Question about "Que Mota" and "solamente"
I listen two two podcasts, Coffee Break Spanish and Notes on Spanish. Both are really good for different reasons. On the NOS podcast they said that "que mota" meant "cool". Is this a colloquialism from Spain only? I thought in Latin America "mota" was slang for marajuana.
Also, I was hoping that someone could give me examples of when I should use unico, solamente or sólo.
Gracias,
cindigo
9 Answers
Thanks Tad,
I just started listening to NOS. I've listed to Coffee Break much longer. I don't know if I'm ready for colloquialisms yet, I'm still barely grasping the preterit and imperfect tenses.
Mota is used for 'grass'.
Regarding 'que mota' for 'really cool. . it is a hip expression certainly used in Madrid and probably the rest of Spain. Ben and Marina introduce a few 'cool' expressions like this -they say that if anyone uses them in other countries where they are not known, well, it is a basis for a conversation, hispanohablantes always like to hear what is going on in Spain (or wherever) and will be interested in hearing stuff like that.
ok I've found their 'statement' on this subject:
"Unless otherwise speci'ed, these phrases have come from the Spanish spoken in Spain. This means that if you rock up in Argentina, Mexico, or Peru, there's a small chance that one or two of them might cause looks of mild confusion when tried out on the locals.
Don't worry though, you won't get into any trouble, in fact the person you are talking to is likely to be so interested in hearing how a certain thing is said slightly differently in Spain, that they'll take the time to tell you their version in Columbian, Honduran or Chilean Spanish. When this happens, you end up learning even more!
o tell you their version in Columbian, Honduran or Chilean Spanis
Hi cindigo
I have found another discussion during January of this year that may be of interest. Look at Heidita's comments where she states that "solo" never takes an accent. Also, great discussion between Heidita and Cherry on this point. This "find" also illustrates the benefits of adding relevant words to the title.
[url=http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A20861]http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A20861[/url]
Solo does not take an acent ever, unless there is a possibilty of confusing the meanings.
I had a look at that.
I'm not sure how you can have ever(underlined) followed my unless!
The book I read said that there is no need for an accent unless there is ambiguity. Therefore sola, solas and solos aren't included but if confusion might arise solo or sólo should be marked.
Yes, it is interesting, and I wasn't aware of that.
Far be it from me to question the decisions of the august RAE, but its logic makes no sense to me. It says that the accent is only used optionally, to eliminate ambiguity, but if we see "Estaré solo un mes," according to RAE's rules, this could be interpreted to be either "I will be alone for a month" or "I will be there only a month." That is, it is conceivable that a writer may not realize that there is ambiguity, so the reader can't know for sure which meaning was intended.
The whole point of adding an accent to words like sí and tú is to eliminate ambiguity with homonyms (and not leave the decision up to the writer), so why did the RAE decide that this should not apply in the case of solo and sólo? To me, it would make much more sense to preserve the distiction between adverb and adjective.
But then, it's not my language.
No kidding, muy interesante.
Gracias, la discusión era muy provechosa.
James
Don't forget to click on the link above. Interesting debate.
Sólo and solamente are adverbs, while único is an adjective. So it's not so much that their meanings are different, but rather that they are different parts of speech and are therefore used in different ways. What may be confusing you is that "only" can be either an adverb or an adjective.
As for mota, I have only heard it used to mean pot, so I can't answer about any other slang meaning.
Thanks!
So, único-means unique-the only one and sólo y solamente meaning only one.
