"ocupo cirugía" - about the verb ocupar

Question

Hello, I came across this sentence:

Me vio el doctor y me explicó que ocupo cirugía.

which was translated as: The doctor saw me and explained that I needed surgery.

It appears that ocupar = "to need" in this context, is this regional? A native speaker from Peru I checked with said they don't use it in Peru (or at least use ocupar cirugía).

What other things can ocupar be used with (with the meaning "to need"), besides surgery?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Hola, Jessui,

Your question came at an interesting time for me in that I had just had someone ask me"¿Cuándo vas a desocupar los trastes?" I clarified that "desocupar" in this sense would mean to not need, or to have no further use for something.

Your question prompted a google.com.mx search on my part; I typed in "definición de 'ocupar'" and came up with a wordreference.com forum that discussed "necesitar" and "ocupar". The post was by a native speaker from the north of Mexico, and apparently "ocupar" can be used in some areas of Mexico to mean"necesitar".

I had the distinct impression from a couple of other posters on that forum that this is not standard usage, at least in other countries. Of course, a couple of other posters weighing really doesn't mean that no other country uses this meaning.

However, I find it interesting in view of my recent experience with "desocupar".

Answer 2

In Spain "ocupar" doesn´t mean "to need". We never say "Ocupas" ( ocupo, ocupa,ocupan....) cirugía. We use the verb "necesitar".