Saturday, January 26, 2008

I’m married……… (or tired, I can’t remember which one)

My friends with young children have blogs full of funny things their children say and I seem to be following in their children’s footsteps. We either confuse similar words, or use a word in the wrong context. Here in Argentina, I am no stranger to this.

In Spanish, the word for tired is cansada and the word for married is casada. That small little letter “n” added in the middle of the word certainly changes the meaning. After intensely working my brain out in Spanish class, and then traipsing around in the muggy heat to find the best cobbler for custom made tango shoes, I sighed, “Augh, I’m so very married.” "Estoy muy casada." It wasn’t quite what I meant to say. Although I hear marriage is hard work, so maybe these words are long lost synonyms.

Verduras (vegetables) vs. vidrio (glass)
And then there was the time I was biking through the busy streets of Buenos Aires and said, “There sure are a lot of vegetables in the road, watch out you don’t get a flat. Glass is dangerous for bikers, so we frequently point it out to people riding with us so they can avoid it. Although I've never heard of any biking accidents due to vegetables in the road, I'm sure it could also be considered a road hazard.

There are plenty more mistakes I've made, some probably just as funny. Maybe being oblivious to them is good.


3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Ha ha ha! What was the reaction of the cobbler?? We've been wondering when you'd meet your Latin lover...

everyday said...

hahha!!! I have been know to say that I have blankets in my legs instead of knots in my muscles in French. And a guy friend of mine once said, "estoy embarasada" which you might think means, I'm embarrassed, but it really means, "I'm pregnant"

everyday said...

hahha!!! I have been know to say that I have blankets in my legs instead of knots in my muscles in French. And a guy friend of mine once said, "estoy embarasada" which you might think means, I'm embarrassed, but it really means, "I'm pregnant"