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DailyWord
November 05, 2009, 02:04 PM
This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for November 4, 2009

paja (feminine noun (la)) — straw. Look up paja in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/paja)

¿Para qué se ocupa la paja?
What is straw used for?

laepelba
November 05, 2009, 02:14 PM
Straw, as in drinking straw? Or straw, as in dry hay?

I was told that "bombilla" is the word for a drinking straw. Has anyone else heard this word used before?

poli
November 05, 2009, 02:42 PM
The word for drinking straw changes from one country to another. Many
Latinos in the USA use pitillo or sorbete.
Paja is straw as in dry grass. It also is one of those words that has
a somewhat sexual context when used in a certain way. I always thought that bombilla was the bulb-like receptical for hierba mate used in Argentia and Uruguay.
Bombilla is :idea:

chileno
November 05, 2009, 03:43 PM
hahaha Poli! "a somewhat sexual contaxt" uh? :wicked:

Now you'll have to explain it to her. Not me...:D

Paja = straw, hay

In Chile we use a paja to drink from our Coca Cola bottles.

I guess paja is used to feed cattle.

Does that help?

pjt33
November 05, 2009, 03:45 PM
If you want to be technical a Panama hat is a sombrero de paja toquilla, which is a fine straw which grows only in Ecuador, in the region around Cuenca. (The English name comes from 49ers who bought exported hats in Panama on their way to California).

chileno
November 05, 2009, 03:51 PM
If you want to be technical a Panama hat is a sombrero de paja toquilla, which is a fine straw which grows only in Ecuador, in the region around Cuenca. (The English name comes from 49ers who bought exported hats in Panama on their way to California).

I've seen them and I like 'em :D

At that time, Chile was busy exporting canned "choclo" to California too. (or also?)

laepelba
November 05, 2009, 04:01 PM
First of all, no body needs to explain anything to me about that. :D

SOooooo ... it seems that paja can be either straw (dry grass) OR a drinking implement.

Yes, I used a bombilla in Uruguay to drink my mate. (Mmmmmmmmm) I even bought one and brought it back to DC with me. But the other day, I asked a Bolivian friend what these things in our drinks were called in Spanish, she answered "bombilla". (Although she didn't say her "ll" sound like my Uruguayan friends do........ jaja!) So that made me curious.

chileno
November 05, 2009, 04:08 PM
First of all, no body needs to explain anything to me about that. :D

:eek: :):D:lol::lol::lol:

SOooooo ... it seems that paja can be either straw (dry grass) OR a drinking implement.

Yes, I used a bombilla in Uruguay to drink my mate. (Mmmmmmmmm) I even bought one and brought it back to DC with me. But the other day, I asked a Bolivian friend what these things in our drinks were called in Spanish, she answered "bombilla". (Although she didn't say her "ll" sound like my Uruguayan friends do........ jaja!) So that made me curious.

I am sorry for getting carried away with having fun, and I half answered your questions...

Ok :erm:

Yes paja can be either straw and a straw. :lol:

Straw = paja, bombilla

Bombilla = straw, light bulb

Light bulb = ampolleta, bombilla


:dancingman::dancingman::dancingman: yet?

Homework?

laepelba
November 05, 2009, 04:12 PM
Thanks, Hernán! I'm not necessarily dancing yet ... and I suppose I don't HAVE homework ... I give the homework. But I'm thinking you meant something else by that, and I totally missed it. :)

chileno
November 05, 2009, 04:14 PM
Thanks, Hernán! I'm not necessarily dancing yet ... and I suppose I don't HAVE homework ... I give the homework. But I'm thinking you meant something else by that, and I totally missed it. :)

But this time, guess who's giving the homework?

And to whom! :) (no more, no less) :showoff:

laepelba
November 05, 2009, 04:22 PM
Bueno - eso es lo que pensé que querías decir. Pero aún no entiendo..... ¿Qué es la tarea que me estás dando?

pjt33
November 05, 2009, 04:23 PM
I've seen them and I like 'em :D

At that time, Chile was busy exporting canned "choclo" to California too. (or also?)
Too. Aunque mejor dejarlo sin ninguna de las dos, porque lo que hacía Chile no era el mismo. Bueno, a no ser que quieras explicar en qué igualaba y en que se diferenciaba: "Back then Chile was also busy exporting to California, but canned 'choclo' rather than hats."

PD Yo tenía un sombrero de paja toquilla, pero me lo olvidé en un bús porque tenía prisa - iba a una boda, el tráfico se había atascado mucho, y luego el conductor había pasado el límite de horas que podía conducir así que tuve que cambiar de bús inesperada y rápidamente.

chileno
November 05, 2009, 04:23 PM
Bueno - eso es lo que pensé que querías decir. Pero aún no entiendo..... ¿Cuál es la tarea que me estás dando?

