Speaking a Foreign Language
Kids travel abroad, ostensibly, to do a couple things: broaden their horizons, encounter new experiences, and (hopefully) pick up a foreign language. Well guess what, folks? I've picked up two. Yeah, my Spanish is coming along quite nicely, to the point that I could even pick a fight in a bar if I wanted to, but I've also learned another language. When living abroad with a small group of friends who all speak English, but different versions of English, it sometimes becomes necessary to create our own, mutually intelligible version of the language. Below, you will find a brief glossary of important words and phrases that facilitate communication in La Familia Cusqueña:
donde: One evening, Helga wanted to ask where something was, but just as the word "donde" slipped out of her mouth, she tripped and fell. All we heard as she went down was, "Dondeeeeeeeeee..." Now it's a running gag.
douchebag: Basically, a really terrible person.
es posible: Dagny's Spanish is a little fragmented, so every one of her questions begins with, "¿Es posible...?" Now we sometimes begin our English questions with it.
fried: Brought to us from Iceland. Apparently, in Icelandic, "fried" is slang for "special" - and not the good kind of special.
fit: Also from the British kids. When Holly sees a hot guy, she says, "Yeah, I find him quite fit."
I'm down: the phrase that made Holly decide I might just be a little bit ghetto. Note: this is a fairly common phrase in Southern California.
prendo sexo: Doesn't actually mean anything. Vivi wanted to learn how to say "rape," for some reason, so she asked some kid on the street in Arequipa, "Como se dice... cuando una persona no quiere sexo, pero... PRENDO SEXO!" Unfortunately, the verb "prendar" means "to charm or captivate" or, alternatively, "to pawn or pledge." Neither of those meanings work very well.
raspiketippibrunt (sp?): Icelandic. Vulgar. Ask for a translation if you dare.
vexed: Holly's signature word. Often accompanied by "quite."
wegietables: Helene sometimes has trouble with certain English words. This was our favorite of her mispronunciations. Now we refer to all of our vegetables as "wegietables."
donde: One evening, Helga wanted to ask where something was, but just as the word "donde" slipped out of her mouth, she tripped and fell. All we heard as she went down was, "Dondeeeeeeeeee..." Now it's a running gag.
douchebag: Basically, a really terrible person.
es posible: Dagny's Spanish is a little fragmented, so every one of her questions begins with, "¿Es posible...?" Now we sometimes begin our English questions with it.
fried: Brought to us from Iceland. Apparently, in Icelandic, "fried" is slang for "special" - and not the good kind of special.
fit: Also from the British kids. When Holly sees a hot guy, she says, "Yeah, I find him quite fit."
I'm down: the phrase that made Holly decide I might just be a little bit ghetto. Note: this is a fairly common phrase in Southern California.
prendo sexo: Doesn't actually mean anything. Vivi wanted to learn how to say "rape," for some reason, so she asked some kid on the street in Arequipa, "Como se dice... cuando una persona no quiere sexo, pero... PRENDO SEXO!" Unfortunately, the verb "prendar" means "to charm or captivate" or, alternatively, "to pawn or pledge." Neither of those meanings work very well.
raspiketippibrunt (sp?): Icelandic. Vulgar. Ask for a translation if you dare.
vexed: Holly's signature word. Often accompanied by "quite."
wegietables: Helene sometimes has trouble with certain English words. This was our favorite of her mispronunciations. Now we refer to all of our vegetables as "wegietables."
posted by Lauren at 8:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home