October
13
Wordy Wednesday #12
I was out with a Spanish friend the other day and she ws laughing about the fact that there were words which I particularly liked, or in this case, didn’t like in Spanish. I have something against the word “conileño” (which refers to a person from the town of Conil), though I can’t quite put my finger on what it is…
So this week’s question is; what words do you especially like or dislike in the language of the country where you work, or in English for that matter?
Hi Teresa, it’s a lovely activity. I’m in the UK, but my wife is Kenyan and there are a few words in Swahili I like. Here’s one:
wanyama = animals.
Actually, in Swahili, with one class of nouns, the singular starts with “m” and is replaced by “wa” to make the plural. So:
mnyama = animal.
But I find this much more of a mouthful!
David
Thanks for the comment, David – irregular plurals are a mouthful in any language, I think!
Hi, I love all the tips and techniques you give in your blog. You are a great inspiration for English teachers around the globe! I’m from Mexico.
In Mexico there’s somehting called “albur” and it is close to speaking in double sense. So there are a lot of words which you have to be very careful to use. But there are other which I find quite funny like: tedioso, tuleño, soso, chengo, ñengo. The last two, I think, is slang used in the central part of the country.
Thanks for stopping by, Jesús, and for your kind words 🙂
We have the word “soso” here in Spain as well – it means boring, uninteresting, bland. Does it mean the same in Mexico?