19
votes
¿Por qué se dice verde "botella"?
Actualmente hay botellas de cualquier color, sin embargo, hace unas décadas las botellas de vidrio eran mayoritariamente de color verde o transparentes (al menos en España). Verde botella se usa para ...
- 1,039
18
votes
Accepted
¿De dónde viene la expresión "me cago en la puta"?
Las expresiones insultantes empiezan muchas veces por me cago en...,
siendo típica la referencia a la madre (en la madre que te parió, en
tu puta madre, en la puta de oros, en la puta de bastos, ...
- 2,377
18
votes
Are there any more informal ways of saying "thanks" than "gracias"?
I think that gracias is the most basic, standard way to say thank you in Spanish. If you want more options, you have to seek upwards:
Muchas gracias (thanks a lot).
Muchísimas gracias (thank you very ...
- 76.6k
16
votes
Accepted
What is roughly equivalent to aka?
At least in Argentina: alias, también conocido como, comúnmente nombrado and comúnmente conocido como are pretty similar.
For example, "Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock" could be "Dwayne Johnson, alias ...
- 308
15
votes
Accepted
Spanish for "breasts"
Spain usage:
The word pecho can be considered an exact equivalent of the English breast; you can use it uncountably (the front part of your thorax) or countably (women have two of them). It is a ...
- 9,959
15
votes
Difference between "manejar" and "conducir"
That's quite a weird phrase to me simply because I'm from Spain.
Manejar is only used in Latin American countries; conducir is the only word for drive in Spain.
Also, this phrase must have been ...
- 1,254
15
votes
Is “cabecera” commonly used in Spanish for "capital"?
I'm from Spain and that term is not commonly used here in the sense that you point.
Capital is the preferred word to mark a city as the principal in a country, a province or a district, where the ...
- 7,096
14
votes
Correct terminology for male/female animals
Rata means rat and is always feminine, while ratón means mouse and is always masculine.
The word macho and hembra are actually nouns (not adjectives) that are used in juxtaposition with the base ...
- 29.8k
14
votes
Accepted
Cuidarse in Spanish
You have understood the text perfectly and I can see why you find it a bit difficult.
When in doubt, you should check the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española de la Lengua, the DRAE. There you'll ...
- 7,096
13
votes
Vegetables in Spanish
legumbre: is actually a technical term: any member of the "legumes". That includes peas, beans, etc. In Spanish it is not used for peanuts or soy, although they are still "legumes", because the way ...
- 2,275
13
votes
Accepted
¿Cómo expresar "sympathy" o "condolence" en español?
La expresión más frecuente es dar el pésame, para expresar esta acción de comunicarle a alguien que lamentas el fallecimiento de su pariente:
Me acerqué a Luis en el funeral para darle el pésame por ...
- 47.6k
13
votes
Accepted
¿Cuál es la palabra para algo que no se sabe cómo decir?
Hay frases como lo que sea/fuera/fuese/fuere o no sé qué no sé cuánto, cómo se dice/cómo se llama. A veces estas se escriben escritas, sobre todo cuando se sustantivan, en una palabra, a pesar de la ...
- 29.8k
12
votes
Accepted
Difference between "manejar" and "conducir"
Although they are expressions of the same sense (observing regional differences that have been mentioned), you must remember that these are words with different meanings.
Manejar involves taking ...
- 15.9k
12
votes
Is there a way to differentiate between uncles, aunts, grandparents?
You could say tío paterno or tío materno
Which is exactly what we do in English.. My paternal grandfather's name is James.
- 3,842
12
votes
Accepted
Is there more concise way to say "tomorrow morning" than "mañana por la mañana"?
If abbreviating (to mañ.) is something unwanted, then instead of what you have
Mañana por la mañana
You'll gain 2 spaces with
Mañana a la mañana
Or even a 4 char gain, writing
Mañana temprano
...
