Motels, Saunas and other “Traveler Bewares”

And you thought you knew your native language!

Image by Jeep Novak! via Flickr

There are plenty of surprises to be discovered on the road, and one that can have funny (or downright weird) consequences is when we discover that the language we grew up with doesn’t quite work the same way in another region or culture.

Take a motel, for example—a “motor hotel” along the highway…A no-frills and inexpensive place to sleep and get back on the road to your real destination the next day—right?
Well, could be… unless you’re in Chile…

BYOTP in Chile

I suspect that anyone who has done any amount of traveling outside their comfort zone is familiar with the acronym “BYOTP.” For those who are not, let me spell it out for you, because if you’re a woman in Chile, this is going to become pretty important: Bring Your Own Toilet Paper.

Of course this is an odd—less than delicate, shall we say—topic, but let’s face it, there are things that a traveler just needs to be forewarned about, and the whole idea behind Cachando Chile is to let you in on the things that no one else ever bothers to mention!

And since Eileen kicked it off today with her piece on “The Case of the Hot TP,” I figured it’s time to pass on a bit of advice for newbies that I’ve been planning to haul out at the right time… and it seems there’s no time like the present.

Me duele la cabeza: Whose head hurts you?

Whose hair is that on your head? Whose throbbing molar is making you suffer? Whose aching back has put you out of commission for the weekend? Mastering a new language involves far more than memorizing vocabulary and verb conjugations. It also means adapting to unexpected combinations of words and ideas that can put some very basic notions of how the world works to the test. For example, what is uniquely yours and what is not.

In contrast to my last post (Ya mi niña, Who do YOU belong to? ), which pondered certain possessive idiosyncrasies of spoken Spanish (mi niña, mi reina, mi mamá), today I flip to the polar extreme and wonder why it is that Spanish speakers seem to disown body parts, which could not possibly be more uniquely personal.

For example, want to get your hair cut? Go ahead and tell someone “Necesito cortar mi pelo” (I need to cut my hair)… chuckle, chortle, ha-ha-ha… no you don’t… what you need to say is:

Ya mi niña: who do YOU belong to?

Mi, mi, mi… A few thoughts on linguistic ownership today.

Ya mi niña, nos vemos…

¿Mi niña? I thought, there it is again… Mi niña—my girl—an oddly common expression in Chilean vernacular. I had really tried not be drawn into the cell phone conversation going on next to me in the crowded waiting room yesterday and was pretty successful until the blah-blah-blah, ha-ha-ha, turned to “ya mi niña.” It’s one of those expressions that often seems to signal the end of a conversation and always grabs my attention. I knew she was not talking to her daughter.

Mi niña, mi hija, mi reina, mi general, mi mamá…. who do YOU belong to?

Speaking Chilensis: beware the Fake False Cognates

It’s time for another lesson in Chilensis, in Chilean Spanish, and in those sneaky little false cognates that can trick you into saying things you really had no intention of saying at all.  And as every language learner discovers, just when you least expect it, you’re bound to stumble—or even dive headlong—into the quirky linguistic pitfalls of new language acquisition. And since I’ve probably fallen into and crawled red-faced out of most of them, I thought I’d pass along a little more advice on staying out of linguistic trouble.

Once again from the “boy was my face red” school of learning Spanish by experience, I bring you yet another chapter of dumb stuff the gringa said:

We’ve already flirted with frugal and explored the cynical vs cínico, and by now there’s certainly no reason to even get into embarrassed vs embarazada (if you don’t know the difference, go look it up right now! Or you will most certainly be embarrassed, although that in itself will probably not make you embarazada).

But oh there are plenty more treacherous traps of the tongue just lying in wait. Lots more. Here are a handful for today’s giggles at the gringa’s expense.

Support vs Soportar (v): The two look pretty close, don’t they? Uh-uh. Nix-Nay-Nein, and No po’. Support, as in to hold, to help, to back up, to stand behind, to keep from falling, to provide for… right? Take a look in your bilingual dictionary and you get ayudar, apoyar, respaldar, and mantener. Not a single soportar in the lot. OK, so now try the other way. Look up soportar and you get withstand, endure, put up with, tolerate. Yikes!

