EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

AIDE-DE-CAMP: "if the president was an AIDE-DE-CAMP in the past, will I get to be president myself? Mmmhhh. .." There is no English word for that and yet there is a term for that in English. Confused?   Me, too. (kidding!) Let's begin by clarifying what an EDECÁN is and what he or she does. An EDECÁN is basically a military officer who assists another officer who is his or her superior in rank. Constitutional presidents usually have an EDECÁN at their side in all official presentations even though they are not part of the military. As in most constitutions, presidents are the heads of the Armed Forces and therefore they outrank any general or admiral which is why they are assigned their own EDECANES "to protect" them so to speak, though really EDECANES are more symbolic figures than anything else. EDECÁN  in English is AIDE-DE-CAMP, not an English word since it was obviously borrowed from the French language, but the only term in English to mean ...

If we can say LET'S GET GOING, can we say LET'S GET COMING? Though it looks like an uncommon expression it is not. VAMONOS YENDO is used by Ecuadorians, only occasionally.  It is another way to say ¡Vámonos!,  and it is not an Ecuatorianism. In fact it can be found in several expressions of the Spanish culture such as some song lyrics from which it was probably taken. The equivalent in English is LET'S GET GOING. This expression is more often heard in English than it is in Spanish. The meaning is pretty much the same with a slight difference: it has a stronger sense of urgency, something like Let's hurry up!

Minimalism at its best...or worst. A FLOP HOUSE or FLOPHOUSE (DOSSHOUSE in British English) is a house or also a hotel that offers very cheap accommodations at very cheap prices because the services you get are well...cheap.  The quarters are mere cubicles, beds are small and bedrooms are usually shared. FLOP HOUSES are usually occupied by homeless people or low-income travelers. These days FLOP HOUSES have gained low reputation and some people use them to smoke drugs among other things. In the past FLOP HOUSES were known as Lodging Houses. There is not a real translation for it in Spanish. The closest would be PENSION DE MALA MUERTE or ALBERGUE PARA INDIGENTES.

"This FORD will save us some time like two or three minutes." We know FORD as one of the most famous names in the car industry, but FORD is also a shallow section in a river or a stream that can be safely crossed by walking or driving (as in the image on your left). There is a word for that in Spanish but it's rarely used. VADO is such term. Curiously, we prefer to say UN LADO CRUZABLE DEL RIO which is not necessarily the best Spanish expression out there. 

"Well, if they keep calling me a CAPO in Ecuador we could always send them some flowers or that thing called yucca."                              In Spanish a CAPO is a man, usually the leader of a criminal organization, who does not usually involve directly with his own business and commands everything from a discreet and remote position, more specifically, a Mafia leader. The word CAPO is originally Italian not Spanish and  is also used in English but is still considered an alien word. Curiously, the word CAPO is not as frequent as another, also an alien word, DON. In fact, there seems to be an underlying difference between both terms- DONS are CAPOS but of he highest possible kind.  

An example of really poor AIM. It depends. AIM as a verb is simply APUNTAR or DIRIGIR (hacia un objetivo).  It may also mean PROPENDER as when you want to achieve something. AIM as a noun may be OBJETIVO or PROPOSITO. Though it's not always that easy.  In the example: "Your AIM is impeccable!" we cannot translate AIM as OBJETIVO. In this case AIM means LA CAPACIDAD DE DAR EN EL BLANCO.

When you 're really angry your Gallbladder looks much bigger (and greener)! The right term is GALL BLADDER or GALLBLADER. As you can see in the picture, the GALLBLADDER is a pear-shaped organ, right below the liver, whose only function is to store bile produced by the liver which later on will be released in the small intestine. It is the bile the substance that helps our body deal with the fat contained in digested food. Curiously. it is possible to live without a GALLBLADDER. If removed, the bile will simply go from the liver to the intestine. It is not advisable to do it though (since there is a reason for it to be there) unless it is so full of Gallstones that is more a problem than a solution. Gallstones are formed when the bile stored in the Gallbladder is so full of cholesterol that the bile solidifies thus provoking stones.