Leche

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for May 1, 2008

leche -feminine noun (la), milk. Look up leche in the dictionary

Yo me tomo un vaso de leche todas las mañanas.
I drink a glass of milk every morning.

[Alfonso]

It's really tempting to link this daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

• Es el colmo.
• Es la leche.

... mean the same, with the latter being vulgar, and the former not. Do you use it the same way in other Hispanic countries?

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

It's really tempting to think that today's daily leche and Jane's post about el colmo have the same meaning. daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

• Es el colmo.
• Es la leche.

with the later (pronounced ladder) being vulgar , the last vulgar and the former not. Do you use it the same way in other Hispanic countries?

Let's see what Rusty and David, Elaina, Gomey and the rest say, but I've never heard the the term es la leche before. In Spain can it be used negatively and positively as colmo is?

You probably know that leche alone is quite vulgar here. In English
cream is, but it's only vulgar as a verb.

[Rusty]

I can't think of a phrase using milk that means last straw, height, epitome, or brim.

I wanted to add that the vulgarity associated with milk and cream, as Poli mentioned, is not widespread. We say (and buy) milk and cream all the time without thinking about the possibility that it may be taken the wrong way (that it may seem vulgar to some). There are many words that have both a good and a vulgar meaning.

[Alfonso]

Poli, eres la leche , no puedo entender esta corrección:

It's really tempting to think that today's daily leche and Jane's post about el colmo have the same meaning. daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

You can use eres la leche, esto es la leche, positively or negatively. In both cases you are being a little vulgar, but can be funny not being serious all the time.

[Tomisimo]

I personally have never heard es la leche used in this context before. This usage may be restricted to Spain, although my main experience has been with Mexican Spanish.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

It's really tempting to link this daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

• Es el colmo.
• Es la leche.

... mean the same, with the latter being vulgar, and the former not. Do you use it the same way in other Hispanic countries?

__________________________________________________ _________
I never heard it either, David. I deal with people from other parts of Latin America and I haven't heard them use it use it either.
__________________________________________________ ___________
A clarified correction:
I'm tempted to link today daily word, leche to Jane's post aboutel colmo.
.Es la leche
.Es el colmo
The former is vulgar. The latter is not. Is the term es la
leche used in other Spanish speaking countries?

This time I corrected your question as close a possible to the way you wrote the sentence. Is the term es la leche truly vulgar, or is it meerly slang?

[Iris]

Talking about milk, I've always been intrigued by the use of the Spanish word in La Leche League, I wonder why they haven't translated the whole thing.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Iris

Talking about milk, I've always been intrigued by the use of the Spanish word in La Leche League, I wonder why they haven't translated the whole thing.

La Leche League doesn't really have anything to do with the Spanish language. They try to promote breastfeeding and to support breastfeeding mothers. For some reason they decided to use a foreign word in the name of their organization.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Early in the organization's history, local newspapers rejected meeting notices that used the words breastfed and breastfeeding, calling them inappropriate for family publications. The name comes from the two-syllable Spanish word, "leche" (pronounced leh-cheh) meaning "milk". It was inspired by a shrine in St. Augustine, Florida, with the title of `Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto” or “our Lady of Happy Delivery and Plentiful Milk”.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I can't think of a phrase using milk that means last straw, height, epitome, or brim.

I wanted to add that the vulgarity associated with milk and cream, as Poli mentioned, is not widespread. We say (and buy) milk and cream all the time without thinking about the possibility that it may be taken the wrong way (that it may seem vulgar to some). There are many words that have both a good and a vulgar meaning.

Rusty,
Of course that's true, but the verb to cream is quite impolite and the noun
leche not milk can have a very vulgar context

Poli

[Rusty]

Agreed.

[Elaina]

I've never heard of "leche" being used in a vulgar way. Live and learn!!

Elaina

[Alfonso]

Originally Posted by poli

Is the term es la leche truly vulgar, or is it meerly slang?

It's hard to answer this question. I would say it's softly vulgar, but not slang, as everybody might use it in a specific context.
I don't tell you this for you to use it at first chance (or do I?). But, If you hear in Spain: Ese tío es la leche or esta peli es la leche... don't think it's got something to do with milk...
Anyway, it's quite common and not so vulgar as other expressions meaning the same.

[Iris]

I agree with Alfonso. I mean, you wouldn't use it if you were having dinner with the Queen, but in everyday situations people say it all the time. Sometimes I say "Eres la leche en polvo" (a more elaborate version...).

[poli]

I spoke to a Colombian friend who laughed saying he hadn't heard the expression in years, but in his country they sometimes say "estás de la leche" when somebody does something really good like scoring a goal.

Thanks for being so informative

[Alfonso]

An inquisitive question:

Originally Posted by poli

It's really tempting to think that today's daily leche and Jane's post about el colmo have the same meaning. daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

Originally Posted by poli

A clarified correction:
I'm tempted to link today daily word, leche to Jane's post about el colmo.

Originally Posted by Alfonso

It's really tempting to link this daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as...

I'm really sorry I'm still thinking about the reasons of your corrections, Poli. I can't see it!

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

It's really tempting to link this daily word, leche, to Jane's today post, el colmo, as:

• Es el colmo.
• Es la leche.

... mean the same, with the latter being vulgar, and the former not. Do you use it the same way in other Hispanic countries?

I understand what you wrote but it's chapurreado. Here's a better way of saying it keeping as many words you originally chose as I could:
I am tempted to link todays daily word leche to Jane's post about
el colmo.
Consider the following two phrases:

Es la leche
Es el colmo

They mean the same, but the former is vulgar and the latter isn't.
Are both terms used in other Spanish-speaking countries?
(You could also say"they both mean the same with the former being
vulgar and the latter no vulgar at all)

Other words for colmo in English:
The final word in elegance. can you use la ultima palabra en elegancia?
The very model of ...
The paradigm of ... (not often used)

[Alfonso]

I'm sorry, but I still can't see why these syntagmas are not correct:

• It's really tempting to do something.
• Jane's today post.
• Hispanic countries.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

I'm sorry, but I still can't see why these syntagmas phrases are not correct:

• It's really tempting to do something.
• Jane's today post.
• Hispanic countries.

I'd say that the first and third are fine. For the middle one, you'd have to say Jane's post from today or the post Jane wrote today. Oh, and in English a sintagma is simply a phrase. (phrase does not equal sentence, unlike frase y oración en Spanish)

[Alfonso]

Thanks a lot, David. That's really clear. By the way, I found syntagma as an English term in Tomísimo Dictionary, but not in Merrian-Webster.
Modification: It wasn't at Tomísimo Dictionary where I found it, but at dictionary.com, here. And the ie English corrector allows it.