How well I remember how I learned—the hard way, of course—about this seemingly innocent pair. Many years ago, when I was still pretty much a babe in the Spanish-speaking woods, I was interviewing a woman who had been the victim of human rights violations. I wanted to know what kind of support her group received from other countries and asked “¿Cómo les soportan?” She jerked upright, looked at me kind of funny, smiled to herself, and answered my question. I didn’t get it at the time, but months later—and at a much better level of Spanish—I was transcribing the interview tape and was horrified to hear myself ask the equivalent of “How do they stand you?” Lord… How did SHE stand all the Spanish-deficient do-gooders who kept showing up at her door?

And then there are those words that are probably not really false cognates in a true linguistic sense, although in the every day practical sense they work the same way. Hmm, I guess that makes them Fake False Cognates.

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Ha! News Flash! I just coined a brand new expression! I just googled “fake false cognates” and got zip! Specifically:

No results found for “fake false cognates”.
Cool!
And you read it here first! The fake false cognates are mine… feel free to write me up a wiki for that one!
Ok, back to business:

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There are a number of words that seem to be the same, and even technically ARE the same, although common usage dictates that the first sense that comes to your listener’s mind may not be the first one comes to yours.

Ordinary vs Ordinario (adj): Once again. The hard way. I made a comment to the same group of women about them being mujeres ordinarias. Even now I cringe to think about it! No, no, and NO. Do NOT say that to perfectly nice, ordinary, everyday grandmotherly type older women. They don’t like it. And neither would you. While “ordinary” just refers to some normal, usual, or common sort of person or thing, and while my friend the DRAE tells me some pretty similar things up front, it quite quickly gets to the part about bajo, basto, vulgar y de poca estimación. Even if you don’t speak much Spanish, you did get the part about vulgar, right? Yes indeed. In Chile that’s the definition they jump to first, so I basically told these kindly wives and mothers that they were pretty low class losers with innuendos of questionable virtues and loose mores. I swear it’s a good thing that there had been a long line of well-meaning language innocents who had come before me, so I’m sure they had heard it all before or worse, or they would have thrown me out right then and there!

Regular vs Regular (adj): Couldn’t possibly be more alike, right? Twins even… except one is REG-u-ler, and the other is reg-u-LAR. The first describes your average, normal (ok, ordinary) kind of things: coffee, car, style, student, grades, while in the latter (read Chilean) case, regular is just not good enough. It turns out that reg-u-LAR is pretty not-so-good. A student who is reg-u-LAR might not graduate. Someone whose style is reg-u-LAR is pretty sub-par among those who care about such things. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever called anyone reg-u-LAR when I didn’t mean it.

At least not yet…

Want to know more silly stuff that gringas say? And hey–this is not just for laughs! This is serious stuff… we’re cluing you in on ways that YOU can avoid making the same mistakes! (And this works in both directions–all you Spanish speakers will (1) have a clue as to what we really mean to say and (2) turn it around to avoid making the mistake when speaking English!

Check out:
Abby takes a sinus infection to heart… er… breast: “You have an infection WHERE?”
Clare muses on teenaged self defense : “Not quite there: Commentary on Communication“

Cachando Chile: a Year in Review

Writing the landmark 100th post is a bit of a daunting task. I had intended to post this on December 1, which I had declared Cachando Chile’s 1-year blogiversary, but with all the hoopla over the Alienating Chileans post (which hit and passed the 100 comments mark that day), followed by an enormous amount of real-life events—you know the kind—all those things that get in the way of blogging, but that end up becoming “blog fodder*’ anyway. (*Eileen gets credit for coining this extremely apropos term).

In honor of this landmark, I wanted to look back over my first year of blogging. A lot of territory has been covered here (take a look at the Category list on the right hand side of the page), and I’ve gone through the past 99 posts and selected a few that I think merit another go-round. Some have been reader favorites, some have been particularly fun, other controversial, and others just plain favorites of mine. There are plenty more… but alas I can’t choose them all!

