Well, I originally intended to write a post about some of the amazing food I’ve been eating in Madrid lately – creamy goat cheese pinchos (queso de cabra) with caramelised onion, squid with aioli (pulpo con alioli) and the trusty patatas bravas hot crunchy potatoes with a mild spicy sauce….
Unfortunately a tummy bug has rendered all yummy Spanish cuisine useless to me for the next couple of days….
sigh…
So while I am on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples and toast!) I thought it best to avoid the subject of food and have a laugh at some of the Spanish expressions and translations that I find quirky and funny.
I finally went back to Spanish lessons on Friday (14th) and the class consisted of a handful of British expats, a Canadian and a girl from Ireland – all profesores de inglés. Our young and vibrant Spanish teacher was delighted that it was Valentine’s Day which she assured us was being celebrated all over Spain and told us about her handsome Italian boyfriend who she described as her media naranja.
Media naranja – loosely translates to ‘half an orange’ which actually means your ‘better half’.
The Spanish use this expression to describe their boyfriends/girlfriends/husbands/wives or generally the person they are dating.
She also taught us the expression for the ideal man/woman – the one that Disney created.
For me, the strong handsome men, often princes (or poor men who often find out that they’re royalty), who sweep the female protagonist of her feet.
In Spain they are known as the principe azul – loosely translated to the ‘blue prince’ or ‘prince charming’.
I let her know that I had found my principe azul, my marido, and he is muy guapo!!! Picture teenage gushing at this point.
My hubs had returned home the day before with a beautiful bunch of roses and booked us in for an amazing dinner that evening – as always, living up to my Disney standards….
While we were on this topic, our teacher taught us the different expressions for ‘hot’ in Spanish – caliente and calor. She advised that to call a person caliente essentially means that you are calling them sexy and you should probably avoid it….
A few other names the Spanish probably should have avoided – if only because of their English connotations include:
Our bread… blonde in colour, goes by the name of Bimbo…
Tea – made by Hornimans……
I can’t help but chuckle at the last two…
a year abroad in Spain... 