me doy
i give up and i gave up in spanish:
me doy y me di '?
any other way to say it'
98 Answers
Robert Austin said:
Thus constructions such as "¿Conoces a la man que está allí? are perfectly acceptable.
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I'm not sure if Lazarus is correct about "me doy" being a kind of direct translation from the English "I give up". I can't think of a way it would be possible to use words from one language with structures from another and think that if it exists it is probably a shortening of "me doy por vencido". But who knows?
I just thought I would add something to the discussion about the Spanish "borrowing" of words from English. I currently live in Quito in Ecuador and Quiteños routinely use "man" in place of "hombre" and incredibly "mujer". Thus constructions such as "¿Conoces a la man que está allí? are perfectly acceptable.
Mz Badger said:
I give''? Yep, my answer would mirror Eddys I'm afraid, -you give what? why? Makes no sense to me in english.
Well, this really does make me happy
I give''? Yep, my answer would mirror Eddys I'm afraid, -you give what? why? Makes no sense to me in english.
There are are roughly five Americans for every British, so if one wanted to be narrow-minded, one might say that speakers of British English, being in the minority, are the ones out of line when there is a difference in usage
Population:
109.955.400 Mexico
46.157.822 Spain
Well, we do not get so much difference in population here but we do get half the amount...so Mexicans are right '? Spaniards are definitely the minority here. And I do not want to mention the fly example Lazarus likes using, jeej, sorry, too rude.
James Santiago said:
When we insert foreign constructions that go against the internal logic of the language...Lazarus, why do you automatically assume that the use of "me doy" comes from the influence of English? I don't think that is the case at all. To me it seems much more probable that Mexicans merely shortened "me doy por vencido" for exactly the same reason that humans shorten their language all the time. That there is a similar abbreviation in English is merely coincidence in this case, in my opinion.
I'm wondering the same thing. Not only does it seem an obvious short form of "me doy por vencido", but "entregarse" is also used in the meaning of giving up.
In English, "I give myself", doesn't really make sense, though. However, in Other, my native language, it's completely natural. But if Lazarus and Eddy are worried about decandent influences in their respective languages, I could try writing to my government and have them send some ombudsmen.
samdie said:
With two boys wrestling on the ground, when the one on the bottom (presumably), says "I give" we do, indeed, understand that to mean "I give up" but, in the absence of strong contextual clues, The most likely response to "I give" would be "You give what'"
Well, I am happy to hear this as this puzzled me as much as the Spanish version. I would have thought just the same: you give what'? Same in Spanish..me doy a quién'
When we insert foreign constructions that go against the internal logic of the language...
Lazarus, why do you automatically assume that the use of "me doy" comes from the influence of English? I don't think that is the case at all. To me it seems much more probable that Mexicans merely shortened "me doy por vencido" for exactly the same reason that humans shorten their language all the time. That there is a similar abbreviation in English is merely coincidence in this case, in my opinion.
samdie wrote:
if someone were to hand me a partially completed crossword puzzle and say "I give", my first thought would be that he had very little English and was trying to say "I'll give it to you." or "I'm giving it to you.".
I guess we'll have to disagree then. To me it would be perfectly natural and the meaning obvious. When someone poses a riddle, for example, we will often reply "I give," which to me is the same as your crossword puzzle example. Of course, language being what it is, it is entirely possible that you don't personally use this short form, but I assure you that its use is widespread.
Eddy wrote:
Just what are you doing to the English language in America. "I give" can never be used for I give up or I give in and I don´t care how many googolplexes say so.
That is a shockingly provincial thing to say. There are are roughly five Americans for every British, so if one wanted to be narrow-minded, one might say that speakers of British English, being in the minority, are the ones out of line when there is a difference in usage. I would never say something like that, because it ignores the rich variety of language, but some might say it.
James Santiago said:
Sally said:
No you can't just say "me doy".
I disagree. I have heard "Me doy" used often as an abbreviated form. In fact, this is exactly the same in English, where we say "I give" as a short form for "I give up" or "I give in."
I just goolged "me doy" and got lots of hits where it was used to mean "I give up."
Just what are you doing to the English language in America. "I give" can never be used for I give up or I give in and I don´t care how many googolplexes say so.
Gus said:
At any rate it is nice to know that the Spanish language is alive and well, and as long as it keeps on changing with the times it will stay alive and will be a usefull tool for comunication.
When people create words like "chapoteadero", the language is evolving, and still remaining a useful tool for communication, for it is a creation that feels natural for all Spanish speakers, regardless of their origin. When we copy English words because we don't have them, but we need them, the language is evolving, and it is an useful thing ideally if we all adopt it at the same time.