Those of you who have been reading for a while will recognize most of them. Others who are newer to Cachando Chile probably missed some of the earlier bits…

I’d love to know your opinions! Please feel free to leave comments on the individual posts or on the overall concept here. Let me know if you have a favorite I’ve overlooked or if there’s a topic you’d like more of in the future.

General Reflections on Life in Chile

The whole blog is about reflecting on life in Chile, but some of the posts hit it more on the head than others…and there are some that I particularly like and think deserve a bit more attention:

The Dance Card’s Full : This is something of a general overview of Chilean culture and my take on why it sometimes seems so difficult to become close friends with Chileans.

I was a Peruvian Dish Towel Smuggler: My unwitting and involuntary foray into an international smuggling incident and illegal alien operation.

SAG and the No-Spice for Chile Campaign: Chile is an island. You may not realize it by looking at a map of South America, but its natural borders make it particularly vulnerable to certain agricultural risks… much to the chagrin and dismay of foodies with a taste for big international flavors.

The Calendar Trap: After nearly 2 decades of hearing it, you would think that I should have learned by now that when a Chilean says “next Wednesday” they mean it literally and not the “next week on Wednesday” as it too often gets translated in my gringo brain.

Santiago Metro: the daily crush: There’s nothing earth-shattering here, but the picture’s worth a couple thousand words when it comes to  a snapshot of a crucial bit of the everyday lives of more than 2 million Santiaguinos.

San Lunes: Chile’s Stormy Monday: A personal favorite of playful writing on an age-old problem.

Language-themed posts & pages:

Language has proven to be a popular topic and over the year we have explored slang, false cognates, embarrassing bloopers and faux pas, popular expressions, and bi-lingual humor.

Glossary & Chilenismos : This list of Chilean vocabulary and expressions has grown over the year into a linguistic guide to speaking “Chilensis,” which surely has little to do with the Spanish you learned in school (or anywhere else, for that matter!)

Chilean Spanish Spoken Here: a Rooster from the Glue : A rollicking linguistic free-for-all started by Canadian comedian Eileen Shea that wreaks havoc on the languages and commits some serious linguistic abuse while engaging in inter-linguistic puns and nonsense for an entertaining look at Chilean slang.

Ya Pasamos Agosto: that most frightful and fateful month of the Chilean year prompted a long series of euphemistic bucket-kicking, farm-buying, daisy-pushing expressions.

Chilean Expression: Born with a Hardroll under the Arm: More odd-sounding expressions that make life and language more interesting.

False Cognates:

Beware those dangerous little words that seem so familiar but that can really trip you up if you aren’t careful! Here are a couple examples:

Cynical or Cínico: Think of the English definition while using the word in Spanish will get you into hot water. Be sure you know the difference!

Flirting with Frugal: Once again, those little language quirks play their tricks on words that seem to be the same but aren’t…

Readers’ favorites:

All things food related, especially anything to do with slapping something between 2 pieces of bread.

Sánguches: written by founding partner “El Viejo,” this is the all-time top Cachando Chile hit, with a good review of Chile’s truest comfort food.

Anthony Bourdain loves Lomitos: Foodie rockstar Bourdain made the front page of the local news when he was spotted chowing down one of Chile’s favorite sandwiches.

A Hot Dog is not a Completo:  As anyone who has ever been in Chile surely knows, the Chilean concept of a frankfurter on a bun has little to do with the good old mustard-smeared variety that is so popular in the US.

Cola de Mono: Who knew that this traditional cold hooch & milk Christmas punch would turn out to be such a hot topic? Curiously enough, it and its sister post with recipe (Cola de Mono: Chile’s true Christmas Spirit are quite a popular duo at Cachando Chile.

Most controversial posts:

When I first started blogging, a friend in the know told me that controversial topics make the best posts. I don’t normally go looking for trouble, but I did manage to stir up a bit here here and there bz pushing a few buttons here along the way.

Dogs are a topic all in themselves. I’ve posted about them three times this year and people’s opinions range from one extreme to the other, represented in It’s a Dog’s World and Quiltros & Hero Dogs.

