Pague Biles Aquí
See? This is what I'm talkin' 'bout! I was walking through a complex full of stores and whatnot the other day and I pass this kiosk at which a person can pay various utility bills. I know this because in bright bold letters across the screen it read:
PAGUE BILES AQUÍ
Now, you might throw at me that all language is simply an attempt at communication and that if it communicated, then everything is settled and I have no right to bitch, but I can and I will.
BILES ????!!!???!!! WTF, mates??
As far as my limited Spanish allows me, that translates roughly as YOU SHOULD PAY BILE HERE
and that's even using a corruption of bilis, which is Spanish for the bile duct.
I don't know what kind of people that these companies use to make their translations, but I have to tell you I believe that they're broken down into two groups: First group: a bunch of gringos sitting around with a Spanish-English dictionary playing Hunt-n-Peck at words, and Second Group: which is a group of illiterate chicanos who speak only a corruption of Spanish because they've actually been raised either in Southern California or Southern Texas.
I think this machine was programmed by the latter. Basically, because BILES is so obviously Spanglish - a Spanish corruption of "bills" and I'm not sure but I think the "pague" itself is wrong, because it's the subjunctive tense, instead of a command, which would be "paga" - but then, like most gringos, I never got a really good comprehension of the subjunctive, so I could be completely way off base on that one.
So, with that, I'll sign off for now.
BILES . . . sheesh!!!!!!
VG
Food and Language
Interesting tidbit que mi esposa me contó ayer en la noche - estaba a su trabajo, y around lunchtime several co-workers sugeran que a group of them go to un restaurante Mexicano.
Y mi esposo los dijó, "Great! I haven't had Mexican food in a long time!"
To which her co-workers gave her "strange looks" (as she confided in me). Then, ellos la dijeron, "Of course you eat Mexican food all the time, don't you? You speak Spanish!"
[here is where I will pause so that you can let the phrase sink in.
got it?
yup! That's right!]
Then, ella los explicó que, aunque habla español no significa que ella es mexicana. De hecho, ella es de Costa Rica.
This is another example that la mayoria de los estadounidenses creen que hay solo UNO pais underneath us: Mexico, and then a large empty space reaching all the way down to the South Pole.
Amazing.
In Praise of Los Lobos
You know, the more I think about it the angrier I become, and although it's not an obsession, per se, it is something that comes up every couple of days.
It's about the Latin Grammys . . . and the lack of Los Lobos.
Where are my guys?
I mean, if you want to talk about a band that has brought Latino music directly into American culture, there is NO other band or person who has done such. I mean, listen to any album by Los Lobos, or any spin-off side project they've done (Latin Playboys and Los Super Seven are the ones I've encountered, although there might be more), and you can not escape the fact that first: they are master musicians - they can play ANY style in the New World. From Alaskan Icicle Rap to Tierra Del Fuego Rock, and everything in between. Secondly, they love what they do. That just shows in the sounds.
With such diversity and with such prolificity, why in the hell were they not represented at the Latin Grammys? I mean, Marc Antony won something, and I don't know of anything he's ever done except marry J-Lo and be some snotty New Yorker. Shakira won something and while she is definitely a Dancing Goddess and supremely talented, she certainly hasn't been very prolific . . . musically.
And for that matter, why didn't Bacilos get anything? Those guys definitely have the makings of another Los Lobos. Occasionally a little off the deep end, but when they hit a good song it's a GREAT song.
Any ideas/comments/snarls, as always, are not only expected, but encouraged.
VG
