Mecanico

[caliber1]

A quick question on this word. I was working on my car today and a lady and her daughter (my neighbors) who speak Spanish were walking by and the mom asked, "¿Sabes mecánico?" Now, did she mean that in form of whether or not I know mechanics? I ask because I thought I would use "mecánico" like, "Me voy a llevar mi carro al mecánico". Thanks in advance

[aleCcowaN]

"¿Sabes (de) mecánica (automotriz)?"

The only explanation is, either you heard the wrong vowel or they changed it a little bit thinking it'd match your abilities with the language so not being real Spanish you still would be able to grasp the meaning.

One open secret: just a very small percentage of those regarded as "Hispanic" in the States do speak Spanish. My experience in Los Angeles is that most people born in Latin America and speaking bad English, so it may make you think they are better speaking Spanish, they speak in fact an even worse Spanish. Simply, they don't speak: the little they knew of real Spanish was worn out by unuse, misuse and disuse while their living in the States, and sadly, while they try to communicate with their paisanos. I think I already told the story of the, Guatemalan(?) born who didn't understand "canilla" nor "grifo" until one of them realized it was "foceto" (faucet).

A lot of people hate hearing things like this, but I would watch my blood pressure because of all the pinches of salt you have to take when speaking Spanish locally in the US, as those who are a little more fluent than their paisanos will lecture you, specially those who managed to resist the influence of those speaking in media lengua (but there's no war without casualties, if you catch my drift). How do you say "en el país de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey"?

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

...How do you say "en el país de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey"?

It's pretty much the same: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King (or is the king)."

[chileno]

It depends on what you really heard.

Maybe she said "¿Sabes de algún/un mecánico?"

or it is like alec said, you heard the wrong vowel.

Here in the US many people use "sabes" instead of "conoces"

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by wrholt

It's pretty much the same: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King (or is the king)."

Thank you

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@BJ: The question like that was wrong, as you felt it and as it has been commented.
The right question would have been "¿Sabes mecánica?" (or a more proper one maybe "¿sabes de mecánica?")

The subject is "mecánica" and the person is "mecánico" (unless it's a woman).