¿Entendiste todo lo que escribí?

hmmm Congratulations, if you did. :-)

laepelba
November 05, 2009, 04:31 PM
:eek: :):D:lol::lol::lol:



I am sorry for getting carried away with having fun, and I half answered your questions...

Ok :erm:

Yes paja can be either straw and a straw. :lol:

Straw = paja, bombilla

Bombilla = straw, light bulb

Light bulb = ampolleta, bombilla


:dancingman::dancingman::dancingman: yet?

Homework?

Sure - pienso que entendó lo que tú escribiste. Estabas haciendo un grade círculo de significados ... asociando una ampolleta a un utensilio para beber a pastos secos. ¿Correcto? Todo parece muy peligroso a mí. :eek:

¿Y mi tarea?

chileno
November 05, 2009, 05:39 PM
I am sorry for getting carried away with having fun, and I half answered your questions...

Ok :erm:

Yes paja can be either straw and a straw. :lol:

Straw = paja, bombilla

Bombilla = straw, light bulb

Light bulb = ampolleta, bombilla


:dancingman::dancingman::dancingman: yet? (dizzy yet?)

Homework? (is it (going to be) homework for you?)




Sure - pienso que entendí lo que (tú) escribiste. Estabas haciendo un gran círculo de significados ... asociando una ampolleta a un utensilio para beber a pastos secos. ¿Correcto? Todo parece muy peligroso a mí. :eek:

¿Y mi tarea?

No estaba asociando, pero los significados son tales que pueden marear a cualquiera.

Me preguntaba si era tarea para ti, pero estás muy bien. :)

Too. Aunque mejor dejarlo sin ninguna de las dos, porque lo que hacía Chile no era el mismo. Bueno, a no ser que quieras explicar en qué igualaba y en que se diferenciaba: "Back then Chile was also busy exporting to California, but canned 'choclo' rather than hats."

Not that Chile and Panama were doing the same thing but they were both doing something...

And that in red, would be another way to say it.

Remember, I do not know (even though it's not terribly difficult to surmise it), that I do not know proper grammar in English nor Spanish. :o

What I have is what it was left of an education and force of habit. :)

PD Yo tenía un sombrero de paja toquilla, pero (me) lo olvidé en un bús porque tenía prisa - iba a una boda, el tráfico se había atascado mucho, y luego el conductor se había pasado el límite de horas que podía conducir así que tuve que cambiar de bús inesperada y rápidamente.

:D

AngelicaDeAlquezar
November 05, 2009, 08:34 PM
@Lou Ann: I think "bombilla" is only the one for drinking mate.

For drinking straw I've heard "pajilla" in some foreign countries. In Mexico, it's called "popote".



As for the word of the day, "paja" can also be a term for something that doesn't add real content to some written document.

La mitad de tu reporte es paja.
Half of your report is useless junk.

Tu examen era pura paja. Por eso reprobaste.
Your exam was pure nonsense. That's why you failed.

poli
November 05, 2009, 08:56 PM
I knew that mysteriously that the word for a drinking straw varied greatly
from one Spanish-speaking country to another. I would not advise using
the word pajilla among people in the Caribbean region of it's almost exclusive auto-erotic connotation. How's that for being discreet Hernan?

irmamar
November 06, 2009, 12:14 AM
To me, a drinking straw is "pajita". "Bombilla" means light bulb. "Paja" means straw. "Paja" also means a bad word :eek: (but I'm not going to explain it :D )

By the way, I wouldn't say "para qué se ocupa la paja", but "para qué se usa", though I don't know if "ocupar" is used in another countries. :)

chileno
November 06, 2009, 06:37 AM
I knew that mysteriously that the word for a drinking straw varied greatly
from one Spanish-speaking country to another. I would not advise using
the word pajilla among people in the Caribbean region of it's almost exclusive auto-erotic connotation. How's that for being discreet Hernan?

:) That's excellent! Avoid pajita also, which I use in my country. ;)

From now on, if I go to another Spanish speaking country I am going to ask, while pointing at a drinking straw, "what do you call this"? :D


To me, a drinking straw is "pajita". "Bombilla" means light bulb. "Paja" means straw. "Paja" also means a bad word :eek: (but I'm not going to explain it :D )


Para mi también pajita es lo mismo. Pero bombilla no. Para mi es ampolleta.

By the way, I wouldn't say "para qué se ocupa la paja", but "para qué se usa", though I don't know if "ocupar" is used in another countries. :)

Usar u ocupar para mi es lo mismo.

laepelba
November 06, 2009, 06:39 AM
From now on, if I go to another Spanish speaking country I am going to ask, while pointing at a drinking straw, "what do you call this"? :D


Exceptional idea!! :)