Hot answers tagged regional-differences
20
In Ancient Castillian, words like "caja", "bajo", and "jaraba" were originally spelled with an "x", and pronounced as "sh" (voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant).
In the mid- to late-1700s the spellings were changed from an "x" to a "j", including words like "Mejico" and "Tejas". During that time, the "j" was actually pronounced as a "j" in English. Over ...
14
In situations where aquí and acá are both acceptable, aquí would connote more precision. It's worth considering all four words together:
Aquí: here
Acá: over here
Allí: there
Allá: over there
In cases where the location is very specific, you must use aquí (or allí):
Bajo la ley federal, el edificio debe permanecer aquí. (not acá)
Bajo la ley ...
12
A una persona con pocos conocimientos se le dice coloquialmente "burro". Un "mataburros" es literalmente algo que elimina a los burros y de ahí que (en Argentina, por ejemplo) al diccionario se le diga "mataburros" pues ayuda a suprimir burros, es decir, personas sin conocimientos. Un caso similar sucede con "tumbaburros" que es otra de las maneras ...
12
In Colombia both forms are used about equally. I prefer axila since is a more technical term and sobaco is perhaps used more often when referring to animals. There's a Colombian saying that goes like this:
Estoy más pelado que sobaco de rana (I don't have a dime on me.)
Again, sobaco is more colloquial and axila is more formal/technical and they refer ...
11
An example I recently found in Vía Rápida: Cuaderno de ejercicios. In this book, there is a story of a Spanish girl who came to Mexico. Someone told her:
Tome asiento. En un ratito viene el profesor.
The girl prepared to wait for quite a long time, but then she understood that 'rato' was a different thing in Mexico.
The comment from the book:
En ...
11
There are a couple of really good answers above but still...
Do you understand the British English? I guess you do. For us, is the same. I'm argentinian and I can talk fluenty with almost anyone who speaks any "version" of Spanish.
Yes, there a lot of words which have no meaning or a totally different meaning in different countries, but we do detect when ...
11
Before I answer I just want to say that this is by no means an "official" grammatical use of the two words, it it simply the way typical people would typically use it, and at least this is the typical way where I come from, which is Mexico City.
Usually "vámonos" would be used in a context in which you are leaving FROM a place, something like "Vámonos de ...
11
Computadores o computadoras (used in most Spanish speaking countries) and ordenadores (used in Spain) are exactly the same.
The singular is computador or computadora (and ordenador).
The words they come from (computer in English and ordinateur in French ) also mean the same.
I have never seen the feminine "ordenadora".
The sign you saw is a mystery to ...
11
Talking about people, apañado (colloquially "apañao") means mañoso:
Es un tío muy apañado. Se las arregla muy bien solo.
Talking about things, apañado means adecuado:
Tiene una casa muy apañada. No es grande, pero es muy cómoda.
apañado, da.
adj. Hábil, mañoso para hacer algo.
adj. coloq. Adecuado, a propósito para el uso a que se destina.
...
11
En el diccionario de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española, señala a Antier como la forma coloquial de anteayer, es decir es exactamente lo mismo, pero en un contexto muchísimo más informal, no conocía este adverbio, muchas gracias.
Te dejo aquí la URL
http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=antier
Edito
Es decir, sí estás en lo cierto es jerga, pero del Español ...
10
See the Wikipedia article on yeísmo, which includes maps of the pronunciations. To summarize:
in some regions, ll /ʎ/ and y /ʝ/ are distinct
in other regions, ll and y have merged to /ʝ/ ("yeísmo")
in very few areas, ll and y have merged to /ʎ/ ("lleísmo")
Note that some specific dialects, like Rioplatense, pronounce their merged /ʝ/ as [ʒ] or [ʃ].
10
YES!
I think I first came across this topic on my favourite language blog and then I discovered my favourite word of this type somehow, which is in fact a Spanish word.
pelón
Here are the key definitions from the online DRAE:
1. adj. Que no tiene pelo o tiene muy poco. U. t. c. s.
4. adj. Ec. Que tiene mucho pelo.
And in English without the ...
10
The proper Spanish term for a jar would be a frasco, like in:
Voy a comprar un frasco de café.
Depending on the region, bote de café could be acceptable.
RAE reference to 'frasco'
9
According to Wikipedia's article on voseo, the geographical distribution can be split into three categories:
Countries where voseo is predominant:
Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Countries where both forms are used:
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela
Countries where vos is ...
8
Dialects
There are three different terms used to describe this dialectal difference: ceceo, seseo, and distinción.
Dialects that are said to have the ceceo use "th" instead of an "s" sound. Dialects with the seseo use the "s" sound. The distinción actually uses both, distinguishing between one and the other.
