Thursday, August 13, 2009

Argentinisms #01

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This is loosely based on Jientje’s “A thousand words in idioms” series.
When I realized it was going to be hard for me to come up with good pictures for phrases in English, I thought:
What if I shared some Argentine idioms instead?”
And who knows, maybe I will do “Canadianisms” as well!
 
CanadaWe will start with the letter “A”:
 
The first word of the day is ‘Ahijuna’. This can be translated as ‘Why, you son of a…’ (note that the rest is left to your imagination). :-)
 
While used regularly by the Argentine gauchos, this word is not part of the commonly used Argentine slang. So why is this my first choice? Because few words scream ‘Argentina’ like this one. It’s the name of a well known Internet Portal and a radio station.
 
‘Ahijuna’ is also a trademark word by one of the most popular comic characters in Argentine history: the great Patoruzú (I will go back to this character when I start my series about Argentine icons).
 
imageThis comic has been around since the early fifties! 
 
It’s also the license plate of one of my brother’s cars, as you can see below…
 
 
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Esto está basado en parte en la serie de mi amiga Jientje llamada “A thousand words in idioms” (Mil palabras en lunfardo).
Cuando me dí cuenta de que para mí iba a ser difícil conseguir fotos buenas para frases en inglés, pensé:
Y si aprovecho y comparto frases típicamente argentinas?”
Quién sabe, tal vez comience a hacer “Canadianismos” también!
 
 
Argentina
Comenzamos con la letra “A”:
 
La primera palabra del día es ‘Ahijuna’. Es una contracción de ‘Ah, hijo de una…’ (nótese cómo se deja el final a su imaginación). :-)
 
Si bien ésta es una palabra utilizada regularmente por los gauchos, no es parte de lo que denominaríamos el lunfardo Argentino. Entonces por qué elijo ésta como mi primera palabra? Porque pocas gritan ‘Argentina’ como ella. Es el nombre de un conocido Portal de Internet y de una estación de radio, por ejemplo.
 
‘Ahijuna’ es también una de las frases de cabecera de uno de los más populares personajes de historieta de la historia argentina: el gran cacique Patoruzú (ya volveré a él cuando inicie mi serie de íconos argentinos).
 
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Es también la chapa patente de uno de los autos de mi hermano, como pueden ver…
 
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6 comments:

  1. Ahijuna con la lobuna, diría don Inodoro!

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  2. I'm not fluent in Spanish as you know, but I can get by and read no problem.

    But I heard a lot of slang in Argentina (especially in Patagonia and Buenos Aires) and it would confused me a lot. That plus the "ll" pronunciation!

    Now Bolivia was the worse for me, because they use a lot of quechua words... seriously, I don't speak quechua!

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  3. It sounds like a curse! It's a very interesting idea Gabriel. Can't wait to see more!

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  4. I love this idea - but I'm going to have to beg that you include some sort of pronunciation guide. :)

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  5. That's a great idea, Violet! Not going to be easy for me, though... but I will try.

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  6. I like to dazzle my kids with my random Swedish and Polish - so why not add in some Argentine slang to the mix? :)

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