May I Take Your Purse? Certainly stirred up a lot of opinions on cultural practices, trust, friendships, and even a bit of international debate.

Ways to Alienate a Chilean: This post breaks all records for the number of comments and number of participants in the conversation, as well as the broad range of opinions expressed. Phew! I never dreamed it would provoke such a response, and frankly I thought the discussion was very rewarding. I certainly hope to come up with more like this in the future!

Photo Essays:

When I began this blog a year ago, I had not planned on making photography a big part of it, although it is certainly one of my own greatest interests. That changed with time and photography gradualy found its place and greater space in Cachando Chile. Here are a few of my favorite photo essays:

Concón: Looking Good after 468 years, Part 1 and Concón: Looking Good after 468 years, Part 2: A chance encounter with a local anniversary celebration turned into 2 days of fun and photo op.

El Dieciocho: Chilean Independence Day: Chile takes its Independence Day celebrations very seriously. Here’s a look at a typical home celebration as well as a municipal to-do.

Parada Militar: Gotta Love a Parade: The day after Independence Day is Armed Forces Day, and the parade is a major event.

Ways to Alienate a Chilean

It’s bound to happen. Spend any amount of time in a culture that’s not your own and your foot will certainly end up in your mouth at some point. Sports, politics, and religion aside, there are plenty of other ways to meter la pata in Chile. Over the years I’ve stumbled on a few (hard not to take a nose dive once in a while with that foot in mouth thing going on). Being from the “learn from my mistakes” camp, I thought I’d share.

A few faux pas a la chilena:

Tell them you don’t like sandwiches

Chileans love sandwiches, or “sánguches” in the local vernacular. They eat them for breakfast, onces (tea), snacks, and late night noshing. As the only gringa on a 2-week road trip with Chilean friends, I rebelled after about a week of so much ham and cheese on bread (and not much else) and they all looked at me like I was from Mars. To be fair, Chile has a pretty impressive line-up of granddaddy sánguches that will out-whop the whopper any day (check out “Sánguches”). (Too bad I wasn’t seeing any on that particular trip!)

Tell them you don’t get the concept of onces

Onces—or té (tea) in more uppity circles—is a Chilean gastronomic institution. Inspired by the British tea, people gather in the early evening (mostly on weekends these days) to “ruin their dinner” (yikes, I’m channeling my mother!) for a carb fest of sandwiches (ham, cheese, and avocado are customary) and/or toast and jam, cookies, cake, and even ice cream (surprisingly often in reverse order). Oh, and the cup of tea is placed in front of you with the plate of food behind it, so that all the crumbs fall into the cup. Don’t try and change it around. It’s no use.

(Onces merits an entire post of its own… duly acknowledged and forthcoming).

Tell them you don’t like Joan Manuel Serrat

I’m sure this is generational and probably occurs throughout the entire Spanish-speaking world, but stating that this 60-something Barcelona-born singer’s pronounced and seemingly affected warble just doesn’t do it for you will not win friends and influence people.  It seems to generate the kind of reaction I could imagine if someone uttered  something as unthinkable as “the Beatles suck.”  Rolling my eyes and turning an indifferent ear to this 1970s “ídolo total” has earned me gasps and sneers on more than one occasion… you’d think I’d learn to keep my mouth shut, ¿no?

Tell them that they, or someone they care about, is “cynical”

This is one of those false cognates that can get you into really hot water. In English, it means “scornful of the motives or virtues of others.” In Spanish it is someone who “muestra cinicismo, desverguenza, en el mentir.” A despicable and remorseless liar. Ouch! You’re sure to wind up doing a lot of explaining and eggshell treading if you fall into that trap! Get the full story at: Cyncial or Cínico)

Tell them that their national anthem is not the best in the world

I’ve never fallen into this trap myself, because frankly, just about anything is better than the US national anthem (which requires a nearly inhuman vocal range and 10 years of serious operatic study before attempting it). And on the other hand, I do think that the Chilean version is rather nice. But Chileans go beyond “rather nice.” They really do know the words, sing loud and clear, and will swear to you that it won a competition for the “Best National Anthem in the World.” And damned if I can find anyone who doesn’t believe it lock, stock, and barrel! Here, take a look and decide for yourself:

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to rile up Chilean pride and turn yourself into the bad guy… I bet you even have a few tales of your own to tell! Leave a comment here—or, if you like—write your own blog post and we’ll link up!

