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Thursday, November 06, 2014

'English' words made in Spain

When it comes to adapting English to their own needs, the Spaniards are masters. The Local  takes a look at  ‘English’ words that people in Spain have made their own. But while the spellings might be the same as in English, the meanings are often not what you’d expect.
Friki: used as a noun rather than adjective, this English-sounding Spanish-spelled word has been used in recent years for anyone odd or with unusual habits or looks.
Autostop: Spaniards are a bit more matter-of-fact with their English-like word for hitchhiking. It combines ‘auto’ as in car and ‘stop’ as in… you get it already. Funnily enough, there are other ways of saying ‘to hitchhike’ in Spain, such as hacer dedo (to do finger), but autostop is by far the most popular.
QUIQUI: If your Spanish partner asks whether you want to “echar un quiqui” (pronounced kiki), he or she wants to get down and dirty. This cheeky and light-hearted expression means to have sex and probably comes from the English word “quickie”
Esmoquin: Derived from the English ‘smoking jacket’, there is no other word in Spanish to refer to a dinner jacket or tuxedo. The French have a very similar version to it but without the ‘e’ that Spaniards often put in front of English words starting with ‘s’.
Lifting: No, this has nothing do with going to the gym, or even putting your back into it. Lifting (as in hacer un lifting) is what Spanish call a face lift. Scalpels away!
El Face: The world’s biggest social media site has become so mainstream in Spain that young people often shorten its name to ‘El Face’.
LOS ROLLING: The same happens with The Rolling Stones. Somehow the Septuagenarian rock band have come to be known in Spain as ‘Los Rolling’ rather than ‘Los Stones’.
VIP: Pronounced like a word rather than as an accronym, VIP is used mainly in Spanish to describe the cordoned off area of a nightclub or a party where the ‘esnobs’ hang out.
BICING: Now that Spanish cities are going green and jumping on the city bicycle craze, “bicing” or public bicycle hire schemes are popping up everywhere. While the name started with Barcelona’s own public bikes, people are now starting to use the word for similar programmes in other places.
Alto standing: used to describe anything luxurious or high-class, from an apartment to a prostitute.
Footing: the noun for jogging, and ‘hacer footing’, as in to ‘go jogging’.
Crack: Nothing to do with the drug or a hole of any kind, crack is used in Spanish to describe someone who’s great at doing something. So don’t feel offended if a Spanish friend calls you a crack, it’s actually a compliment.
Posted by Queenie (queeniesdailysnippets)

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