Espanles

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I know I am not the only one who enjoys a bit of Spanglish now and then. I can't help it, sometimes the need arises for a little Spanish to spice up an English conversation! For instance, my friends and I were never "drinking mate" but rather we were "tomaring mate." It's the same with lying out in the sun. One would never ask "Would you like to go lie out in the sun with me," but rather "Would you like to go out and tomar sol with me?"
Otro example, "He was all talk" would be "He was totally chamuying (cha-moo-shing) me." There are tons of examples!

But what has really been fun for me is hearing Argentines drop in English words into their conversations. I call it Espanles. I first thought it was just certain people, but after hearing it from lots of different Argentines, I realize that Espanles is as popular as Spanglish! For ejemplo, "No puedo! Estoy en la school!" would mean "I can't! I'm at school!" A ver, another example "Che, hace mucho frio, llevate la coat" means "It's really cold, bring your coat!" Last one, "Todavia estamos usando la yerba, el dulce es gone!" = "We're still using the yerba, the dulce de leche is gone!"

It is also interesting to hear English words that don't carry the English meaning like the words full and heavy.
"Retiro es medio heavy" = "Retiro is kinda dangerous..."
"Estoy a full con el laburo!" = "I'm really busy at work"

I have to admit, there are several English words that I really miss and there just aren't Spanish equivalents (that satisfy me): awkward (as in, an awkward situation, not INCOMODO), weird (raro doesn't cut it), and random (I've never heard anybody use azar). But of course, I can't even begin to describe how useful the word chamuyar is.

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Comments

[AVATAR]

you are a chamuyer !
Ningun argentino nunca dijo "Llevate el coat que esta cold ! "

[Madelyn]

verification
Melinda, sure is fun after visiting you last week to reread all your blogs and now know what you're talking about soooo much better. What a great place and culture! Hope others can visit or maybe we can all migrate! I'm still mixing Castellano words with english back here in Calif. Won't have any trouble finishing all the dulce de leche I brought back so will have to special order. Enjoying my new leather handmade purse and shoes, too. Been drinking the quick and easy mate cocido (tea bags) rather than the gourd, but getting ready to initiate the ritual here. Been doing the kissing. Thanks for your great hospitality and messages!

[Roberto]

Espanles
me he reido a lot con yours comentarios. I believe it is mas o menos cierto, but I think that you exageras

[LizzZ]

an addition
i asked a student once what she did for new years day. she said that it was so hot that she couldn´t go footing. I said "whaaaa? Whats footing?" And she said, you know "hacer footing"...to go on a walk. I told her footing wasnt a verb...but footsie was...and that was something completely different