Help with scrambled text message

Question

I hope this is the right category to post under and apologies if it is not. Although my Spanish is basic, I have poured over this text message from a student in Guatamala, consulted dictionaries and the web and tried to figure it out myself. I get the gist, but want to ask two questions and then quote the scrambled text and my interpretation.

(1) For some reason this Guatemalan sender's messages always come out scrambled on my cell phone, even when I have it set to Spanish. This does not happen with the students I work with in Mexico or Honduras. I don't know if this is a frequent problem with cell phones, but doesn't seem to be a problem except with his messages. Perhaps he is a terrible typist, or there is a technical problem between our two cell systems. Has anyone else had similar problems with letters missing, letters changed, ect when sending Spanish texts to the USA?

(2) Also, there are two words used (or misused or scrambled) that make no sense in the context of my deciphering as best as I could. Specifically his use of "avia" and "fregado." I've copied the text as it was received, and below it my best interpretation, but those two words make no sense in the sentence to me. I get the gist, but perhaps the words are being used in some informal sense I cannot understand. Many thanks in advance.

TEXT AS RECEIVED: disculpame por noaverte contestado pero ceme avia fregado mi celular no podia mandar texos

MY DECIPHER ATTEMPT: disculpame por NO A VERTE contestado pero SE ME a via fregado mi celular no podia mandar texos

MY CONFUSION: At first I thought he meant not TO SEE ME, but that makes no sense since he is in Guatemala and I'm not there to see him. Now don't laugh too hard, but then I thought it might be AVERTER - jumping to the conclusion it was a Spanish -er stemmed verb for averting or deflecting but quickly laughed at my mistake as it is English. Finally, the use of FREGADO completely threw me off, as I could not imagine scrubbing (the floor) with a cell phone!

Any suggestions or answers to either of these questions? Many thanks, and I really did try my best before coming her tonight.

Hal (U.S.A., native English speaker, trying really hard to learn more Spanish)

Answer 1

Hi Meiguo and welcome to the forum .

disculpame por noaverte contestado pero ceme avia fregado mi celular no podia mandar texos

I think it should have read: "Disculpame por no haberte contestado pero se me habia fregado mi celular, no podia mandar textos".

Freely translated, it would mean "Forgive me for not having answered you but they have scrubbed (stolen?) my cell, I couldn't send texts.

Maybe a native will come up with something different but I think it's not far off.

Hope this helps!

Saludos, Chica

As Heidita points out, "fregar" in this context measnt to damage, break, bust. - Gekkosan, Feb 23, 2011

This really helps, there are past text messages where similar changes or missing letters (h, v, c, ) are missing. I can add this to my decoder ring when reading his texts. Thank you so much, as it is perfectly clear now. - meiguo_nan, Feb 24, 2011

Answer 2

Hi, the text is simply badly written and the translator can't make anything of it

Fregar in Spain means to wash or clean, but in Mexico it means to spoil or bust

Forgive me for not having answered you but my cell got busted , I couldn't send texts.

Thanks so much! The Spanishdict.com definition of Fregar does include references to usage in Mexico to also mean to bother, pester or be a pain. I hope your knowledge of the word being used for broken or busted could be added to the definitions there. - meiguo_nan, Feb 24, 2011

Answer 3

Hal (U.S.A., native English speaker, trying really hard to learn more Spanish)

By the way, have you seen our free lessons yet? they are by far the best on the web

And on the forum we can answer all the questions you might have

No, but I appreciate your directing me to them. I'll check them out and appreciate the nudge. :-) - meiguo_nan, Feb 24, 2011