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Choose your battles...

 

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.


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  #11  
Old February 19, 2009, 06:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo View Post
You are right. Jon ron. It's very used in my country for the folks. Just I was reading the post of leapelda. I believe that her translation needed is (Escoge tu batalla con autoridad.)

I hope you can understand my opinion above.
YES - I understand your statement. But, Luis, my question would be: is it a common phrase, or merely a translation?

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Originally Posted by poli View Post
Oye Snow White, Spanglish is not spoken by English speakers trying to learn Spanish. Spanglish is spoken by second and third generation Hispanics living in English speaking environs. Their schooling is in English, their culture is anglo, but their family speaks Spanish amongst themselves. Because this language is not encouraged by the popular culture or the schools, it changes a lot. Many English words are incorporated in the lingo. Insead of saying el techo tiene una gotera Neoricans (Puerto Rican New Yorkers) are known to say things like el rufo tiene un liqueo..(the roof has a leak). I have heard similar usage in San Antonio Tx,and I am sure It's the same in Pilsen(Chicago) East LA, Adams Morgan in DC, The Mission(San Francisco), La Famosa Calle 8 in Miami and every other metropolitan area in the USA with a significant Spanish-speaking population --although Spanish seems to be winning in Miami and English sounds pretty Engspan to me down there.
Gotcha - I now feel I know the difference between "Spaniglish" and "Lou Ann's mixture of Spanish and English in the same paragraph."

SO, my question is now (still for Hernán): May I (please) mix Spanish and English when typing on my short lunch break or other limited time frames?

O ... mi pregunta está para Hernán: ¿Puedo argamasar el español y el inglés cuando tipeando mientras almuerzo?
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  #12  
Old February 19, 2009, 06:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
se puede

This construct is the impersonal se. In English, when we are speaking in general, we say 'They say/One says it's going to rain.' (Se dice que va a llover.) Another example is 'Spanish is spoken here.' (Se habla español.)

The third person (singular or plural) is always used in this construct. The pronoun is always se.
Ohhhhh!!! Methinks I just had a breakthrough. I was JUST wondering (no joke ... this evening I was wondering) about all of the times that we say "you/they *do something*" where the "you" is generic. (Obviously more accurately said "impersonal".) Could this be applied in a situation like in my "upstairs/downstairs" question - see http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=3121 ??

GRACIAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  #13  
Old February 19, 2009, 06:59 PM
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No hay de que. Espero te ayude.
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  #14  
Old February 20, 2009, 12:18 AM
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I think that merely it could to pass as a usage middle folks.

I don't know. Always I have said each country has itself way to speaks.
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  #15  
Old February 20, 2009, 12:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
First of all, I think we need a small "rule": Only people with comic character avatars can post to this thread. LOL!!
Right.. I got mine this morning and I have some others...

Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
Second - "pequeñas cosas" - in this context, could that be equivalently replaced with "cositas" (given the affinity that Spanish speakers have for the diminutive)??
Excellent!

Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
Third - can we redefine "Spanglish" in "Lou Ann's World" as a mixture of Spanish and English in the same sentences & paragraphs when she's in a hurry??

"El Mundo de Lou Ann"............

Well, the we can call "el mundito de Lou Ann" right?



Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
SO, my question is now (still for Hernán): May I (please) mix Spanish and English when typing on my short lunch break or other limited time frames?

O ... mi pregunta está para Hernán: ¿Puedo argamasar el español y el inglés cuando tipeando mientras almuerzo?
Si, pero te equivocaste. debiera ser: ¿Puedo mixiar el español y el inglées cuando esté tipeando mientras almuerzo?

Lo estas haciendo muy bien. Por favor no le busques todavia la gramatica correcta. Eso vendra con un poco mas de PRACTICA. Y lo mas entretenido, es que tu ya sabes la gramatica de tu idioma. No te preocupes.


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Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
No hay de que. Espero te ayude.
It sure helped me!

You make me think stuff that I haven't heard of in ages!

Hernan

Last edited by Rusty; February 20, 2009 at 08:29 AM.
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  #16  
Old February 20, 2009, 05:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chileno View Post

Well, the we can call "el mundito de Lou Ann" right?

Hernan.
I didn't know it was such a little world.....
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  #17  
Old February 20, 2009, 01:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
I didn't know it was such a little world.....
You were the one so keen with diminutives...well beside me. :-)

Hernan
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  #18  
Old February 20, 2009, 01:36 PM
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Leapelda.

Still. Don't you find sence to the sentence?
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  #19  
Old February 20, 2009, 01:57 PM
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@Lou Ann: it's not small, it's an affectionate term.
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  #20  
Old February 20, 2009, 04:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo View Post
Leapelda.

Still. Don't you find sence to the sentence?
Luis - YES, I definitely understand the sentence. I was merely wondering if Spanish speakers have a saying that conveys the same meaning ... not necessarily using the term "battles", but just the same idea of being better about choosing the right things to get upset about. That's all.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar View Post
@Lou Ann: it's not small, it's an affectionate term.
Malila - I know it's affectionate. The thing about diminutives that I need to get used to is that they're called "diminutives". In English, that would be condescending in and of itself. And, in English, using diminutive statements is not necessarily complementary (unless one is talking to a four-year-old....) My Peruvian friend is about 5' tall, married to a VERY tall man named Roberto & their 9-year-old is also Roberto. She calls him Robertito ... and it makes me wonder what she'll call him when he is (soon) taller than she.

The other thing about the diminutives is that if I don't pick up on them, I have difficulty using the dictionary to look up words that I don't know. (I'm so forgetful....)
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