Cario

[Tyrn]

Hi,

I hopefully downloaded an old movie, La vida íntima de Marco Antonio y Cleopatra. No way. The language is difficult, the speech way too lively for me.

The first sentence is Al rechulo de Marco Antonio, con todo mi cario y simpatía. It's readily available on ReversoContext, by the way; just type in rechulo .

The word cario (or carío) appears to be nonexistent. Though it sounds pretty naturally, I admit.

[Rusty]

The word 'cario,' which appears in the subtitles, should be cariño.
That's what I thought when I read your post, and that's what I heard when I listened to the movie.

Subtitles don't always portray what was actually said.

[Tyrn]

The possibility of a typo did cross my mind. But how did the subtitle make its way into ReversoContext?

[Rusty]

context.reverso.net takes samples of phrases from all over. A subtitle is fair game, even one that contains a typo.

Try this Google search:
"al rechulo de Marco Antonio, con todo mi"
One of the six results I got shows a thumbnail of the movie in question. In the metadata provided (in the description on the search-result page) you'll see the beginning lines of the movie, with the correct first sentence.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Tyrn

But how did the subtitle make its way into ReversoContext?

Probably because the automatic spellcheck didn't detect it. The word "cario" does exist in Spanish, but to talk about the people from Caria, an ancient region in Asia.

[Tyrn]

A la rechula de Cleopatra... sounds correct?

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by Tyrn

A la rechula de Cleopatra... sounds correct?

Translate "rechula" to English: attractive, lovely

Spanish Synonyms of "rechula": atractivo, atrayente, simpático, tentador, apetecible, con atractivo, interesante, llamativo

Define meaning of "rechula": Que atrae o puede atraer. ; Que provoca el interés o la atención, que gana la voluntad. ; Relativo/a a la persona que resulta interesante y agradable por su atractivo físico o por su personalidad.

It is also used in masculine.

(from the web)

[poli]

Apparently the re prefix is used in colloquially in some Spanish speaking countries to mean, to the maximum. I am not sure if the "re" prefix is commonly used throughout the Spanish speaking world. "Re" is an abbreviation for the prefix requete which means very and it is commonly used all over. Requetecomún means extremely common for example. Chula, however, has different meanings in different cultures, and some of those meanings are not complementary.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Tyrn

A la rechula de Cleopatra... sounds correct?

Yes, it does. The only note I'll add here is that this is very colloquial talk, and you normally wouldn't use it to talk about a historic figure like the ancient queen Cleopatra.
"La rechula de Cleopatra" suggests to me that you're talking about a close friend or maybe even a pet you find cute to the extreme.

As Poli said, "re-" is some form of superlative. It may also be "rete-" or "requete-" (both of which add an even more colloquial emphasis).
- ¡Ay, tu casa está rebonita! -> Oh, your house is so pretty!
- Este ejercicio de matemáticas está retecomplicado. -> This math exercise is awfully complicated.
- Hoy me siento requetebién. -> Today I feel extremely well.
- El remalvado de mi jefe me hizo quedarme hasta tarde. -> My really evil boss made me stay until late.
- La doctora es reteamable siempre con mi mamá. -> The doctor is always so nice with my mum.
- ¡Ay, me encanta platicar contigo porque eres requetesimpático! -> Oh, I love talking to you because you're so funny!


As for the meaning of "chula", the common meaning is the one Pinosilano posted. One has to be careful with "chulo" when used as a noun, because it may mean a pimp; but normally, when you use "chulo(a)" as an adjective it's universally understood as cute, handsome, sweetheart...

[Tyrn]

Originally Posted by poli

"Re" is an abbreviation for the prefix requete which means very and it is commonly used all over.

Are you really sure about the latter part? Apart from some dictionaries, there's no trace of the thing on the Web.

Angelica's examples are a bunch of cute exceptions

[poli]

Spanish is a worldwide language, and it may be the requete- prefix is not used everywhere, but it is used in Spain, Mexico and Argentina and that covers Iberian, Southern cone, and standard Latin American Spanish..

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Rete-" and "requete-" are intensifiers of the intensifier "re-". Apparently, adding syllables makes the adjective even stronger.
All of them are used everywhere, but- as I said, they're very colloquial; in some registers they might even be interpreted as low-education indicators. They're pretty good to add emphasis and color to your talk, but they may not be your first choice all the time.

By the way, Tyrn, you chose a difficult movie. "Golden Era" Mexican films must be really hard to understand to foreigners: they're full of old slang, references to local situations and events of the time, some fake Mexican accents made by Argentine and Spanish actors, bad quality sound due to the years passed...
This movie is funny, but I can imagine the need for a pause every few seconds to understand the dialogues.

[Tyrn]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

By the way, Tyrn, you chose a difficult movie.

That much I understood right away

So recomún, retecomún, requetecomún are all possible, and the last one is the strongest? Am I having it right?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Requete-" usually makes a stronger emphasis, yes, but we often use these prefixes according to our own euphony and exaggeration criteria.


If you ask me, "requetecomún" sounds better than the other two, even if I don't want to make a comparative between how many times is "recomún" and how many "retecomún". Someone else may have different preferences.


- "Esta sopa me quedó rebién" sounds to me better than "retebién" and I would have to feel extremely proud of it to say "requetebién". My first choice anyway would be "riquísima" or "buenísima".
- "Julián me parece requeteguapo" may be better placed than "reguapo" or "reteguapo", to make it work as "guapísimo", which might be my first choice.