EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

Trump. "Damn wind! I'm sure it was sent by the Mexicans!" More often than not there comes a time in the lives of some unfortunate men that their hairline starts receding too soon, too quickly. And then there is a bald spot where there used to be glorious and abundant hair. Some accept the coming of the inevitable with dignity and others despair. However, no shampoo or intense capillary method is going to regrow hair in those bald spots. They will only get larger and also people will start staring. But that's how it is. And yet the despairing men find that concealing the truth is an option and they go the TOUPÉE way. TOUPÉEs (yes, the word is originally French) are hairpieces either natural or artificial that try to cover that awful bald spot (in some cases unsuccessfully as the man in the picture).  Since a Toupée is essentially a Wig and Wig in Spanish is Peluca, it only makes sense that TOUPÉE in Spanish is PELUQUÍN. 

"Mmmhh... a DOORJAMB is a rectangle thing you put on a door, right?" A DOORJAMB or DOOR JAMB is a wooden piece that forms the frame of a door. They are usually placed vertically on both sides of the door to support the upper side of the door frame which is commonly known as the Lintel. These vertical sidepieces are also called Doorpost.  In Spanish this example of what we, English teachers call Passive Vocabulary, is BATIENTE or JAMBA.

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.