Boca Chica?

Victor Laszlo

Bronze
Aug 24, 2004
591
6
0
Dumb question #3: What, exactly, does "Boca Chica" mean?

Being ignorant of Spanish, I'm using altavista's Babel Fish online translator.
If I put in "Boca", it returns "Mouth"; "Chica" yields "Girl".
If I type in "Boca Chica", though, it comes up with "Small Mouth".
Can anyone clarify?
 

JANET/NJ

New member
Jun 21, 2004
123
0
0
hmmm!

Victor Laszlo said:
Dumb question #3: What, exactly, does "Boca Chica" mean?

Being ignorant of Spanish, I'm using altavista's Babel Fish online translator.
If I put in "Boca", it returns "Mouth"; "Chica" yields "Girl".
If I type in "Boca Chica", though, it comes up with "Small Mouth".
Can anyone clarify?


Boca defenately means mouth, but Chica can have 2 meanings.
Chica as in girl or Chica as in small............i would go with small mouth, it has more meaning.

Janet.
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
2,209
42
0
Ok, we can make this thread a very funny one.

I live in San Cristobal, and I thought we had the funniest names for our towns. So lets see what has better ones:

Pueblo Nuevo - New Town (my town!)
Madre Vieja - Old Lady
Lava Pies - Feet Cleaner
Zona Verde - Green Zone
Samangola - there is NO translation for that one.

Any others?
 

dominicangirl

New member
Oct 9, 2002
44
0
0
Sabana Perdida = Lost Sheets
I think there's one called "El ollo de chulin" = don't know what it translates to, but it made me laugh when I heard it.
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
4,821
766
113
Bella Vista= Nice view/Beautiful view
Mirador= viewpoint (con vistas) , "the" watcher (it's hard to translate).

My mind has gone blank now...
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
4,821
766
113
I think you may mean "hoyo".


dominicangirl said:
Sabana Perdida = Lost Sheets
I think there's one called "El ollo de chulin" = don't know what it translates to, but it made me laugh when I heard it.
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
4,821
766
113
I am adding "towns and cities" as they come to mind

Arroyo Hondo= Deep Creek
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
4,821
766
113
Las Palmas=

this one is interesting because "palmas" could have various meanings:

1. palma (de mano)= "palm of your hand"
2. palma (palmera)= "palma tree"
3. palmas (aplausos)= "clapping", "applause".

It's your pick on the translation. I choose #2 since the DR is a tropical country.

"the Palm Trees"
 

Bartolomeo67

Newbie
Mar 18, 2004
592
2
18
57
Come pan

The best one I came across this Summer was the barrio COME PAN = EAT BREAD in Las Terrenas, Samana
So funny
others:
Monte Llano = flat mountain
Cangrejo = crab
Piedra Blanca = white stone
El millon = the million

Bartolomeo
 

Argo

*** Sin Bin ***
Aug 5, 2004
156
0
0
Victor Laszlo said:
Dumb question #3: What, exactly, does "Boca Chica" mean?

Being ignorant of Spanish, I'm using altavista's Babel Fish online translator.
If I put in "Boca", it returns "Mouth"; "Chica" yields "Girl".
If I type in "Boca Chica", though, it comes up with "Small Mouth".
Can anyone clarify?

I was always told in meant "Small mouthed bay" referring to the lagoon
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,368
3,150
113
JANET/NJ said:
La venta = the sell
Castillo = castle
Trujillo alto = Trujillo(like the general) high

Actually, Trujillo Alto would be more like Trujillo Heights, instead of high. Sometimes things don't translate into literal terms.

Anyways, here are my own contribution to this thread:

La Vega = The Plains
El Pino = The Pines
San Pedro de Macoris = Saint Peter of the Macoris Indian Tribe
San Francisco de Macorist = Saint Frances of Macoris
Santiago de los Caballeros = Saint James of the Gentlemen
San Felipe de Puerto Plata (the full name of POP) = Saint Fillip of the Silver Port

La Romana = The Romans?
Punta Cana = Cape Cana (Cana as in the Cana Tree, not grey hair)
Rio San Juan = St. Johns River
Monte Plata = Mount of Silver
Monte Cristi = Mount of Christ
Los Cacigascos = The Chiefdoms or Indian Kingdoms

La Vega Real = Royal Plains
Santo Cerro = Holy Hill
Hato Mayor del Rey = The King's Great Cattle ranch
Monte Llano = Flat Hill (that is so awkward)
San Jose de las Matas = Saint Joshua of the trees
San Cristobal = Saint Christopher
Isla Catalina = Catherine's Island
Isla Beata = Betty's Island
Las Lagunas = The Lagoons
Las Matas de Farfan = The trees of Farfan

There are much more and many places have Taino names that are hard to translate into Spanish, let alone English.

One thing is certain, the influence of Spain, the Native Americans, and the Catholic church can't be denied when it comes to the names of places on this island.

However, here are a few sub-division/resort areas with English names...

Sea Horse Ranch = Hato de Caballitos del Mar
Cap Cana = Punta Cana (that was easy)

There are others, but I can't remember their name right now...
 

JDub

New member
Apr 7, 2003
174
0
0
I remember getting my hair braided by this older lady named Macuta in a area my friends referred to as "Mata Hambre." I'm not sure if that's what is was but it was near el malecon. IMO that translates to Hunger Killer lol.