(no subject)

[muckefuck]

So I'm going to revive that thing I do where I post words I've recently learned in my free-time reading in a vain attempt to convince myself that the amount I know is still growing rather than shrinking a bit more with the death of each sclerotic braincell. Most of you will want to skip these, but I imagine there may be a few Spanish-learners who will take this as an opportunity to quiz themselves.

These are all from García Márquez' Vivir para contarla with the exception of a few happy discoveries from trips to the dictionary.

a rastras
a secas
afinar
alisio
asombro
atar
barranco
desafinado
entrepierna
entretiempo
esbelto
estorbo
herradumbre
índole
liquilique (Exhibit A for Crazy Jungle Spanish)
majadero
mala leche
malanga (Exhibit B)
mercedora
mercedorcito
mercer
ordeñar
oropel
palurdo
pargo (en los restaurantes lugareños se dice huachinango)
pandilla
pelambre
pesadilla
pesadumbre
pesar
ráfaga
remanso
resabio
resaca
retinto
servidumbre
trepar
ventarrón

Comments

[jhvilas.livejournal.com]

Bad milk?

[areia.livejournal.com]

That was the only one in the list I Googled. My guess was something like soured or buttermilk, but I guess it means either bad luck or ill intent depending on the region.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Does that mean that it was the only one you didn't know or the only one you were curious about? Because if you recognise all the rest of those words, then I'm frankly quite impressed. I had to go all the way to the RAE to find some of them!

[areia.livejournal.com]

It was the only one I thought I could translate. Bad milk! Bad, bad milk!!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

NO DONUT!

Esbelto is just svelte in bulky Spanish clothing. The rest, however, are more obscure.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Literally, yes, but it has a variety of slang meanings such as "bad blood", "bad luck", "bad faith", "bad mood", and so on. Here's how it appears in context: Teníamos tanta cosas en común que se decía de mala leche que éramos hijos de un mismo padre[.] "We had so many things in common that it was said with ill intent that we were sons of the same father." This gives me the impression that this scurrilous talk is tantamount to calling him and his friends bastards. A few pages later he uses the opposite, dec[ir] de buena leche, to indicate that an apparently catty remark about a painter is actually not meant as an insult at all.

[tisoi.livejournal.com]

Ay, güey... This list makes me believe I know no Spanish at all, damn! lol.

a secas = I know seco is dry. But is this some kind of adverbial?

entrepierna = I know the literal meaning. Is this some kind of euphemism for the genitalia?

entretiempo = ditto on literal meaning. but what times?

estorbo = ah, a word we use in Tagalog. It means to bother.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

A secas means something like "simply", "no more than that". It's used particular with names, e.g. Le dicen Li a secas "They just call her 'Li'."

It's possible that entrepierna is used euphemistically, but García Márquez' usage is purely literal: con mi vestido de pana negre que...me apretaba en la entrepierna "with my green suit that...was tight in the crotch". You'll appreciate this: The Catalan equivalent is entrecuix, which sounds as outrageously Catalan as entrepierna sounds pure Castilian.

For entretiempo, see my previous post.

[aindreas.livejournal.com]

First five I didn't have to look up ... entrepierna I surmised. Ordeñar, pandilla, pesadilla, and resaca I also knew, plus the literal meaning of mala leche, but there's obviously something else. I'm with goodboi though. Lists like these make me feel like I'll never speak Spanish. But thanks for posting this anyhow. I hope you'll do more in the future.

[exentric.livejournal.com]

OH! OH OH OH! From the word pesar comes the phrase "a pesar". :D

A pesar de que la luna no brille mañana...