walk over.)

Jesús' astute recognition that Sparky's isn't going anywhere.

Spanish word of the day

...another tongue twister! Thanks to Rosario & Jessi @ El Rancho:

Pepe pecas
Pica papas
con un pico
Pepe Peca
pica papas.

(I'm not quite sure what this means--any ideas David?)

Spanish word of the day

...except today it is a joke:

Si un gato muere. Say it five times fast, but not in the presence of any modest Spanish-speakers. Should sound like you are insulting someone's mom.

Tongue twister!

Tres triste tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal! Say that 5 times fast.

This is

...what I'm watching in my head during my English grammer class.

Spanish word of the day

madreleño:
the high-pitched soft voice, slower speech pattern and exaggerated expressions that a mother (or anyone) uses to talk to her baby.

Not to be confused with madrileño: a person from Madrid.

Spanish word(s) of the day

máscara:
mask

careta:
mask

encarar:
to face

All from "cara" which is face.

My favorite Xmas present:

This book , edited by Peter K. Austin.

My interest in language was sparked by encountering so many different cultures in Spain and now I'm afraid I love linguistics. It sounds so boring, doesn't it? Language math?

But this encyclopedia of language makes it incredibly interesting. I love all the infographics and photos. The book, divided into 11 sections, organizes the languages by number of speakers and region. There are also sections on endangered and extinct languages.

I've come across some very interesting issues in this book. For example, did you know that some languages utilize whistling? It is in a hunting community and the hunters use whistles so as to not scare off their prey. But they aren't just whistling a few words, they can hold entire conversations!

In our globalized world, we have more and more exposure to other cultures. My experience has been a good one, but globalization may also lead to language loss. Not that languages haven't died out before, but it becomes increasingly more important for people to know a common language.

Take the sherpas of Nepal, for example. A few decades ago (or more), they wouldn't have any need to speak anything except their native one. Now with climbing tourism, it is probably more and more important for them to learn a language the tourists speak. While I whole-heartedly believe in learning multiple languages if you have the opportunity, the loss comes when generations cease to pass down their native language. Take for example Soma Devi Dura, a nepali woman, who is the last remaining speaker of her native language.

I believe each language reflects its culture in a detailed way that a foreign language can never perfectly match. Therefore, each language that goes extinct represents the death of a culture.

Most spoken languages:
Chinese (Mandarin): 1,055 million speakers
English: 760 million speakers
Hindi: 490 million speakers
Spanish: 417 million speakers
Russian: 277 million speakers

Some less spoken languages:
Bole: 300,000 speakers (native to Nigeria)
Emberá: 80,000 speakers (native to Panama & Colombia)
Kriol: 24,000 speakers (native to northern Australia)
Kickapoo: 250 speakers (native to Americas, speakers now live in Mexico)
Gong: 100 speakers (native to the same-named people group of Thailand)

(all language facts from the afore mentioned book)

Spanish word of the day

rompecabezas:
puzzle, riddle, brain-teaser

Romper is the verb for "to break" and cabeza means "head."

Mexican phrase of the day

Alex & Rosario are cooks at El Rancho. I mostly work with them and Jesús. When they aren't asking me if I have a novio or like to dance, they say "Que me cuentas?".

I used to ask people the same question in English when I was bored. "Tell me a story!"

Spanish word of the day

caerse:
to fall

If I drop a plate at work, in Spanish, I didn't drop it. It fell.

Yet another example of how a language can reflect cultural personalities. I love how this verb takes the blame off me and puts it on the plate!

Sitting in Sven's

My temporary roommates don't have internet, which is a nice change of pace. It has also driven me to go to coffee shops more. Now that I am caught up on the celebrity gossip, a blog update:

I went to World Harvest behind the Gerbes on Nifong for the first time a few days ago. I had big expectations. I wanted a refrigerator full of tortilla, fresh pasta and mozzarella cheese. I half expected there to be a whole aisle dedicated to canned meat or olive oil.

I had forgotten how far away I live from Spain.

However, I did find a candy bar I used to eat all the time in Madrid. And manchego cheese. I used to end up eating manchego cheese on everything just to avoid a bocadillo de jamón. Yum!

I also got pulpo and sprinkled in with paprika to make pulpo de gallego. Octopus. My sister refused to sit by me because it smelled so fishy. I didn't care. It wasn't awful...

The other big excitement was a new mokka! It is a Italian/Spanish-style coffee pot. You don't need any filters and it makes the best espresso!

I had a cup this morning and fell happily into the memories that smell and the taste bring back.

Only remaining disappointment: no European-style sausage.

More on the mokka soon.

Spanish word of the day

aullar:
to howl

Love onomatopoeias.

Feliz Navidad

I can't help but think about the people I love on Christmas, and many of them live very far away. Here is a completely inappropriate, offensive video that reminds me of a French man I love very much, Vincent. Enjoy.

Spanish word of the day

hazmerreír:
laughing stock

literally: make me laugh

I had to look this word up and sound it out several times before I realized how obvious the definition is! "Haz" is the command form of "hacer" which means "to make" and "reír" means "to laugh." Brilliant.

Spanish word of the day

This one comes from Disfrutando la Gastronomía, where I am learning some good Spanish cooking vocabulary. I can't wait until I am finished with this semester so I can spend some time experimenting w/ the recipes!

dientes de ajo:
cloves of garlic

While I was in Madrid, I think I mistakenly used the phrase "clavos de ajo," because it sounded like a more direct translation. I am glad I was wrong, because a garlic tooth is way cooler than a garlic clove!