Thread: Una escalera
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Old February 21, 2009, 10:16 AM
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laepelba laepelba is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Suburbs of Washington, DC (Northern Virginia)
Posts: 4,683
Native Language: American English (Northeastern US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chileno View Post
Both terns are used indistinctly, however if I had to chose I would say staircase = escalas and ladder = escalera (de tijeras) (scissors)


Hernan.
So, the "tijeras" refers to the "folding" aspect of the ladder, and not the metal of which it is made? A wooden folding ladder could also be "escalera de tijeras"? What about a ladder that leans against a building? Still simply "escalera"?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancho Panther View Post
BTW Laepelba - nice staircase! And can I ask - what does Laepelba mean?
Well, "L" is my first initial (of my first name) and "Aepelba" are the first seven letters of my last name. It was a login that I was assigned MANY years ago to a computer system at work, and I've just continued to use it as my login ID everywhere on the internet ... easiest to remember just one thing. You can call me "Lou Ann".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
You can say escalera de mano to refer to the ladder if you want, but generally there would be no ambiguity. If someone says 'traeme la escalera', you wouldn't think that they wanted a staircase. English has many words that are used for two different things. So does Spanish. In fact, escalera is also the word for a run in a card game.
You're right - there are SO many words in English that need to be deciphered via context. I just wanted to be sure. And I LOVE that it's also used in poker. Makes a lot of sense that way, too!
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Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias!
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