Spanish

[squirmelia]

I had my first Spanish lesson last night. The teacher explained how it is easy to confuse children with pubic hairs.

Comments

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

It may have been something to do with Spanish as spoken in some parts of South America? I'm not quite sure. I will have to search for it when I am at home.

The anecdote she told was something like, a guy shouted across the street to someone, "how are your sister's children?", but it could have meant, "how are your sister's pubic hairs?"

[flavius-m.livejournal.com]

Not my part of South America, for sure*! I can't imagine how you could mistake nephews/pubic hairs!! Do you remember the actual words? 'Nephew' is 'sobrino..'


* Venezuela.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

She didn't say the actual words, unfortunately. I will search later though! I presume it was some sort of colloquialism, but am unsure.

[eric-the-girl.livejournal.com]

weird... ok, have asked my sister as she's far more good at spanish than me (it's what she does for a living)

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I had a search and came up with:

"pendejo/a 1 [m, f, adj] [rude, but not insulting] child, kid, boy/girl; [usually appreciative] (someone who looks like) a young person; [derogatory] childish, improper for an adult person, esp. used of something made out of whim and arbitrariness (pendejada [n]); 2 [m] [generally only used among boys, very rude] a pubic hair. (Note well, the first meaning is not an insulting term of address as in Mexican Spanish.)"

[eric-the-girl.livejournal.com]

i think perhaps your spanish teacher has failed to explain herself properly somewhere... also, i can tell you the most important thing is never to confuse raining with fucking.

Ian did that once... my mum and I will NEVER let him forget the day he said "esta jodiendo" instead of "esta lloviendo"

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Her point was just that words can have slightly different meanings in different Spanish speaking countries, and I think she got that point across quite well really, even if she didn't explain it more than that. :)

Wikipedia says this:
"In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, pendejo or pendeja refers to a child, usually with a negative connotation, like that of immaturity or a "brat"[citation needed]. Also, in Argentina, "pendejo" is a pubic hair, so someone called "pendejo" is someone of no value as a person. In Perú, however, it does not necessarily have a negative connotation, and can just refer to someone who is clever, especially with regards to street smarts."

I'll try not to confuse raining with fucking. :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Is the Spanish for "fucking in the rain" a tonguetwister? ;)

[eric-the-girl.livejournal.com]

jodiendo en la lluvia? no, not really...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Shows how little I know about how Spanish works, thanks!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

In Italian, I once confused "coniglio" (rabbit) with "coglione" (arsehole, the expletive) when I meant the former.