Unique Dominican Names for Certain Colors

What do you call orange when speaking Spanish?


  • Total voters
    36

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Dominicans are the only people in the world that call the color orange mamey (ma?may) instead of anaranjado or naranja, which is the Spanish name.

The use of mamey in everyday Spanish can actually be indicative of tge assimilation of any foreigner in Dominican society.

Ironically, there is no campaign of attacking, ridiculing or criticizing Dominicans for being the only people in the world that calls orange mamey.

Mamey is also the name of a fruit that is quite popular in the country, but as with other names uniquely Dominican to refer to certain colors, no one thinks that something of mamey color is actually a mamey fruit.

When speaking Spanish, do you refer to orange as mamey?
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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Mr AE, born and bred in DR has never heard a Dominican say mamey for orange. When I asked him how he says orange he said anaranjado, and looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if he ever says mamey. He's wondering if it's a generational thing? Something new in the last 40 years? :)
 
Aug 6, 2006
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A mamey is indeed orange inside and it is easier to say mamey than anaranjado (or color naranja).

Using the names of fruit (aguacate, cereza, guinda, verde lim?n) is pretty common in many Spanish-speaking countries.

a na ran ja do is FIVE SYLLABLES, and not so easy to pronounce as mamey.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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Say naranja in my campo ( seemed logic to me- at least )...... blank stare.
Mamey is what is used.......
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Virtually almost always use mamey. .. in the DR ... in other Spanish speaking countries they give me a weird glance when I say mamey
 
Aug 6, 2006
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Naranjas are not all orange. Many are green, and the usual juice orange (china) is more yellow than orange. In the US the only really orange oranges are California table (eating) oranges, not Florida juice oranges.


The word naranja, it seems to me, is used less than the word china to refer to what we call oranges in English.

The Orange cellphone company uses the color orange in its ads. I imagine people might understand that as a color as well.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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i use naranja. i learnt the word mamey maybe last week, it was in an article in a newspaper and i had to ask what it meant. on a similar note, we have white and ginger cat and our maid refers to it as gata amarilla. hmmm...
 

Lucifer

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Jun 26, 2012
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Mr AE, born and bred in DR has never heard a Dominican say mamey for orange. When I asked him how he says orange he said anaranjado, and looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if he ever says mamey. He's wondering if it's a generational thing? Something new in the last 40 years? :)

Which prompts this question: Do some Dominicans married to foreigners pretend... to never have heard certain terms so as to appear cultured and/or educated and, thus, receive seal of approval from their foreign spouses? Sorta like saying, "My spouse is not the typical Dumbminican."

First, he never heard 'sioret?' for short-stop, and now says he never heard 'mamey' in place of anaranjado.

You could tell him que eso no se lo cree ni ?l mismo.
 

TropicalPaul

Bronze
Sep 3, 2013
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What is the difference between a China and a Naranja? I was in Supermercado Nacional last weekend, I was asking if they had any chinas (feeling clever and using the local word) and they went hunting. After 5 mins they came back and said no, they only had some naranjas. Which looked like oranges to me. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know the difference, so I said "oh I guess they will have to do then". But what is the difference?
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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What is the difference between a China and a Naranja? I was in Supermercado Nacional last weekend, I was asking if they had any chinas (feeling clever and using the local word) and they went hunting. After 5 mins they came back and said no, they only had some naranjas. Which looked like oranges to me. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know the difference, so I said "oh I guess they will have to do then". But what is the difference?

A China is a mandarin orange.
 

tmnyc

New member
Oct 19, 2006
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A China is a mandarin orange.

a mandarin orange (i.g. tangerine) is: madarina

mandarina_2.jpg


images
 
Aug 6, 2006
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In Miami, a china is a juice orange, usually yellowish-orange with unsightly blotches and lots of juice.
The words china and naranja seem to be used synonymously in Miami, where Cuban usage predominates.
china is short for naranja china, Chinese orange, a type of orange.

Tangerines and not chinas, they are mandarinas, at least to the people I know.
 

Aguaita29

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Jul 27, 2011
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People in Santo Domingo refer to oranges as "chinas", but in El Cibao region it's just a naranja. I think there's a an old thread about it!
 

Aguaita29

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Jul 27, 2011
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Which prompts this question: Do some Dominicans married to foreigners pretend... to never have heard certain terms so as to appear cultured and/or educated and, thus, receive seal of approval from their foreign spouses? Sorta like saying, "My spouse is not the typical Dumbminican."

First, he never heard 'sioret?' for short-stop, and now says he never heard 'mamey' in place of anaranjado.

You could tell him que eso no se lo cree ni ?l mismo.
I don't know! I?m Dominican and I had no clue what "sirotet?" was. Yeah, mamey is common, but not the other one.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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South Coast
Which prompts this question: Do some Dominicans married to foreigners pretend... to never have heard certain terms so as to appear cultured and/or educated and, thus, receive seal of approval from their foreign spouses? Sorta like saying, "My spouse is not the typical Dumbminican."

First, he never heard 'sioret?' for short-stop, and now says he never heard 'mamey' in place of anaranjado.

You could tell him que eso no se lo cree ni ?l mismo.

Haha, I'm not going to say it's impossible but Mr AE is the least pretentious person I know. He doesn't give a whoot about what anyone thinks of him, sometime to my chagrin
 
Aug 6, 2006
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There is some confusion about the names of several fruits and plants.
There are at least three herbs that are understood to be cilantro (coriander): what everyone else calls cilantro, a long skinny leafed plant also called culantro, and a type of parsley (perejil).

A common citrus fruit used as a marinade is the naranja agria (bitter orange). It is rather like what is called an ugli fruit, but not so ugly.
Most tasteless meat and fish can be improved by marinating it in naranja agria and other spices (pepper, garlic & onion powder, cumin, annato, etc) in the fridge overnight.