bus boy
como se traduce bus boy en espanol'
16 Answers
TimEivissa said:
the word "ojalá" comes from the Arabic "in sha'llahMeaning "If God is willing",it's where the Allah comes from,or perhaps/maybe.(I thought ojala meant "I hope" but I suppose it's the same thing.)
I have heard "ojalá" translated as follows:
"Ojalá que pare de llover!"
"[I] Would to God that it would stop raining!"
Of course, people don't say "Would to God!" much anymore in modern English, but you get the point.
TimEivissa said:
I think you've mistaken me,the "Allah" in the phrase "in sha'llah" means God in Arabic,not the origin of the word "Allah",which is why I stated "the Allah"(in the phrase) and not "Allah".
Perhaps I have mistaken the intent of your comment. "it's where the Allah comes from" sounded to me as though you were suggesting that the expression, somehow, _preceded_ the existence of the word "Allah".
I think you've mistaken me,the "Allah" in the phrase "in sha'llah" means God in Arabic,not the origin of the word "Allah",which is why I stated "the Allah"(in the phrase) and not "Allah".
TimEivissa said:
the word "ojalá" comes from the Arabic "in sha'llah Meaning "If God is willing",it's where the Allah comes from,or perhaps/maybe.
(I thought ojala meant "I hope" but I suppose it's the same thing.)
Small point. It's not where "Allah" comes from. It's just "If Allah wishes" like many other phrases that involve the word "Allah".
the word "ojalá" comes from the Arabic "in sha'llah
Meaning "If God is willing",it's where the Allah comes from,or perhaps/maybe.
(I thought ojala meant "I hope" but I suppose it's the same thing.)
Busboy should be written as one word. Otherwise, it's a boy on a bus. 
So, is ayudante de camarero really the most natural translation of busboy? Is there a corresponding job in Spain? Digamos que dejaste tus gafas en la mesa de un restaurante cuando te fuiste. Regresas y preguntas por ellas al gerente, y él te dice que el busboy (y no el camarero) las encontró y las tiene. ¿Cómo se llamaría el busboy en este caso? Me parece un poco largo decir "el ayudante del camarero."
Also, is there a difference in nuance between camarero and mesero'
James Santiago said:
You seem to be forgetting that you also use bus and autobús in Spanish!
Of course not! Spanish speakers like to borrow from English even though the term already exists in Spanish; we're pretty stupid in this sense, but these words were borrowed long after they had previously been shortened. If they had created instead a word like "publicarro", with already existing Spanish roots, it would have made sense to any Spanish speaker even if they had never heard it before, but everything from English speakers is always superior to ours. So, here we are...
Try not to take it personal. I was just trying to explain to Heidita the connection between "bus boy", "bus", "omnibus", "omnis", and everything else, but with a pinch of humor. All languages distort the meaning, morphology and usage of many words, specially when they borrow them and they don't understand them or can't pronounce them. But when the distortion makes it almost impossible for someone to guess its etymology, people like Heidi get surprised when they hear things like "bus boy": how are you going to guess that it is a short for "ominubus boy" (boy of everything), mixing ancient Latin and modern English, if they don't tell you? One just guesses that "bus" is a made up word created to name the vehicle, that's it.
I am sorry if I offended you; I thought you were going to find amusing the joke.
It would be like taking "Me gustaría comer", shorten it to "gustaría", then to "ía", and create a word out of it meaning food, and then say "I bought some ía".
You seem to be forgetting that you also use bus and autobús in Spanish!
Also, every language in the world imports foreign words and modifies them to its needs. Off the top of my head, the word "ojalá" comes from the Arabic "in sha'llah," but Spanish speakers have no qualms about mispronouncing it. There are surely other, better examples. And why should speakers of one language care about the rules of the language from which they borrow? Why should Latin rules have any importance at all in how we speak English? That kind of thinking is how we got stuck with stupid grammar rules such as not splitting an infinitive (because it is incorrect in Latin), which is now almost universally ignored.
I'll add something on top of James' etymological explanation:
The word "bus" is a short for the Latin word "omnibus", which is the dative plural of "omnis" (=everything, all), so the word means "of everything/all" (pretty much like -en in German). From this word we also have "omnipotente", "omnívoro", etc. Funny enough, English shortened omnibus so much, that it completely removed its root, and left the case suffix only, since "bus" is the ending for nouns of the 3rd declension, like in "doloribus" (of the pain), "principibus", "effervescentibus", "legibus", "finibus", "luminibus", etc. Of course, these words have nothing to do with a transport vehicle.
The word was used initially to mean "a vehicle of everybody", and instead of leaving it like that, in plain English, they went for a Latin alternative, which of course, being long and complicated, was quickly shortened to suit the needs of the speakers, first from ominibus vehicle to omnibus, and then to bus (and they didn't shortened it to "b", because they couldn't pronounce it), destroying all traces of the "omni- vehicle", which actually provided the meaning for the term, and keeping the suffix as a word. But not happy with that, it was also applied to "boys to do all sort of jobs" (shortened to bus boy), and even in general as an adjective.
It would be like taking "Me gustaría comer", shorten it to "gustaría", then to "ía", and create a word out of it meaning food, and then say "I bought some ía".
Why does it surprise you? You should be used to these things in English by now.
I cannot find any relation between bus/omnibus to being busy.
Well, no one has said anything about busy, and that word is not related to busboy. Omnibus comes from Latin, and roughly means "related to many different things," so an omnibus-boy was a boy who did odd jobs. He was paid to do things the other workers didn't want to do, like clearing away dirty dishes. As the job description became more precise, the name was shortened. The bus we ride on also owes its name to omnibus, because originally these vehicles were used to carry everything: passengers, freight, and mail.
So, if you understand the etymology, there is nothing at all strange about this word.
samdie said:
Heidita said:
REAlly? I am stunned!Why should this mean: ayudante de camarero? My mouth is gaping!
Why are you stunned? Is it that you think "ayudante de camarero" is not a reasonable translation for "bus boy" or that you are unfamiliar with the term/phrase "bus boy" and can't make any sense of it, at all?
Same for James:
I cannot find any relation between bus/omnibus to being busy. What a strange word to use!
I thought it might have its origin in the word"busy"...but as it seems this is not the case.
Why doesn't' it surprise you? what has a bus got to do with a restaurant'
Heidita said:
REAlly? I am stunned!
Why should this mean: ayudante de camarero? My mouth is gaping!
I worked as a busboy (written as one word) for two years in high school. In the US, the waiter never clears the table of dirty dishes, and only takes the customers' orders and brings the food and drink to the table. The busboy clears off the dirty table and may or may not also be the dishwasher (I was).
The word dates back to the late 19th century, and is a shortened form of omnibus-boy, meaning a boy who did all sorts of jobs. From busboy we have created the verb to bus, meaning to clear the table of dirty dishes. Every evening I ask my boys to bus the table.
Heidita said:
REAlly? I am stunned! Why should this mean: ayudante de camarero? My mouth is gaping!
Why are you stunned? Is it that you think "ayudante de camarero" is not a reasonable translation for "bus boy" or that you are unfamiliar with the term/phrase "bus boy" and can't make any sense of it, at all'
Heidita said:
REAlly? I am stunned!Why should this mean: ayudante de camarero? My mouth is gaping!
Heidita
Collins Dictionary says that this is the translation but in the United States of America. Is there an equivalent from the country from where Spanish originated.
REAlly? I am stunned!
Why should this mean: ayudante de camarero? My mouth is gaping!
