[laepelba]

Originally Posted by poli

It's like pipe tobacco

In what way? That it is supposed to grow on you? Because I actually enjoy the scent of pipe tobacco, although I've never actually tried to smoke a pipe.

Originally Posted by Rusty

@pjt33: Hmmm. I'm not a linguist, but for what's it's worth, here are my

The noun 'jingle bell' is a particular type of bell. It is also known as a 'sleigh bell', which happens to be a noun composed of two words, too. It's possible that the 'sleigh' in 'sleigh bell' could be an adjective, a verb, or a noun. No dictionary I checked gave an etymology. It would be my guess that the 'jingle' in 'jingle bell' could also be an adjective, a verb, or a noun. The Random House dictionary says the word was coined around 1885.

Jingle bells can be bought in any city of America. You can buy a single bell, or you can buy them in a group. Many people hang them on walls, doors, doorknobs, or on a horse's harness.
Bands and orchestras buy a group of jingle bells mounted on a wood block with a handle. The percussionist holds the handle with one hand, the jingle bells hanging downward, and bounces the block into the palm of his/her other hand to make the bells ring.

My take on the song "Jingle Bells" is not the same as yours. I hear "Jingle bells (noun), Jingle bells (noun), Jingle (present tense 3rd-person plural verb) all the way." "Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!"

Thanks for this breakdown, Rusty ... makes sense.

Originally Posted by Perikles

Jingle is clearly onomatopoeic, and I would bet with pjt that jingle is an imperative in that annoying song. Having said that, Jingle bells (noun) is just as likely. In this particular case, I'm afraid I don't care much.

Edit: Wiki says

Music historian James Fuld notes that the "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb."[3] However, it is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.

So there we are. It is possible that at the time of writing the song, Pierpont meant the verb. On the basis of the expression in the song, the noun 'jingle bell' was invented, or just misunderstood. This is my theory, which is either brilliant, or total crap.

Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be imperative in intent. But we have morphed it into a noun phrase.

Originally Posted by irmamar

Día de Navidad o, simplemente, Navidad.

¿No conoces el villancico?

"Esta noche es Nochebuena
y mañana Navidad,
saca la bota María
que me voy a emborrachar.

Ande, ande, ande
la Marimorena,
ande, ande, ande
que es la Nochebuena"

Can you find a YouTube video of that carol? In fact, can anyone post links to (or embed) some YouTube videos of Spanish carols? That would be SO cool!!

Originally Posted by irmamar

¿Y el turrón? Do you know what "turrón" is? I don't think there is a word for turrón or for polvorones.

No - can you describe these things? OOPS - spoke to soon. I just found "polvorón" in RAE. Here: http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltCons...&LEMA=polvoron - sounds yummy!