When we insert foreign constructions that go against the internal logic of the language, maybe it is evolving, but not as a useful tool of communication, for no other native speaker outside of the point where the novelty began will be able to understand what it means, or be able to make any sense out of it using our common intuition, which is the one that allows us to understand people from any Spanish speaking country even though they use different expressions from ours. I cannot do that so easily when their flavour does not conform to our logic. This "evolution" simply splits the language into mini-languages, and the only foreseeable consequence is that we'll end up with several different languages with people not being able to understand each other (as each one break the rules as they please). This has happened before in the past; it is not a wild guess. It is called "Babel effect".
Vale.
Maria de los Angeles said:
Ahora bien, tienes razón con el uso de la palabra "chapoteadero" en lugar de "alberca para niños", ¿será que viene del verbo "chapotear"'cuyo significado debes conocer, por lo que me pregunto, ¿cual es la polémica?
Ninguna polémica. Es una palabra mexicana creada de una manera lógica, y fácil de entender para cualquiera que hable español y no la haya oído nunca. Era un ejemplo de una creación original de carácter español, fiel a los principios de nuestra lengua. Por otro lado, usar palabras y construcciones ajenas al español, como los verbos perifrásticos (phrasal) de tipo germánico que usa el inglés, produce injertos forzados que le resultan imposibles de entender al que no los haya oído antes y esté acostumbrado a ellos.
Lo de "fijar fuera" una tarea lo he llegado a ver escrito (aún me estoy tratándo de acordar de dónde lo vi), y esa frase, más que un injerto, es una aberración para cualquier hispanohablante... excepto para el que lleva oyéndolo y usándolo durante mucho tiempo, claro. Pero estoy seguro de que esta lindeza de frase a ti te suena tan mal como a mí.
James Santiago said:
In fact, this is exactly the same in English, where we say "I give" as a short form for "I give up" or "I give in."
I can only partly agree with this. No matter what the context, "I give up" would be interpreted as the (colloquial) equivalent of "I surrender" but in only a small portion (and in very specific situations) would "I give" be an acceptable alternative. As one counter-example, if someone were to hand me a partially completed crossword puzzle and say "I give", my first thought would be that he had very little English and was trying to say "I'll give it to you." or "I'm giving it to you.".
With two boys wrestling on the ground, when the one on the bottom (presumably), says "I give" we do, indeed, understand that to mean "I give up" but, in the absence of strong contextual clues, The most likely response to "I give" would be "You give what'"
Latigo wanted more information on the expression me doy I am positive that there are quite a few expressions used in Spain that are not understood any where in Latin America. Here in the US there are expression that are only understood in the area in which where they are use.
I respect Lazarus 1907 a lot, I admire his knowledge of both English and Spanish and his willingness to share his knowledge. In this case, I dare to say he confused the issued
He took a question and reply on the meaning of an expression and began a lecture on quite a different area of the language.
At any rate it is nice to know that the Spanish language is alive and well, and as long as it keeps on changing with the times it will stay alive and will be a usefull tool for comunication.
Lazarus, en ningún momento ha sido mi interés corromper el idioma, si para ti el tratar de explicar a quien preguntó que quiere decir "me doy", fue corromperlo, lamento mucho diferir de tu comentario, puesto que no hablábamos de que si era correcta la palabra o no, simplemente de cual era su significado y te aseguro que PUNISHER posiblemente ya enriqueció su vocabulario, especialmente para saber cuando, cómo y donde aplicarlo.
Ahora bien, tienes razón con el uso de la palabra "chapoteadero" en lugar de "alberca para niños", ¿será que viene del verbo "chapotear"'cuyo significado debes conocer, por lo que me pregunto, ¿cual es la polémica? ¿ el uso de las palabras, sus raices o la corrupción del idioma? Porque cambiaste totalmente el tema que nos ocupaba.
Me puedes decir porqué escribiste "Voy a fijar fuera una tarea", no creo que venga al caso y mucho menos que tu escribas de esa manera, es la primera vez que la leo y espero que nadie de los que están aprendiendo en este foro la utilicen, ya que en lo personal no tiene sentido.
No lo dudo, pero sí dudo lo del enriquecimiento del lenguaje cuando se introducen construcciones ajenas al español (pero normales en lenguas germánicas) para las cuales ya tenemos varias expresiones disponibles. ¿En qué consiste el enriquecimiento, si ya existe el concepto en nuestro idioma, y si la nueva construcción le resulta incomprensible a cualquier otro hispanohablante? Los mexicanos dicen "chapoteadero" para referirse a lo que nosotros llamamos una piscina para niños, pero la palabra tiene sentido dentro un contexto mínimo para cualquier español, porque está basada en una lógica hispana, aunque sea de creación mexicana, mientras que aberraciones como "Voy a fijar fuera una tarea" (I am going to set a task) are completely foreign and non-intuitive, and they are as unnatural as inserting a TV in your mouth (since it wasn't designed to swallow TVs).
If you have to learn English to understand what another Spanish speaker is saying, the language is not being enriched, but corrupted, and losing its identity and inner logic. English speakers are smart enough not to attack their own language with corrupted literal translations that would make English sound like Martian. I wonder why we don't follow their footsteps.