Dr. Annje tells her side of the story at Annje Unabashed.

And Sara has a few things to add at the Chilenguita Diaries.

Emily gets her 2 pesos in too, check her story out at Don’t Call Me Gringa.

Abby goes straight to where the heart is (the sandwich, of course) at Abby’s Line.

We can’t leave Lucie out, so here’s her list at Gringa Gone South.

Maeskizzle goes a step further by also adding ways to win over Chileans at Transcultural Vogueing.

Eileen comes through with her own bearshapedspherical advice on how to alienate–and then not–by making a “no” sound like a “yes” at Bearshapedsphere.

La Abejita is joining a bit late, but we don’t mind… especially since she took a twist of her own, turned it around, and wrote about the things that Chileans do to alienate foreigners here in Chile… check it out the Buzz de La Abeja.

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And now for Phase 2: Let’s move on to the counterpart to this post: Finding your way in to Chile (or how to unalienate yourself!)

Ya Pasamos Agosto!

We made it through August… Let the fiesta begin!

Chileans—especially the older ones—have a thing about August, a kind of a wary-scary dread accompanied by the increasing mantra-like use of the expression “si pasamos agosto…” (if we get through August), followed by a clearly audible self-congratulatory sigh of relief come September 1st: ¡Ya Pasamos Agosto! We did it! YAY! We got through August!

August is the tail end of Chilean winter, and let me tell you that three long months of cold, damp, gray, and dreary, can really take its toll. Especially on the abuelitos, the older folks who have spent most of the past three months wrapped in bufandas (scarves) huddled up to a guatero (hot water bottle), and shivering beside the estufa (free-standing heater), avoiding drafts, keeping their feet warm, and basically trying not to get sick.

August is a rather neurotic month, and its schizoid flip-flopping between hot and cold, sun and rain, and brownish smog vs. the more preferable invisible-type O2 really wreak havoc on delicate respiratory systems and kick off a rash of bronchial and sinus infections, along with bad colds, which lead to pneumonia, which leads to the hospital, which leads to…. well, let’s just say that many older people fear it’s the end of the line, the last stop on the train, where they’ll buy the farm and kick the bucket…or in the finest Chileno: estirar la pata… irse al patio de los callados…parar la chala… poner la piyama de madera…dejar de existir…

(FYI and just for the record… I checked the statistics and found a report that showed that more adults actually die in May, June, and July.)

So clearly, pasar agosto is a big deal among the so-called “third agers” (the tercera edad, as it’s called here) and cause for celebration. A quick google check revealed a number of fiestas in senior centers and even an all-out bash at Los Buenos Muchachos (a very Chilean restaurant that’s big with groups and tourists) suggesting that families invite the senior generation to a big show tonight with 1980s singer Luis Dimas.

So, ¡Ya pue’ chiquillos!, ¡Ya pasamos Agosto!, which is also might convenient, because September just happens to be the national party month, time for Fiestas Patrias… a 2-day holiday that tends to turn into a month-long celebration of spring and independence…
¡Tiki-tiki-ti!

Today’s vocabulary:

All of the following expressions are typical ways of saying that someone has died. Please feel free to correct or add more!

estirar la pata (stretch out the foot or leg)

irse al patio de los calla’os (go to the patio with the ‘quiet ones’)

parar la chala (chalas are sandals, but parar can mean to stop or to stand up, so I come up with 2 different interpretations with the same effect: that the sandals stop walking or that they are bottoms up, meaning that the person is lying on their back)

poner la piyama de madera (put on the wooden pajamas–with reference to the coffin)

dejar de existir (stop existing… this is a very standard, formal way of referring to death–a favorite of newscasters–that has always given me chills… do we really stop ‘existing’ when we die? doesn’t memory count? is this too existential a question for a blog?)