Spanglish of the Day

[muckefuck]

Window sign in a grocery on the way home: FROZEN FOODS / COMIDA FRISADA.

In Academy Spanish, frisar is an obscure term from the field of textile production. It means to rub cloth in order to raise the nap on it (i.e. as is done in the production of woolen frieze). Its only really colloquial use is to express approximate age, e.g. Frisaban en los cincuenta "They were getting to be in their fifties." The prescribed term for "freeze" is helar or--with foods--congelar, so "frozen foods" should be alimentos congelados (or just congelados for short).

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Most of the G[oogle]hits I'm getting for "fris/zada" relate to computadoras rather than comida (though even here congelada is an order of magnitude more frequent). So far, my favourite is a site offering "alimento congelados [sic] y comida frizada para empresas, restaurantes y supermercados". It's good to have a choice!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Actually, it occurs to me that some speakers might have a contrast in meaning, with comida more likely to mean "prepared foods, meals" and alimento "food ingredients". This could also explain the use of frizado is frozen meals weren't really a part of those speakers' foodways before coming to Chicago.