Spanglish ! Spanish expressions in the English language

Hola amigos !

Did you read my posts about all the languages which have influenced English and the French words existing in the English language ? Since my native language is Spanish, I thought it would be a really good idea to compile some of the most interesting expressions of Spanish into the English language. Although is usually English that has an influence over other language, sometimes English lets in expressions from other languages. Let's delve into Spanish loans in the English language :

1. Words related to food and drink: Most of them are related to Mexican food and Spanish dishes. 

- Churros (fritters)

- Chili con carne

- Sangria

- Tortilla (Spanish ommelette). However, the English words 'tortilla' means this :

From : http://bon-vivant-baby.myshopify.com/products/tortilla-baby-swaddle-blanket-knot-hat 

- Burrito 

- Chorizo (Spanish sausage)

- Paella (seafood rice)

- Banana

- Enchilada

- Cocoa / cacao 

- Jalapeño

- Mojito

- Nachos

- Oregano

- Quesadilla

- Salsa 

- Taco 

- Vanilla

- Barbecue (derived from Spanish : 'barbacoa')

- Flan 

- maize (corn) 

2. Animals :

- Alligator (from Spanish 'lagarto')

- Mosquito 

- Iguana

- Cockroach (from Spanish 'cucaracha')

- Burro (donkey)

- Llama

- Coyote

3. Other expressions adopted from Spanish and changed into English spellings :

- Hurricane 

- Canoe 

- Cargo

- Bizarre (strange, rare)

- Canary

- Cigar 

- Cigarette

- Cocaine

- Desperado

- Marijuana

4. Some expressions related to the Spanish culture with English equivalents :
- Fiesta (party)

- Siesta (nap) : You usually take a nap but have a siesta

- Matador / torero (bullfighter)

- Arena (bullring / concert hall)

- Aroma (nice smell)

- Adios (bye)

- Nada (nothing)

- Solo (alone)

- Bonito (beautiful) 

- Patio (courtyard)

- Vigilante (watcher)

- Cafeteria (canteen)

- Aficionado (fan)

- Pueblo (village)

- Amigo (friend)

- Macho (overly masculine)

- Plaza (square)

- Rodeo (tour)

- Negro (black person; 'negro' is a racist term)

Conclusions

English is influencing all the languages in the world, but it is also an open entity, accepting some expressions that reveal the culture and customs of a great deal of countries and languages. I am fiercely proud that Spanish has shaped English and viceversa. We need to take into account this multicultural competence in all languages. 

Adios for now amigos ! Have a nice fiesta tonight ! 

Theatre : The Crazy Story

Hello there,
Today I would like you to see a video of my students of 1º ESO performing a theatre play at school. It was a short one called The Crazy Story, a story where all the fairy tale characters are mixed up and ... well you can see it by yourselves. As you can see they did it quite well and I am fiercely proud of them ! 
Here you have a photo of all the cast and crew of these wonderful students :

Well done lads ! Amazing work !
Here is the link to the video : 
https://drive.google.com/a/iescalistoymelibea.es/file/d/0B5lF8yfEaGG0N2J5VFRaME9EQkk/view?usp=sharing

Anyway, I thought this could be a good idea to introduce the vocabulary of some fairy tale characters. I prepared a wonderful presentation. Why don't you see it and try to guess the name of these characters ? Then, Click after the image to see the answers. I hope you enjoy it:


See you around.

Friday,13th

Hello,

You need to be careful of Friday, 13th. In most countries, it is Friday, 13th (and not Tuesday, 13th) that brings bad luck. But what are the origins of this terrible day ?

On Friday, 13th, 1307, a group of knights from the Templar Order were hanged and they didn't say where their treasure was hidden. There were 13 steps to the noose. From that day on, bad luck for everyone.

Besides, on Friday, 13th, a computer virus affected a lot of computers in Great Britain, so it is not advisable to use computers on this day.

Bad things associated to Fridays

- Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday.

- Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple on Friday and they died on Friday.

- In Medieval times, people and criminals were hanged on Fridays.

- It is bad luck to start something on Friday and to have a haircut that day.

Bad things associated to number 13

- Number of people in the Last Supper (12 Apostles and Jesus Christ).

- In tarot, this is associated to death.

- Chapter 13 in the Apocalypse is linked to the Antichrist and the Beast.
- In the past, people bought things by the dozen. Having twelve guests for dinner meant thirteen people and, therefore, one didn't have enough cutlery and crockery for them.

Bad luck bearers

a) Walk under a ladder                    

     b) Black cats and bats

c) Break a mirror                            d) Opening an umbrella indoors

    

e) Hats on the bed                                 f) Shoes on the table

   

Good luck charms
1. Rabbit feet                                                 2. Horseshoes 

         

3.Ladybirds / ladybugs                          4. Four-leaf clovers

     

5. Finding a penny                                  6. Red underpants

              

Words and idioms associated to luck 

- Break a leg (good luck before acting in front of public)

- Knock on wood (people do this when they see a black cat)

- Bad luck comes in threes (when you are unlucky, a lot of things happen to you)

- Beginner's luck (when you are debutant you will have an unexplainable stream of good luck)

- To get up on the wrong foot / on the wrong side of the bed (when you have a bad day, it may be because of this).

- Stepping on a crack will break your mother's back; stepping on a line will break your mother's spine : This is why children play games when they never step on lines or cracks.

- Triskadeikaphobia : This word actually means 'fear to Friday, 13th'.

Did you learn something about Friday, 13th ? Post a comment and tell me how your day went. Did you have any accidents or problems with computers ? What is your favourite good luck charm or bad luck bearer ? Post your comments.

Text messages

As I promised in my previous post about abbreviations and initials, here you have some exercises about texts. In fact, what you have to do is to decipher the text messages or, in other words, transform them into actual standard English, he he he. Ready ?

1.   If   u    c’em  tell’em   Ill  b l8 xoxoxox

2.   c  u  @ the movies 2moro m8, lol

3.   yru    angry  ?    - coz I h8 u  :(

4.   RUOK? - Yap, Im gr8 THNQ

5.    BCNU 2nite

6.    i luv u

7.    i bought this 4u 2b :)

8.   i  dunno if they 1 the match

9.   ur sum1 special

10. I h8 qs

11.  I 8 sum food b4

12.  what r u doin’ @ the wknd?

13. THNQ 4 ur help  

14. phone’im ASAP!

Answers :

1. If you see them, tell them I'll be late (hugs and kisses).

2. See you at the movies tomorrow mate (laughing out loud)-

3. Why are you angry ? Because I hate you.

4. Are you OK ? Yes, I'm great, thank you.

5. (I'll) be seeing you tonight.

6. I love you

7. I bought this for you to be happy.

8. I don't know if they won the match.

9. You're someone special.

10. I hate queues / I hate questions.

11. I ate some food before.

12. What are you doing at the weekend ?

13. Thank you for your help.

14. Phone him as soon as possible.

To end this post, I would like to share with you a hilarious video about mobile phone addiction. I hope you enjoy it :