compa vs Polonia

Question

Bueno, so here I was looking through some fresh threads and came across the word 'compa' meaning 'a buddy'. Of course, I hadn't been aware of its menaning until I looked it up in the SD dictionary. I was astounded to see that next to an English equivalent saying 'Comrade" there is 'Poland' in brackets. Can anybody explain to me why? Being from Poland, I have no idea. As far as I know, we don't speak any español polaco here De todos modos, me da alegria que a mi lenguaje le haya llegado su momento de gloria aquí

link text

Answer 1

...In any event, y understanding of "Compa" (aside from the original meaning of Compadre, used for the Godfather of my children), in much closer to "Buddy" than to "Comrade", which nowadays sounds rather contrived and forced.

Buddy, Pal, Bro are all expressions that are fairly close equivalents to "Compa".

Answer 2

@ Vikingo -- Funny enough, I have been thinking about a possible connection with our history, when communist regimie politicians used to refer to one another 'comrade', but Poland was not the only country where it was practised. Moreover, orginally it was practised in the USSR. So, I really don't know.

It is probably a reference to using comrade in the USA during the Cold War. Vikingo is probably right about politics morphing into Poland. - lorenzo9, Feb 22, 2011

Well, exactly, it's not about POLand per se, but about POLitics. In Norway they call each other "kamerat". My point is that SD has failed in expanding the abbreviation. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

The problem is that the SD dictionary does not say "Pol." It clearly and unequivocally spells: "1. Comrade. (Poland)". I think it is a bit peculiar to single Poland out for that usage. - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

Gekko, what did you get from what I said already? SD uses two dictionaries, and have previously tried to make them more user friendly by expanding abbreviations, with varying success. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

I'm really getting tired of hammering this theory in with a wooden spoon, so please show me that you're not the slowest batracio of the block. Is "comrade" even a Polish word? Isn't it English? Come on, toadie. You can do this. I expect it of you. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

Aww, poor, sweet, hard-working Vikingo getting all tired from wielding his mighty spoon? Times have certainly changed for Vikings in the last 1,000 years or so... Maybe the problem is that your theory is epxressed as a bunch of separate answers all... - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

...over the place. Fine if you've been following the thread in order; not so clear if you come in when everything is all jumbled out of order by voting. Now go get yourself a real hammer, Thor! - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

I'm not impressed. Do you finally get it, or not? - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

I understand what you mean, if that's what you're asking, Vikers. It should have said (Pol.) for Politics. Whomever wrote the SD dictionary tried to be cute and /or helpful, and very nicely went through the effort of converting all abbreviations to the.. - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

..full word. Only they made a mistake: instead fo writing (Politics or Political), they wrote (Poland), which doesn`t make that much sense. You could have saved yourself a lot of grief if you had spelled it out like that in the first place. - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

Thank you. I thought I did it in my first post, but apparently I don't communcate clearly yet. It's one of my faults, I don't think I'll ever be perfect in that regard. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

Answer 3

My semi-educated guess here, based on what's been done with both the dictionaries and conjugation tables before, is that they have automatically taken the abbreviation "Pol." to mean something random, in this case "Poland".

But what would the abbreviation "Pol." actually mean? - pesta, Feb 21, 2011

Politics. - Vikingo, Feb 21, 2011

I don't think I understand your point here :( - bomberapolaca, Feb 22, 2011

I must be out of touch, somehow. Look: Comrade (pol.) - a common way of addressing fellow communists. The communists are followers of a political movement (hence the abbreviation "pol."), called communism. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

Answer 4

I checked the RAE:

compa

I don't see the same information about Poland. Sorry

Exactly, it's seems to be totally out of context... - bomberapolaca, Feb 22, 2011

Answer 5

Now, my biggest thanks for Vikingo and Gekko for participation and claryfing the issue in question. You deserve a big glass of good red wine (this is my favourite drink, at least ) You have been fighting like true warriors!

Ah, you make a fine Valkyrie, Bombera! Cheers! - Gekkosan, Feb 22, 2011

Cheers, but there's really no fight going on. I totally respect Gekko for the knowledge he brings to the forum, and I'm happy to be learning here ;) - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011

Hehe, I have never dared to think otherwise, Vikingo. Such battles are the best, but I like them face to face best ;) Cheers! - bomberapolaca, Feb 22, 2011

Let me be blunt: yes, I swung the intellecual hammer, and no, you're not the prize. Cheers, though :) I'm having some more cognac. - Vikingo, Feb 22, 2011