by Eileen | Nov 11, 2008 | Uncategorized
Spanish has at its disposal an expression “vergüenza ajena” which indicates that you were embarrassed on behalf of another person. It has an element of pity, in that you feel sorry for the other person, and also of disdain, as if the person for whom you...
by Eileen | Nov 10, 2008 | Uncategorized
I’ve talked before about how I love how Spanish does a great job of having consistent suffixes (yeah, suffices) to change one word into another. I believe I’ve talked about -azo, which means to hit something with the aforementioned item. A cabezazo is a...
by Eileen | Nov 6, 2008 | Uncategorized
When I was young(er) and (more) foolish I backpacked around Central America with a friend. This was right after college, and during not just one civil war in the region. I was woefully unprepared, not nearly conversant in Spanish, easily sunburned, heavily-laden and...
by Eileen | Nov 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
One of the most surprising things I’ve discovered since installing sitemeter on the page is exactly how many of you are searching for torta chilena. In this post I talk about things named for places that have nothing to do with the thing in common. Like french...
by Eileen | Oct 30, 2008 | Uncategorized
One day, when I had just moved into my then-new-to-me apartment, I noticed that the kitchen sink was kind of sluggish. I thought perhaps the problem lay in a little tangle of happy wee leaves and sticks right below the drain, and so I judiciously used a screwdriver to...
by Eileen | Oct 29, 2008 | Uncategorized
While you in that big, slightly pig-shaped (at least when I draw it) country in the north are spending precious time and energy on a very long and drawn out campaigning process in which one candidate will triumph over the opponent’s ticket leading to great hilarity...
