In Spanish there are many, many words that are easily recognizable to the English speaker because they come from the same origin in Latin, Greek or other languages. These words are known as cognates. Just a few examples are... accidente, chocolate, elegante, familia, insecto, música, pirata.
(However, be careful because there are also "false cognates". "Ropa" does not mean rope; it means clothing. "Fábrica" does not mean fabric; it means factory. And potentially most embarrassing of all, "embarazada" does NOT mean embarrassed. It means pregnant!)
Beyond cognates, there are also words that have been taken into the Spanish language from English. These are known as "anglicismos". The Royal Spanish Academy, which sets the rules for the language, looks down its nose with disdain at some of these "anglicismos", but others have been accepted even by the snootiest Spanish scholar.
Sometimes the "anglicismo" is spelled exactly like the English word. For example, "jeans" or "golf".
Other times the spelling might be altered or an accent mark added to adjust to Spanish phonetics... sándwich, fútbol, básquetbol, champú, suéter.
Sometimes, the "anglicismo" might not even be recognizable at first glance to the English speaker...
The ball player hit a "jonrón" out of the park.
The boxer won by a "nocaut".
I bring all of this up, because the other day I saw an advertisement with an "anglicismo" that I had never seen before. (That's not to say that it's new. It was just new to me.)
When I saw the word "pines" for a split second I thought of pine trees. But, no, "pines" (pronounced "PEE-nays") means pins. In Spanish an "es" is added to make a word ending in a consonant plural. This advertisement from Coca Cola is about commemorative pins that you can collect for this summer's World Cup.
"¡Coleciónalos (oh, there's another cognate) todos!"
"Collect them all!"
No comments:
Post a Comment