Example
For example, the words "casa" ...
8
Regardless of the time of the day, ¡Buenas! is understood as an abbreviated greeting. Couldn't elaborate more on the exact meaning of why it is used like this, but we have become used to it as a very generic and informal way of greeting.
This is however a very informal greeting, so in any other situation Buenos días, Buenas tardes or Buenas noches should ...
8
From the top of my head, I use here in Spain, quite interchangeably:
tazón
cuenco
bol
ponchera
UPDATE
As per the comments, I've added ponchera to the list.
Now, thinking a bit about this, I would say I use
bol: as a generic semispheric vessel (any size).
ponchera: as a large bowl (a punch-bowl)
cuenco: also generic, but smaller ones
"tazón" for ...
8
When they have an imperative meaning like "let's go" both verbs can be interchangeable and can have the same meaning (see Sergio Romero's answer to see the difference). The question you may ask is why there are 2 ways of saying that and it's because the verb "ir" is used many times in a pronominal way as "irse" with the same meaning. So we have:
Vamos
...
8
En Ecuador se utiliza la palabra. Sospecho que el show de televisión mejicano 'El Chavo del Ocho' pudo haber llegado a tener un rol en su adopción. Recuerdo que el personaje de 'la Chilindrina' lo usaba bastante seguido.
8
No, tal como dice la RAE:
f. Séptima letra del abecedario latino internacional y octava del español, que representa, ante las vocales e, i, un fonema consonántico fricativo, velar y sordo, y en los demás casos un fonema consonántico velar y sonoro. Su nombre es ge.
ORTOGR. Para representar el fonema velar y sonoro ante e, i, se escribe una u ...
8
En esta página, del señor Justo Fernández López dedicada a los verbos pronominales, he encontrado una descripción que me parece apropiada, así que la transcribo aquí:
comer – comerse
La forma no pronominal comer significa "ingerir
alimento", "deglutir un alimento sólido", "tomar la comida".
La forma
pronominal comerse significa: "omitir ...
7
I believe the literal equivalent "that" used to be used in formal English but has now all but disappeared. Wiktionary gives this definition for this sense of English "that":
(archaic) Introducing a hypothetical fact or supposition: ‘given that’, ‘as would appear from the fact that’. [from 11th c.]
It can be thought of as a kind of subjunctive ...
7
According to the RAE's dictionary, "mataburros" means dictionary only in Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Uruguay and Venezuela; "tumbaburros", as you said, only in Mexico.
Since "burro" is also used to refer to ignorant/rude/uncivil people, the "mataburro" becomes an object that "kills" those kind of people.
7
In Argentina, the word gringo was quite used in the past (not so much today, I'd say), specially in the inland, but with some ambiguity. Generally it pointed to people with "foreign" aspect (not from Spain or native America), presumably anglosaxon, specially english, blonde hair and pale-rosy skin, etc. But it was also applied sometimes to some Italian ...
7
It is a regional choice, as with many other nouns.
In Chile, billetera is the only translation of wallet (though we would understand the use of cartera from a foreign person), but cartera is actually purse, as in handbag: a bag a woman uses to carry stuff, which is usually much bigger than a wallet and does not fit in a pocket.
In other countries, words ...
7
It is a regional variant of "haya" (first and third singular person, subjunctive present of the verb "haber"). You will hear that word from some people with low education in a natural manner, and also from well-educated people in an informal conversation, either trying to make a joke or just put emphasis on the word by pronouncing it incorrectly (especially ...
7
Usually both words are used as synonyms, but as you mention it depends on the religion.
In Mexico where most people are Roman Catholics both words tend to be used interchangeably, however, non-Catholic Christians tend to make a distinction, using Rezar for "reciting" (usually like reading parts of the Bible or reciting a memorized prayer like the Padre ...
7
"antier" es de uso común aquí en México para referirse al día antes de ayer. De hecho jamás he escuchado a alguien decir "anteayer" aquí. El uso de "antier" en México lo confirma la RAE según la siguiente cita.
anteayer. ‘En el día anterior a ayer’. También puede usarse la
locución antes de ayer; pero la grafía anteayer es la preferida en el
uso por ...
6
The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua lists it in the Diccionario breve de mexicanismos, which would tend to support the anecdotal evidence that everyone has given so far (and that I would add to - I heard it a lot in Mexico, but I've only heard it from Mexicans elsewhere that I can recall).
6
The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas explains that there are two major types of voseo:
Reverential voseo: archaic and ceremonial usage. Spanish speakers in the Americas are familiar with this type of voseo from historic and religious texts.
American dialectal voseo: the different forms of voseo from the Spanish dialects of the Americas.
The Diccionario ...
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