Nuevas frases

First of all, an applause for USA not getting stomped by Lionel Messi.. I mean, by the Argentinian team. It was re-fun to watch it with Johnny, Chichilo, Juliano and Fernando and give each other flack throughout the game. I especially loved when they threw the Argentinian flag on me after the first goal. Oh, and all the times when the US would foul and they would look at me like it was my fault. jaja.

Moving on, I have realized, particularly after a short conversation with a friend on gchat, that there are so many colloquialisms to learn. You can speak a Spanish that is understood, but there's a visible difference when you use the words of the street. For instance:

1. "No me sale." When a word is difficult for you to say, instead of saying literally, "I can't say that word," use this phrase. It translates to, "It does not leave me well." When I said this during a devotion I gave last week at a local school, a couple of the kids came forward to help me out after.

2. "Chavon." This is the word for, "Hey man!" that is most used by Chichilo. Oh, how this kid is a riot. When I asked Maria Elena what the word means she explained and said that it's very "Violetero." That is, the slang from Las Violetas.

3. "Capaz." I'm still figuring this one out. But I kind of think of it as short for "capacity." You say it more or less when referring to a possible future. "Perhaps (Capaz) she will run a marathon in July," for example. As in, "She has the capacity to run, but it may not come to pass." Viste? Speaking of..

4. "Viste?" I explained this one to my parents the other day. It's not so much a colloquialism as it is a common filler word. Much like "Emm" instead of "Umm." Or "Me entiendes?" (<--not a misspelling with the use of "vos") instead of "You get what I'm sayin?" Viste is "Did you see?" The way I think of it is like the 1930s black and white movies that involve special detectives explaining how they solved a case. Picture Humphrey Bogart with a cigarette sticking from the side of his mouth, "He gave me the maltese falcon, you see? But then it turned out to be a fake. You're just going to have to back to Istanbul, you see?"

5. "Sepa." Apparently you can translate saber, which is "to know," in the third person to "Sepa." Plural, it's "Sepan." I asked Maria Sol if I could still say "Sabe," which I can, but this other word is more common. Who knew? Ahem.. Quién sepa? No? Oh well, I tried. :P

6. "Me alegro" and "Me pone feliz." I tried to say that something makes me happy, and I was corrected. I can use one of these two phrases, although the former is preferred.

There are so much more that take time to figure out, but they come. Slowly but surely. Praising God have more time to learn this beautiful language! Chau.