Posts

What's BRAVE in Spanish?

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"Brave? Well, not right now. I'm mad. I can't find my comb. Darn!" BRAVO is not necessarily the best translation for BRAVE, not at least if you are in Ecuador. Here BRAVO is mad, angry. Un hombre BRAVO is a bad-tempered person. How this came to be is a mystery. Nevertheless, in other Spanish-speaking countries, BRAVO is indeed valiente which is valiant, or BRAVE. So, yes, BRAVE is BRAVO in Spanish, only not in Ecuador

What's a WISECRACK in Spanish?

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"No WISECRACKS about my hair. At the moment, I am a WISECRACK ." A joke is a WISECRACK, but a joke is not always a WISECRACK. A joke can be a funny story that at the end causes laughter, but it is also a sarcastic and funny remark. If it is a sarcastic remark then it is called a WISECRACK. As such a WISECRACK can be translated as BROMA or CHISTE, but if you want to be more precise then it is neither.  There is not a one-word translation for WISECRACK,  but  we can say SALIDA GRACIOSA or SALIDA INGENIOSA.

How do you say CASPA in English?

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"See? It's magic. It was not there ten seconds ago." CASPA is how we call in Spanish that white dust that appears in our shoulders when we have a condition in the scalp. It is particularly annoying because is usually accompanied by itching and sometimes also redness. Different factors may produce the appearance of CASPA and the disappearance of those factors may also mark the end of this problem.  CASPA is commonly an unusual amount of dead scalp cells, Then using shampoo appropriate to our scalp may be the solution. The word used in English is a little bit odd: DANDRUFF.  

What's a PET WORD in Spanish?

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"If I bark many times, is that a PET WORD?" A PET WORD or a PET PHRASE is a resource we use when we do not have anything better to say so we keep repeating the same word. It is like having a favorite word, one we use inadvertently one time too many. Well, OK, All right are the most common PET WORDS, but in general any expression used unnecessarily more than two or three times can be considered a PET WORD.  PET WORDS are called MULETILLAS or COLETILLAS in Spanish with Este and Bueno being the most common ones. 

How do you say MADRUGADA in English?

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Forests look great during the day, but in the SMALL HOURS... You can't, not at least using one word. MADRUGADA is specifically the time between midnight and sunrise.   Dawn and Sunrise are good alternatives, but they are not necessarily what we know as MADRUGADA in Spanish. A better choice would be EARLY MORNING, or more informally the SMALL HOURS, or the WEE HOURS. 

How do you say APÁTRIDA in English?

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Einstein was STATELESS from 1896 to 1901. APÁTRIDA is an unusual word in Spanish (but it does exist). It is unusual because the condition it refers to is rarely seen: an APÁTRIDA is someone who lacks of citizenship for one reason or another (there are at least five of them) In English, APATRIDA is STATELESS, This condition is called Statelessness in English and Apatridia in Spanish. Though really Apatridia is even more unusual than APATRIDA in Spanish.

What is BUSHMEAT in Spanish?

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Amazingly, there are people who enjoy eating them. Sad but true. This one refers to a sad thing and that is the illegal trade of wild fauna, specifically African animals. Certainly there is illegal trade of animals from other parts of the world, but for some reason the term BUSHMEAT is  more commonly associated with African fauna. In this specific case wild animals are hunted not for their fur, but for their meat. BUSHMEAT literally means the meat of wild animals. It may also be called Game meat or Wildmeat.  There is not one word for this in Spanish. We only say CARNE DE ANIMALES SILVESTRES.