Humorous compound words - how does a butter fly?
English Speaker - "I'm watching a butterfly"
Spanish speaker - "¿Cómo vuela un mantequilla?" (How does a butter fly?)
English speaker - "No, no, no...¡estoy viendo una mariposa!"
(Followed by much laughter)
After this we got into a discussion about compound words that don't mean what they say, but I can't think of anything else in English. I searched online under humorous compound words, words that don't make sense, etc, but can't find anything. There are quite a few in Spanish, but can anyone think of any more in English or help with a link if they know one?
Some fun compound words in Spanish...
buscapiés — firecracker (it looks for feet)
calientalibros — bookworm (he/she warms books)
comecocos — something that confuses or brainwashes (it eats coconuts)
a matacaballo — at breakneck speed (in a way that it kills the horse)
pintamonas — bad painter, an incompetent person (he/she paints copycats)
a quemarropa — at point-blank range (in a way that burns clothing)
a regañadientes — unwillingly (in a manner that causes a dog to snarl its teeth)
tragahombres — bully (he/she swallows men)
6 Answers
zenejero,
I am so glad you made that comment! My first year in school, my teacher taught Castillian. The second and third, a different teacher taught North American Spanish. The fourth year, back to Castillian! Half the time, I still speak with the Castillian lisp. Now, I have a boyfriend who is a native from Mexico Ciudad who is trying to "fix" my Spanish. I'm so glad to hear that it's recognizable!
Gra"th"ias - jejeje
@ aloshek: buscapies, calientalibros, comecocos... they are absolutely recognizable.... I grew up on Castillian Spanish tapes, and at age 5 I spoke with the lisp. Then I had a wonderful Spanish teacher who was from Italy and made the difference between the V and B sounds (which is a strong linguistic pet peeve I have, when people do not make it and claim that is nonexistent, that is) and then had a really bad teacher who knew very little Spanish. I am lucky enough to know Spanish speakers from all over the world, and I am always marveled at them and their ways and words and slang. In Mexico it's alright to say comecocos, but I assure you that it's not a safe thing to say in Chile, for example. You say calientalibros, but I would say ratón de bibliotecas (library mouse). Pintamonas would stand, someplace else, as someone who is always trying to call everyone's attention by being ridiculous. And finally, tragahombres would stand for the meaning that here, in the states, you use for a cougar... but not the animal.
I think it could be interesting to start a thread with a list of words and trying to figure out what they mean around different Spanish speaking countries.... Maybe I'll do that tonight, if I have more than 5 minutes!
Nos vemos! Un abrazo!
Not sure if I am doing this backwards but I had fun learning some vocabulary.
- brainstorm - tormenta de cerebro
- eggplant - planta de huevo
- watch dog - perro guardián
- footnote - nota del pie
Cabrahigar is still a great word: it makes sense grammatically, but English does not have such a word.
I just did a little research, and I was wrong. English retains the noun form "caprification" which has the same meaning, as well as caprifig, which is the type of fig. The Spanish word is derived from the Latin caprificare with the same meaning, which comes from the name of the fig as "goat fig", which in Spanish is cabrahígo for the male figs or trees. The name probably has to do with the figs not being edible.
There is a list of not funny compound words here: http://www.learningdifferences.com/Main Page/Topics/Compound Word Lists/Compound_Word_ Lists_complete.htm
There is a list of funny q&a with compound words here: http://www.mail-archive.com/funny-jokes@yahoogroups.com/msg01438.html
I failed at two consecutive attempts of linking them, hence i posted the link. I know, I'm challenged that way.
¡Es muy graciosa! ¡Gran "post"!
