24 September 2008

Dialog - Moctezuma’s Revenge

In today's dialog we have a couple of guys who are co-workers at a local manufacturing plant and they are setting out together to visit another plant in a distant city but one of them has a little problem. Let's listen in and see what it is:

¡Bip! ¡Bip! ¡Biiiiiip! (Ruido de un claxon)

¡Beep! ¡Beep! ¡Beeeeeep! (Sound of a car horn)

¡Ya vengo!
I´m coming already!

¡Biiiiiip! (Ruido de un claxon de nuevo)
¡BEEEEEP! (Sound of a car horn again)

¡AHÍ VOY!
I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!

(Ruido de una puerta de un carrro abriendo y cerrando)
(Sound of a car door opening and closing)

Buenos días amigo. ¿Ya listo?
Good morning my friend. Are you all set to go?

Más o menos.
(More or less)

¿Cómo amaneciste?
How are you this morning?

No muy bien.
Not very well.

¿Por qué? ¿Qué pasó?
Why? What happened?

Tengo chorrillo.
I've got the runs.

¡No me digas! ¿Fue la comida de anoche?
No, don't tell me! Was it the food last night?

Pienso que no. Fue la quesadilla que comí en la calle ayer. Ahora estoy pagando doble.
I don't think so. I´ll bet it was the quesadilla that I ate in the street yesterday. Now I am paying double.

Pobrecito. Entonces, no vamos a almorzar hasta que tu te sientas mejor. ¿Okay?
Poor thing. Then let's not eat breakfast until you feel better, okay?

¡Oye! Hay una gasolinera a la derecha. Párate porfa.
Hey! There is a gas station there on the right. Stop please.

¿Para qué? Ya tenemos gasolina.
Why? We already have gasoline.

No me preguntas eso. Ya tu sabes. ¡Párate! ¡PÁRATE!
Don't ask me why. You already know why. Stop! STOP!

Note: I have some additional comments:

¡Bip! ¡Bip! - The letter "i" in the Spanish "Bip" takes the place of the double letter "e" in the English "Beep". There is also a restaurant chain here in Mexico that is owned by Walmart called V.I.P.'s. The first time someone said "Let's go to V.I.P.'s I thought they said "Let's go to Beep's". It wasn't until we arrived at the restaurant that I understood what happened. The Spanish letters "b" and "v" are very similar in pronunciation. Some people will even tell you that they are pronounced exactly the same way but that just isn't so. The letter "b" is more aspirated (bigger puff of air) in both languages and the tongue doesn't touch the teeth. With the English "v" the upper front teeth touch the curled inward bottom lip and with the Spanish "v" the teeth don't touch the lip nor is it aspirated much. Even so, when spelling out things you will sometimes hear a Spanish speaker differentiate between "b" and "v" by calling the former "b grande" and the latter "v corta" or "uv" (oo-vey) meaning the letter that looks like the letter "u".

¿Cómo amaneciste? - I translated this as "How are you this morning?" but it literally means "How did you dawn your day?". I like to answer this by saying "vivito y coleando" or "alive and tail wagging". Other people might answer by saying "acostado y en ayunas" which means "lying down and fasting" because the minute they opened their eyes they were still lying down and hadn't yet had their breakfast.

Tengo chorrillo - This is the "good old boy" way of saying the more polite "Tengo Diarrea", or "I have diarrhea". The word "chorrillo" suggests a slow trickle or drip of something.
The opposite is "Estoy estreñido" which means "I am constipated". Be careful. If for constipated, you say "Estoy constipado" you will be saying "I have a stuffed up nose". Wrong end, my friend!

Fue la quesadilla que comí en la calle ayer - To "comer en la calle" means literally "to eat in the street" but it really means to buy some food from a street vendor or from a temporary food stand.

Entonces, no vamos a almorzar hasta que tu te sientas mejor - To "desayunar" means to have a light breakfast like coffee and a sweet roll. To "almorzar" means to have a heavy breakfast of bacon and eggs, etcetera.


5 comments:

Gary Denness said...

Boy, he had a mild case! I escaped Moctezuma and his Revenge for the first year and a half I was here. But a street hot dog finally got me. I was unable to leave the house for two days. Bactrin works for most people...sadly I had a reaction to the stuff and ended up in the local hospital from the cure, not the illness!

Montezuma's Revenge or Venganza de Moctezuma? I get corrected whichever version of the name I use! It's an oddity - for common names (Carlos, Charles) there are of course different versions, but normally an ancient name would be translated the same. Any ideas why not with Mocte/Monte-zuma?

GlorV1 said...

oooh Yukkkkky. lol ....I will leave now, and be back for another post. (walking away and feeling rather dizzy)lol bye Bob.

Frankly Ronda said...

this is darn funny! thanks for the laugh

Anonymous said...

Gary, I think the Montezuma thing came from the Marines Hymn where they sing "From the Halls of Montezuma" which refers to the U.S. Mexican war of 1846. By the way, the red stripe in the pants of the Marine Corps dress uniform commemorates the battle to capture Mexico City.

Mommy...you're welcome :)

Billie Mercer said...

Bob, although you give the translation, you are sending me to my Spanish dictionary to also look up words. This is a good thing!

This one is a funny story.

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.