Hi Folks,
MadridMan you're point is well taken and you're correct, I guess what the Cordoban meant to say was "Mi pueblo es una ciudad!" My home town is a city!" I'll never forget him, and I will be sensitive to this on my next trip.
La Maestra,
I sure will let you know. I love dictionaries, you learn so much history from them.
Pim,
I just learned something about the term "puente" for weekend. Is this a recent use of the word?
Booklady

Booklady, puente is used to refer to an extended weekend, usually when there's a holiday on (Thursday,) Friday and/or Monday making it a longer-than-usual weekend and this is a puente. Normal 2-day weekends are your standard "fin de semana". I'm not sure if "puente" is a newer word or not. Spaniards!?

I'm not a Spaniard, but we used that expression back in 1966, so it is not new.

My opinion:

I don't understand the usage of "las especiales", if what is mean is "ofertas" I would say that that is the more used word (in addition to "rebajas" and other such expressions).

Of one thing I'm sure: Adjectives are very often used as nouns in what is named "sustantivación de un adjetivo" (sustantivation of an adjective). Thus, it is not extrange to find constructions as "el guapo", "el brillante", etc... All these are correct expressions.

Home town is, as stated, "mi ciudad" or "mi pueblo". What is the difference? By pueblo yo mean a village of no more than 20.000 inhabitants. By ciudad you mean a town or city which is a provincial capital or a populated town or city. I would always use ciudad to refer Chicago by all means. It is normal that if Córdoba was referred to as a pueblo the citizen was offended You were meaning that his city/town was small and without relevance. Sometimes a provincial capital is very small (smaller than some pueblos), but their citizens will always call it ciudad.

Puente is not a new word, is a fairly common one. When we have a weekend followed or preceeded by vacation days (for example, with friday being laboral and thursday being holiday, or both of them being holiday) we call it a "puente". Why? Because it seems one (think of the laboral days being water and the holidays being the bridge/puente).

"Hago puente" means that if there is a laboral day between holidays I'm taking vacation that day too. Thus, if the thursday is holiday, and the friday not, I'm taking vacation on friday anyway

Fernando

Pehaps Spaniards or academics can offer some insights, but "aparcar" is accepted by the RAE and is used in Spain. "Estancionar" seems to be prevalent in Latin America. Etymologically speaking, "aparcar" might be an angloisim that gained broad acceptance. "Parking" for a parking lot also is in wide use within Spain, I don't know if it has gained addmission by the RAE, but it is ubiquitous on the peninsula.

I detest Spanglish. I believe that it is corrosive to both languages, and that its influence must be thwarted for the benefit of both great languages. I loathe its use and fear its usage. We can only hope that a strong and unified RAE can protect the Castillian language while continuing to give "splendour" to it.

[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: Shawn ]

MadridMan, La Maestra y Fernando thank you for the wonderful explanation of "puente". I will try to use it next time I have a holiday on a Tuesday or Thursday!

Shawn, I consulted my copy of my diccionario Durvan de la Lengua Española, and it does include the term estacionaras a genuine Spanish word for parking vehicles. It also corroborates your observation on the term aparcar, which is also listed. In looking at this term all it's missing is the letter k to be an American phrase: a park car. Language is so interesting.

Your observations about Spanglish are interesting. However, let me say that all "living" languages are in a constant state of change, whether it is a positive or negative trend, depending on one's perspective, it is inevitable.

Technological, political and commercial innovations are the most common providers of new words coming from other languages. According to the advertisement for new edition of the Diccionario of the RAE they have just added the following terms:"Máster", "kit", "set","alzhéimer", "fundamentalismo", "gay", "transgénico", "talibán", "videojuego" y "zapear". So, horror of horrors, I would not be surprised if "los especiales" appears!

Booklady

Hola!

This thread is very timely for me. I wrote a little story about alcalá de henares, and here is how I used the word pueblo. I haven't edited this and I don't know if my usage will sound funny to spanish ears.

ENGLISH:Around comida and siesta time in Spain, streets become deserted. In its dormant state, the spanish town becomes a ghost town. Time stands still.

SPANISH:A la hora de comida y siesta en España, las calles están desiertas. Durmiendo, el pueblo español se convierte en pueblo fantasma. El tiempo se mide con un reloj inmóvil.

It seems that the words el pueblo español might read like "the spanish people" as opposed to un pueblo, which might read like "a town."

Any suggestions?

Churrito

Hola a todos!
Booklady, there's something more enjoyable than beeing able to use the term puente....is 'hacer o tener el puente'!, it means you have an extra day off work!, ha,ha!
There's also an interesting expression which is surely, more recent than puente; it's like we say: 'rizar el rizo'(=to loop the loop?). Acueducto(=aqueduct), we use that when, for instance, there are two holidays or more (almost) in a row. Example: both the upcoming 6th.(Day of the Spanish Constitution) and 8th.(Day of The Immaculate Conception) of December are national holidays; now, some years that means having,
all in the same week, Monday and Wednesday off, or Wednesday and Friday....If you're able to have or make a puente in those cases, it's an acueducto! The ultimate one is when both Tuesday and Thursday are holidays and one gets to have a whole weeks vacation(9 days!) only asking for 3 three days off work!!!

Also, all of these words for parking lot and the verb to park are definetely used in Spain: estacionamiento, aparcamiento, parking; estacionar and aparcar. We do not say "parquear" ever, aparcar and Parking are the most commonly used terms, and I'm not sure aparcar is an anglicism, maybe.

Churro,
You're right, the use of el pueblo español sounds weird since one immediately translates it as "the Spanish people" in one's head. It's tricky, one solution is to use the plural, 'los pueblos españoles' se convierten....Also,(in your case) you can say: ese/este pueblo español se convierte...., another possibility is to skip pueblo: la localidad/aldea española se convierte....

Finally, I've come up with yet another expression for home town or home land, tierra.
"Tengo ganas de irme a mi tierra"

saludos.

With a little time on my hands today, I'm glad I checked this thread. Very interesting! I, too, love languages and their idiosyncracies. I even "attempted" to discuss, in Spanish, the language of the Basques (Euskerra, is that right?) with our "host" at a casa rural near Hondarribia. He now officially goes by Patxi. So what was his name in Spanish? Okay, here I am at the punchline and can't remember the answer...help me out!! Jose??

Another language observation--many of you may already be familiar with this one. I USUALLY make this mistake in the Dominican Republic. (I can attribute it to too much time passing between visits). PLEASE do not use "coche" for car in the D.R. It is "carro"--no question about it!! Los dominicanos always get a good laugh when I inadvertently say "coche."

Fernando: Usually terms like "el guapo" and "el brillante" are used to refer to me... :p

Carole: I think every third Vizcaíno is named "Patxi", it seems to be an apodo that enjoys popularity, mostly among the older set. Darned if I don't remember the actual name if comes from...and they call me CaliBasco to boot!!!