- 4,528
12
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "todito"
38.2.2 Uses of the diminutive suffix -ito
The main effects of this suffix are:
(a) To give a friendly tone to a statement...
(b) To modify the meaning of adjectives and adverbs by adding a warm tone, ...
- 19.1k
11
votes
Spanish for "spoon" in Venezuela and Guatemala
I'll add an answer since the current accepted answer doesn't reflect the situation in Guatemala.
The answer is very simple, too. In Guatemalan Spanish cuchara is the word you use. Context will make ...
- 530
11
votes
¿Quién usa la palabra "corvo" para referir a un machete?
En El Salvador (en todo el país) se le conoce como corvo a una especie de machete con curvatura en forma de media luna, a diferencia del machete tradicional, que no posee esta característica.
El ...
- 111
10
votes
Accepted
Usage of ora vs ahora
Yes, according to the RAE dictionary, the use of ora with this meaning has its origin as a shortened form of ahora:
ora.
(Afér.).
1. conj. distrib. ahora. Tomando ora la espada, ora la pluma.
So, it ...
- 4,413
10
votes
Accepted
"Lucha" vs "Pelea": what's the difference?
I think that Lucha has a broader meaning, while Pelea is a physical fight, a quarrel or discussion. For example you could use Lucha like
Lucha contra el cáncer
Lucha contra los elementos, nieve, ...
- 47.6k
10
votes
Accepted
¿Adjetivo para el invierno?
Otoñal e invernal.
Para el verano también se usa estival.
Edición: Encontré estos cultismos (palabras apegadas al origen etimológico, en este caso al latín):
Para el verano: estial
Para la ...
- 15.9k
10
votes
Spanish for "breasts"
Indeed they do all refer to the same thing, but you are right, they do all have different connotations.
Seno - Cleavage
The space between the breasts; The space between the chest and a woman's shirt....
- 3,842
10
votes
Accepted
¿Qué significa "alta noche"?
Alta noche es un equivalente a Altas horas de la noche.
En España usamos las expresiones:
La fiesta duró hasta altas horas de la noche
O también
La fiesta duró hasta alta noche
Para ...
- 409
10
votes
Accepted
¿Qué nombre recibe este sonido (o la acción de producirlo)?
Francamente no creo que exista una palabra para decir eso. Pero te puedo dar alguna sugerencia, aunque probablemente ya pensaste en algo como esto.
Primero que nada, el grito original de los indígenas ...
- 15.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is "Dawn" translated "Mediodía"?
Indeed, dawn should be translated as "amanecer" or "alba"
... esperó al amanecer.
... esperó a las primeras luces del alba
Seeing that you already found a really blatant example ...
- 47.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Pensarlo vs. pienso?
Pienso is to think as you correctly said.
Yo pienso = I think
But Pensarlo is to think about it
Déjame pensarlo = let me think about it
Yo voy a pensarlo antes de tomar una decisión = I'll think ...
- 10.5k
10
votes
Accepted
What’s the difference between “pelo” and “pierna”?
I note that Pelo is defined as hair. So in Spanish, is the idiom actually "You are pulling my hair?" but it's translated as leg to make more sense in English?
This is exactly the case. Pelo means ...
- 19.1k
9
votes
Age range of niño, chico, muchacho, joven, etc
This answer is primarily Spain based, particularly south Spain (Andalucía), although there are a few words included here that i don't usually hear in my surroundings.
Diego mijelshon's answer is ...
- 810
9
votes
Accepted
Armpit: sobaco vs. axila
I am adding this summary following what was discussed in Juntemos en respuestas wiki las respuestas cortas específicas de regiones / Let's use community wiki to summarize set of short region specific ...
9
votes
"Plátano" and "banana", geographical differences?
Agronomist here from Costa Rica. We call plátano to the fruit that you need to cook. The cooking is necessary because this fruit had starch, but when is mature some of that starch turns to sugar, so ...
- 131
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