EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

Hearse Driver: "Anyone else would like to jump in?" This choice was a bit creepy, wasn´t it? But I take them as they come. A HEARSE is a car used to carry coffins from churches to the funeral place and then the cemetery. Of course the itinerary is not necessarily that but a HEARSE is always a long car, a limo, used only to transport cadavers to their final resting place. In Spanish we used two words to refer to a HEARSE. We call it COCHE FUNEBRE or CARRO FUNEBRE. If the vehicle is one pulled by horses then it is a CARROZA FUNERARIA.   HEARSES are also called FUNERAL COACHES.

"A classic display of Mr.Wonka's SNARKY behaviour." SNARKY is an adjective word with several possible translations, all of them negative. It is also more often heard in British English than American. It  means SHORT-TEMPERED or IRRITABLE. e.g. You can tell he's upset when he begins with his SNARKY remarks. It may also mean IMPERTINENT, SARCASTIC or ARROGANT. e.g. You sound SNARKY whenever you say you want friends who are like you. In a slighter tone it is also IRREVERENT, perhaps WITTY, if it is the case someone has responded angrily but at the same time the situation is funny. e.g. "Do I look stupid?" he repeated SNARKILY "Maybe you're looking yourself at a mirror!"

If this is PILTRAFA then it looks yummy, doesn´t it? There are three meanings of this word in Spanish: a. Small thin portion of meat and skin (usually unfit to be used as food). b. A person of weak physical appearance (sometimes immoral too). c. Some inedible residues of food. Since PILTRAFA has three different meanings it is translated differently every time: a. Poor quality meat. b. Wretch. c. Scrap.

"Just 10 cents...Well, it's the 1950's anyway." A SHOESHINER, as the name clearly suggests, is a person (traditionally a boy) who polishes shoes or boots. It is what in Spanish we call a LUSTRABOTAS or just a LUSTRADOR DE ZAPATOS. Shoeshining is a job that practically exists worldwide and is also relatively new (there are no records that talk about SHOESHINERS before the XIX century).While in many countries, such as Ecuador, SHOESHINERS are underappreciated in others the situation is different and SHOESHINERS are often organized in associations. SHOESHINERS or SHOE SHINERS are also known as BOOT POLISHERS, or SHOESHINE BOYS.

"It's been thirty minutes already...maybe thirty more? Damn recipes!" Here is another example of how rich English vocabulary is. While in Spanish we need to say COCINAR A FUEGO LENTO, in English you only say SIMMERING. TO SIMMER  is to prepare food, usually in liquid, below the boiling point of water. What you actually do is let it boil and then reduce the intensity of heat so that bubbles stop forming and then  continue cooking, It's excellent for cooking soups or stews,

"I call it Scabby "       Whenever we get injured, blood comes out of our wound(s)á. Soon after that, our blood tends to solidify. This process helps our body to heal our injuries. The resulting product of the solidification of the blood that came out of our injury covers it creating a protecting layer that prevents potential infections.  Not only that but also under the layer new skin is being produced to replace the skin lost when the injury was inflicted. This useful layer is called SCAB in English and in Spanish is called CARACHA (at least in Ecuador) or COSTRA.

"Ahoy, Monty! Are you there? Say something, dammit!"  We are supposed to say something when we answer a phone call since remaining silent is not a smart option. It is also logical to say HELLO because as an item HELLO is conveniently short and not too formal or informal. Therefore HELLO is perfect in that sense, otherwise it would not have endured for so long. Still, the question remains: Why HELLO precisely? Who came up with that idea? Amazingly enough, it was not the inventor of the Telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. For him the best option was "Ahoy!" How did he come up with that idea? AHOY is the way sailors greet each other, and HELLO was not at the time (the 1870s) a standard greeting yet. HELLO was used the way we use HEY in our days. It was none other thanThomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the Lightbulb, who suggested to use HELLO instead of AHOY, and that was the beginning. In fact, the use of HELLO became so popular afterwards that people began u