Words, phrases and expressions of the week- January 20, 2018

This week all it took was one newspaper to choose the words of the week. I started off reading www.elmundo.es as per usual and after reading one article I decided what words I would select. I must say the article stood out because it is just an example of very good Spanish through and through. Great grammar control, good vocabulary and usage of a lot of short phrases and connectors. It's very important to learn connectors which is always a sign of fluency.


Your options are the same:


1) create your own phrases with these chosen words of the week


2) look for examples of usage in other papers that you read


3) comment on the article from which the words were selected however in Spanish


4) or show your creativity like I did when I brought up the comparative words into the mix like in the first thread the week of January 6, 2018.


Article:

http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2018/01/20/5a61ada9268e3ef8388b4774.html



Here are the words of week. There are seven words + one bonus word. The bonus word which is regional (classified as argot) when I saw I thought I will add it because I have not seen or heard that word in a long time although I am familiar with it.


1) O sea


2) Avalancha


3) Poco a poco


4) Por ahora


5) A juzgar por


6) El ámbito


7) Laberinto


Bonus word - el mejunje- regional, argot- Latin America, typical of the Caribbean



Dictionary link:

http://www.wordreference.com/



-MP.

I came across mejunje a few years ago in Cuban literature and again today in a Cuban paper. I do believe I also heard it on TV by Caribbean Spanish speakers. It does not phase me now but when I hear the word it catches my attention.


According to sources it is of Arabic origin from Andalusian Arabic. The variant apparently has phased out which is menjuje but it still can be heard in Latin America anywhere from Mexico to Venezuela.  

O sea is a good filler word but I don’t use it and I don’t know why. In most contexts it can be replaced by entonces which is also a common filler word and connector.



Lucifer, no es tu palabra favorita, o sea contigo tendré que utilizar otra.


 -MP.

Here are my phrases with the words of the week:


1) See post #3

2) Durante el invierno a veces leemos artículos sobre esquiadores que murieron en una avalancha.

3) La niña está enferma pero poco a poco va recuperándose.

4) Mi jefe me preguntó cómo van las cosas. Le dije que todo va bien por ahora. A ver lo que pasa más tarde.

5) A juzgar por la situación en Venezuela es probable que la crisis migratoria aumente. ¡Qué duro el régimen de Maduro!

6) Siempre hay cosas buenas y malas en el ámbito laboral.

7) La vida es un laberinto por lo tanto es difícil saber qué camino andar.


Bonus word- Qué mejunje nos dieron en el hopsital. La comida no tiene sabor.



-MP.