Dec. 30th, 2008 03:39 pm
"Es diferente"
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muckefuckI don't know why I have so much trouble remembering the gender of the common Spanish word for "mushroom". It's a straighforward derivative of Latin fungus, a ordinary second-declension masculine, so this should be a no-brainer, but of course there's isn't really time in the flow of a conversation to derive everything from first principles. Perhaps I'm simply too influenced by Catalan, where a mushroom is never simply a bolet; there's always a more specific term available--in this case, xampinyó--and the Catalans are mycomane enough to use them freely. Of course, champiñón exists in Spanish as well, but whenever I use it, the Latin Americans give me a blank look of incomprehension.
Carlos el Peruano always seems to understand me whether I order "hongos" or "hongas", but I said the latter today and baffled El Chilango so badly he resorted to English. "I don't know what they call them in Peru", he said, "pero en México dicimos 'hongos'". I was a bit bewildered myself, since I didn't think the Peruvians called them anything but "hongos" either. This sparked a little chat about differences between various varieties of Spanish and he eventually asked me, "¿Dónde aprendió Usted español?" Again I was taken aback, because I thought I'd explained already that I learned it in the USA, but that I had more exposure to Castilian Spanish than other varieties.
When he heard that, he broke into a smile and said, "¡Vale!" Carlos was listening in and added "¡Ostias!" and "¡Joder!" It turns out that he has friends from back home who are living in Castelló de la Plana, which he hopes to visit some day. Should've teased him about learning a little valencià first!
Carlos el Peruano always seems to understand me whether I order "hongos" or "hongas", but I said the latter today and baffled El Chilango so badly he resorted to English. "I don't know what they call them in Peru", he said, "pero en México dicimos 'hongos'". I was a bit bewildered myself, since I didn't think the Peruvians called them anything but "hongos" either. This sparked a little chat about differences between various varieties of Spanish and he eventually asked me, "¿Dónde aprendió Usted español?" Again I was taken aback, because I thought I'd explained already that I learned it in the USA, but that I had more exposure to Castilian Spanish than other varieties.
When he heard that, he broke into a smile and said, "¡Vale!" Carlos was listening in and added "¡Ostias!" and "¡Joder!" It turns out that he has friends from back home who are living in Castelló de la Plana, which he hopes to visit some day. Should've teased him about learning a little valencià first!
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