Botón

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for June 6, 2008

botón -masculine noun (el), button. Look up botón in the dictionary

Los botónes se encuentran en todas partes- en la ropa, en las máquinas y en las páginas web.
Buttons are everywhere- on clothes, machines and web pages.

[poli]

Algo relacionado a botón: La palabra zipper.
En el diccionario dice que la palabra es cremallera en español. Yo siempre
usé zipper. ¿Que es la palabra común para zipper?

[Iris]

In Spain we say cremallera.
An anecdote: When my eldest son was little he would call my husband when he went to the toilet and say: "Papá, límpiame el botón"...

[poli]

¿Le vas a decir a tu hijo lo que había escrito? Sabes que ahora esta pequeña historia se conoce en varios continentes. Ojalá que él tenga un buen sentido de humor como lo de su mamá
Please inform me if I wrote that last sentence correctly. I am trying to vary the way I express myself in Spanish. Thanks.

[Iris]

Originally Posted by poli

¿Le vas a decir a tu hijo lo que has escrito? Sabes que ahora esta pequeña historia se conoce en varios continentes. Ojalá que (él) tenga un buen sentido de humor como el de su mamá.

Just a couple of things, Poli. I told my son and he doesn't seem to mind.

[Elaina]

Good Morning:

Isn't the word botones also used to mean a hotel clerk? Or the employee that carries the luggage up to your hotel room?

Elaina

[Iris]

Yes, it is. A bellboy.

[Rusty]

En Centroamérica, se dicen cierre o zíper por cremallera. Jamás he oido cremallera antes de hoy.

[Tomisimo]

As Rusty says, cierre means zipper (among other things) in México.

[Tomisimo]

Another observation: I've noticed that Spanish speakers sometimes use botón for a knob that can be turned.

[Alfonso]

What do you mean by knob?

[María José]

El pomo de una puerta, but it could mean other things...that I'm not going to explain here.

[Alfonso]

Originally Posted by Gemma

El pomo de una puerta, but it could mean other things...that I'm not going to explain here.

Thanks, Gemma.

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

Another observation: I've noticed that Spanish speakers sometimes use botón for a knob that can be turned.

I never use botón for pomo.

[Tomisimo]

What do you call these in Spanish. These are all knobs in English.

[CrOtALiTo]

An observation, a button in my country, we don´t say button to the zipper, button here is only a bottun or a bellboy.

[María José]

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

What do you call these in Spanish. These are all knobs in English.

Not a clue. Pomo is only for doorknob. Could this be mandos, interruptores? I'm not sure.

[Rusty]

Mixer = mesa/unidad de mezcla

I found all these words used for the knobs, controls, buttons (all synonyms), in no particular order:
control de volumen/tono/etc.
botón de ...
interruptor de ...
mando de ...
regulador de ...
perilla de ...
tornillo de ...
potenciómetro de ...
dial de ...

[Tomisimo]

Good research Rusty. A mixer can also be a mezcladora or consola. A note concerning potenciómetro, it doesn't refer to any knob; it refers specifically to a potentiometer also known as a pot to electronics people. Thanks for the great options!

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

Good research Rusty. A mixer can also be a mezcladora or consola. A note concerning potenciómetro, it doesn't refer to any knob; it refers specifically to a potentiometer also known as a pot to electronics people. Thanks for the great options!

Yeah, I know the term potentiometer quite well, and was surprised to see that several sites used the term to refer to the terminal, o el eje que sale del potenciómetro rotatorio, to which a knob is normally affixed. These sites were written for audiophiles who know about pots, faders, and the like.

If you do a search on potenciómetro de volumen/tono, you'll see that they're talking about the knob that controls the device, not the device itself.

Here are a couple of sentences from some of the sites:
-El manejo del equipo se realiza utilizando una pantalla táctil y el clásico potenciómetro de volumen.
-... tiene un potenciómetro de tono y otro de volumen ... (guitarra Yamaha)

[Alfonso]

I have usually heard of potenciómetro to refer to what you mean, the knob. Even I use this term for my guitar. I'm not an expert at all, but I think this is the most common term in Spanish for this.
I have also heard of interruptor for a radio knob, especially if it's got and on/off item, but I think this is imprecise, although some people use it.