Pajaro & Cangrejo

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Derfish

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When and where I learned Spanish Pajaro meant bird. but here it seems to meet insect, maybe only flying insect, I don't know, but yesterday my lady said she had seen a cangrejo afuera. We are 5 or more miles from the ocean, but thinking maybe a blue crab or the local equivalent I accepted what she said. This morning a bunch of school kids were yelling and running in circles. When I got down stairs from our second floor apartment they had killed a medium sized Tarantula. My lady said "I told you I saw a cangrejo yesterday." Is it as common to call a tarantula a crab as it is call a flying insect a bird?
What would one who calls a fly a bird call a bluejay?
Der Fish
 
AlterEgo

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Dominicans I know call tarantulas either 'tarantula' or 'cacata'. Never heard pajaro used for anything except a bird or a gay man.
 
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josh2203

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As far as I have seen/heard, cangrejos are only those that live in the sea. Tarantulas I have seen called exactly that, tarantulas.

I have heard people calling insects as "pajaritos", but not in a serious way, but rather when talking to children. They use the proper names for each insect respectively, but when talking with kids, the word "pajarito" is used occasionally. It?s worth noting the "-ito", meaning (as far as I understand) that it softens the word a bit (kids, joking etc.), and it more or less literally means a small thing...
 
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Virgo

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Derfish said:
When and where I learned Spanish Pajaro meant bird. but here it seems to meet insect, maybe only flying insect, I don't know, but yesterday my lady said she had seen a cangrejo
Click to expand...

Perhaps she said "CACATA" and you heard Cangrejo. But come to think about it, could your lady be Haitian (in whole or in part)?. Many things you have said are consistent with that, including the fact that Haitians call cacatas "crab spider" (of course in their language).
In fact the complete name in the DR is "ara?a cacata", which sounds somewhat similar to "ara?a cangrejo". Conceivably Dominicans (who were first in the island) may have influence the Haitian name.


I haven't heard the name tar?ntula used by common Dominicans (it's a word they would learn in school).
Technically cacatas are a specific kind of spider native to this island, which is related to the tar?ntula.
The most common (Mexican) tar?ntula is "yellowish/reddish" whereas cacatas are black.

I think rural people of very limited education could (conceivably) use the word p?jaro to mean "flying living beings".

Cacata
spider.jpg


Mexican Tar?ntula
tarantula4.jpg
 
D

Derfish

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Virgo said:
Perhaps she said "CACATA" and you heard Cangrejo. But come to think about it, could your lady be Haitian (in whole or in part)?. Many things you have said are consistent with that, including the fact that Haitians call cacatas "crab spider" (of course in their language).
In fact the complete name in the DR is "ara?a cacata", which sounds somewhat similar to "ara?a cangrejo". Conceivably Dominicans (who were first in the island) may have influence the Haitian name.


I haven't heard the name tar?ntula used by common Dominicans (it's a word they would learn in school).
Technically cacatas are a specific kind of spider native to this island, which is related to the tar?ntula.
The most common (Mexican) tar?ntula is "yellowish/reddish" whereas cacatas are black.

I think rural people of very limited education could (conceivably) use the word p?jaro to mean "flying living beings".

Cacata
spider.jpg


Mexican Tar?ntula
tarantula4.jpg
Click to expand...

just showed her these pics and she says that yes the black one is just like the cangrejo she saw yesterday.
Thanks Der Fish
 
franco1111

franco1111

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I also hear pajarito frequently to refer to a variety of insects that fly. Most lately the damn moths. Hundreds in the hallway these days. But, I expect they will soon be gone. Seems to be a seasonal thing.

I also hear abipa. A bee pa. For wasp. I think the real word is avispa but they are dropping the s.

Yes, many of my friends are of limited education - but not rural.
 
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chic

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Derfish said:
When and where I learned Spanish Pajaro meant bird. but here it seems to meet insect, maybe only flying insect, I don't know, but yesterday my lady said she had seen a cangrejo afuera. We are 5 or more miles from the ocean, but thinking maybe a blue crab or the local equivalent I accepted what she said. This morning a bunch of school kids were yelling and running in circles. When I got down stairs from our second floor apartment they had killed a medium sized Tarantula. My lady said "I told you I saw a cangrejo yesterday." Is it as common to call a tarantula a crab as it is call a flying insect a bird?
What would one who calls a fly a bird call a bluejay?
Der Fish
Click to expand...

now you can teach the child as it takes a village to raise a child...
 
franco1111

franco1111

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franco1111 said:
I also hear pajarito frequently to refer to a variety of insects that fly. Most lately the damn moths. Hundreds in the hallway these days. But, I expect they will soon be gone. Seems to be a seasonal thing.

I also hear abipa. A bee pa. For wasp. I think the real word is avispa but they are dropping the s.

Yes, many of my friends are of limited education - but not rural.
Click to expand...

Damn. I knew there was something wrong with what I wrote - I don't hear pajarito for flying insect - I hear mariposita. That's the moths.

I hear pajarito for any kind of bird large or small.

And my comment about wasp stands : )
 
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GuillermoRamon

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Marianopolita said:
Does your novia use ave for all birds because there is a difference between aves and p?jaros? You realize this right?


-MP.
Click to expand...

We dont bird watch, so I couldnt say exactly where the line is, but if you are generally referring to how the larger vs smaller ones get addressed, I get it...
 
La Profe_1

La Profe_1

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GuillermoRamon said:
The Novia uses ave for bird, but cangrejo, as per her (which I always used), is crab...
Click to expand...

Hope this isn't too far off topic, but there are two words for crab in the DR.

La jaiba is a fresh-water crab (crayfish, maybe?) and el cangrejo is a salt-water crab.
 
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GuillermoRamon

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La Profe_1 said:
Hope this isn't too far off topic, but there are two words for crab in the DR.

La jaiba is a fresh-water crab (crayfish, maybe?) and el cangrejo is a salt-water crab.
Click to expand...

I have yet to run across a fresh water crab, only familiar with the salt water ones
 
AlterEgo

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GuillermoRamon said:
I have yet to run across a fresh water crab, only familiar with the salt water ones
Click to expand...

If you've ever driven from Santo Domingo to Santiago, you've seen the string of crabs sold on the side of the road - those are jaiba. The also call them paloma de cuevas I think.

Now, what about those tiny bright red land crabs? Do they have a separate name?
 
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GuillermoRamon

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AlterEgo said:
If you've ever driven from Santo Domingo to Santiago, you've seen the string of crabs sold on the side of the road - those are jaiba. The also call them paloma de cuevas I think.

Now, what about those tiny bright red land crabs? Do they have a separate name?
Click to expand...

I pretty much hang out in Sosua where people are vending fish/lobster from the sea, I've yet to see anyone vending a "river crab" there. I know they exist, I just don't run across them in my day to day, although, would love to hear from people who've eaten them, I assume they are good?
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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GuillermoRamon said:
I pretty much hang out in Sosua where people are vending fish/lobster from the sea, I've yet to see anyone vending a "river crab" there. I know they exist, I just don't run across them in my day to day, although, would love to hear from people who've eaten them, I assume they are good?
Click to expand...

Never had them myself, but a couple of weeks ago I made a crab boil with Old Bay seasoning of centolla crabs. A diving buddy of Mr AE caught them in Ocoa Bay. Outstanding!!!

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
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