But most nicknames have a meaning. I have seen it written as chavidales also. Someone told me it means happy.
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7 Interesting Dominican Slang Words....
But most nicknames have a meaning. I have seen it written as chavidales also. Someone told me it means happy.
I have the impression that chavo is a synonym for chico, which makes the diminutive form chavito, and the slang form the apocopated chavi. Soi it means 'boy" or "guy". Sort of like the English Bud or Mac.
Yeah, also a nickname can also be the name of a telenovela character, a singer, athlete, and even a word the person used to mispronounced when he was a child.
Bingo on the last one, Mr AE 's nickname is what he called himself as a toddler because he couldn't pronounce his name. (It's Italian, his mother named him after someone in a novela. *A book I presume, no tv then.)
* I'll bet 95% of family and 100% of his DR friends have no clue what his legal name is, everyone in DR only knows that name. *In USA all my family use that nickname too, only co-workers and strangers call him by his real name. *The only one who ever questioned it was my 4'10" grandmother, who said it was stupid, and told him to use his birth name. *She was a firecracker.
.*
I did not know that.
I chose the name because Xavier Onassis can be pronounced in English as a bit of good advice. (Save your own...)
But you do know the correct way to say call me back right?- Devu?lveme la llamada. Ll?mame pa' tr?s is a word for word translation from English to Spanish and in this case make no sense in Spanish.
Spanish speakers who have no knowledge of English find llamar para atr?s quite comical. Supposedly it originated in Miami which makes a lot of sense to me.
-MP.
Glad to hear you are not limiting yourself in Spanish. Learning it from any where in the Spanish-speaking world will benefit you.
Yes it is important to understand slang and be aware as you said but as long as that is not the only way you choose to speak the language. People will not take you seriously nor think highly of the Spanish you are learning.
-MP.
Very common in Gibraltar too, for exactly the same reason. Ll?mame pa'tr?s and voy pa'tr?s pa' mi casa and similar literal translations. They make fun of us when we slip up and use those expressions in Spain.
I hear what you are saying but I really don't think bilingual speakers who have a good command of Spanish make this error and it becomes comical to them as well when they hear phrases like that.
It is typical in regions where two languages co-exist. In this case Miami and other US cities both languages get corrupted. In the US I think Spanish really takes the hit because English is the official language. Therefore, as Spanish speakers start to integrate English into their speech it happens although a Spanish speaker who moved to the US should not fall into this trap but some do. These phrases are typical of a Spanish speaker who grew up in the US and let's not forget all the anglicisms. In my opinion, Ll?mame pa'tr?s is not slang. It's just bad Spanish.
-MP.
In our case it could be argued that it has become an accepted part of our dialect/language, which is a blend of Spanish, English, Genoese and other languages. Most speakers know how to modify their speech to standard Spanish when speaking to a non-local, but many of us do slip up, e.g. going into a bakery and asking for queque instead of pastel.
How about "d?jame saber"? In Spanish it should be "av?same" but the literal translation of the English "let me know" does seem to have been adopted as accepted if not standard usage.
How about "d?jame saber"? In Spanish it should be "av?same" but the literal translation of the English "let me know" does seem to have been adopted as accepted if not standard usage.
Yes, I hear what you are saying and sure regional acceptance will differ. I think it also depends on the type of professors and educators you cross paths with. I had one that always said you don't d?jame saber anything. Thus frowned upon by her. She was one of my well-spoken professors I had from Argentina. Therefore, yes acceptance will vary.
-MP.
-MP.
That's actually a good catch. That type of redundancy will slip through the cracks. However, would it be critiqued the same way as the phrases or speech we hear referring to Chiri's latest examples?
More examples would be b?jate pa'bajo, s?bete pa' riba and salte pa'fuera. These are all the same types of examples but the difference is Spanish speakers in general can make them too and then the critics say es por el bajo nivel cultural. I think the more you know grammar wise lesser the chances of making these types of errors which include hablastes, dijistes, pensastes etc. Luckily these past tense verb forms are not prevalent in the DR.
-MP.
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I think the more you know grammar wise lesser the chances of making these types of errors which include hablastes, dijistes, pensastes etc. Luckily these past tense verb forms are not prevalent in the DR.
This is likely because Dominicans are opposed to pronouncing the s at the end of any word. Dos dias becomes do dia.
This is likely because Dominicans are opposed to pronouncing the s at the end of any word. Dos dias becomes do dia.
Well of course. However, the other problem in the DR is adding /s/ where it does not belong to overcompensate but it is just a lack of knowledge of formal Spanish by the speaker. There is that word education again. I have heard la bosca for la boca and se vas. Need I say more....
*-MP.
When I translate transcripts of Dominican speakers the dropped S often causes confusion. If it says "No fuimo pa la capital" - is that "Nos fuimos" (we went) or "No fuimos" (we didn't go)? It's usually clear enough from the context but sometimes guesswork is needed. Also the failure on the part of the transcriber to distinguish between s? (yes) and si (if).
"Casimente" - literally "almostly" is also very common among less educated speakers.
"Casimente" - literally "almostly" is also very common among less educated speakers.
I hear casimente a lot.
They do not seem to spend any time teaching spelling in Dominican public schools-- at least the ones in Barahona.
They do not seem to spend any time teaching spelling in Dominican public schools-- at least the ones in Barahona.
Dominicans are "Los Reyes del Pleonasmo": Ven pa'c? o entra pa' dentro, y c?llate la boca.