EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

What? Food? Did you say food? There is not a direct translation of MICHU, MICHU in English.  MICHU, MICHU is the way we call cats in Ecuador, or at least in Guayaquil. Sure we have names for our cats but whenever we need their attention,  MICHU MICHU is what we say. In the USA, when you call a cat you say : "HEY, KITTY. KITTY, KITTY..." If you're uncertain, don't worry. Just put some tuna in your hands and say whatever onomatopoeia: regardless of what you say, the cat will come.

  Does it look like a Skeleton to you? A SKELETON KEY is basically a master key, one that has been modified or created to grant its possessor passage to all the rooms in a dwelling. The reason why it  is called a "SKELETON" KEY is due to its shape that somewhat resembles that of a skeleton. Well, at least it resembled a skeleton to those who used those keys.  In Spanish there is not an equivalent to SKELETON KEY, or Passkey as it is also called. But a Master Key is called LLAVE MAESTRA.

For one of those super hot afternoons! A GRANIZADO is an iced soft drink which initially was prepared with lemons or oranges but these days you can use pretty much any soft drink. In fact in some countries there are GRANIZADOS  made of coffee. All you need to prepare a GRANIZADO is crushed ice and a non-alcoholic beverage. In Guayaquil you can find GRANIZADOS everywhere, especially in our hot sultry afternoons. There are street vendors who go up and down the streets selling GRANIZADOS which are prepared with crushed ice and flavored drinks such as mint, strawberry, also fruit juice and even sodas. If the GRANIZADO is prepared with Mint or Strawberry liquor, you can even ask  your GRANIZADO to be topped by sweetened condensed milk. All depends on what the customer wants.  It is called Raspado de Granada or Granita in Spain, just Raspado in Mexico, and even Piragua in Dominican Republic. In Ecuador it remains just GRANIZADO and in English it would be SLUSH. Do not confuse with

"I have another with the words I Love Nicknames" SOBRIQUET is just another way to say NICKNAME. The original spelling of this word includes a U (SOUBRIQUET) but the pronunciation is the same. It is another example of a word that was taken from French and incorporated to the English bank of words. SOBRIQUET in Spanish is APODO or SOBRENOMBRE. There are differences though. NICKNAMES can be offensive, but SOBRIQUETS not necessarily. Another thing: SOBRIQUETS are never shortened forms of a name, e.g. Robert is the name and Bob, the nickname but not the SOBRIQUET. Finally, SOBRIQUETS take the shape of epithets. Here is an example of a SOBRIQUET: because of its vast cultural baggage, Cuenca is appropriately called "La Atenas del Ecuador". (The Athens of Ecuador).

And Drinking inside a Bottle is forbidden, too! Though most people would say, and they would be right, DRY LAW the most appropriate term is PROHIBITION OF ALCOHOL. Perhaps the problem with that is that in the U.S. there was a PROHIBITION OF ALCOHOL (usually nicknamed The Prohibition) in the first part of the 20th century. That law is perhaps one of the most famous ever and is referred to in several movies or TV series such as The Untouchables.        Though that law may no longer be in existence other "DRY LAWS" are ordered around the world existing for a brief period that extends since  a day or two before elections to a day or two after such event. DRY LAWS are then measures taken to help safeguard peace as people decide who or what to vote for. 

Saving Mr. Banks is one of those films that take you to a time and place where things were different, less complicate. Well, not for Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) who tried to convince Pamela Travers (Emma Thomson) to give him the film rights to Travers's masterpiece,  Mary Poppins.   To Disney's surprise, Travers was always reluctant to grant the rights and he didn't understand why. The movie tells us that precisely: why Mary Poppins stories and the characters were so important to her author and the lengths Disney and his collaborators had to go in order to finally convince Ms. Travers that Mary Poppins was in good hands. There are many things about this film that stand out but especially Hanks, Thomson and Collin Farrell as Ms. Travers's father; they all deliver great performances, and even the secondary characters look great. Also the recreation of the diverse settings of this story (California, London and Australia) is perfect with a great attention to detail. Fina

Dean Martin  (1917-1995) CROONING is singing. If you're CROONING you're actually singing, but in a very distinct manner. When you CROON (that's the verb) you sing in a soft, also sentimental, way. Among the many singers who made CROONING part of their presentations we have Tonny Bennet, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the great Dean Martin. Curiously, a CROONER is always a male singer and only very few female singers are considered CROONERS. What is the equivalent in Spanish? There is not one word to define CROONING in Spanish. Apparently, this term comes from an old German word (kronen) that meant lament . The word made its way to English but not Spanish to become what is today.