- Thread starter rellosk
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Cuandos Nos Vemos?
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It's "When will we see each other?" There is no "again" in that question, and you can not assume that, because you would then be assuming that the people involved are either talking in person or have seen each other previously. 
I agree with everyone else that the sort of sociolingual meaning is that of a cryptic taunting about "hookin' up".
There is another possibility that has to do with elements of punctuation. If the phrase had been printed like this CUANDO NOS VEMOS? (I don't have the typing font skills on this keyboard for the pre-sentence signo de interrogacion or reverse question mark of Spanish characters. then it has the meaning that pretty much all of us have deduced from it. It is the not so subtle "interrogativa".
But, if instead of the implied inquiry of " when do we see each other?" if written as CUANDO NOS VEMOS. ; ending with just a good old period; then it might have to take a somewhat different connotation.
CUANDO is a tricky concept. I believe it is mainly a temporal conjuction that denotes a generic time-space as in, "me voy para mi casa CUANDO deje de llover", no one really knows if it'll stop at 1pm or at 343pm, CUANDO is sort of 'whenever it happens'....other example "recuerdo CUANDO nos conocimos" ; it could have been 20 minutes ago or 70 years ago, CUANDO can substitute for a special moment that is not easily defined in its specific dimensions, especially when found isolated from its original context, as is the case of the mischievous T-shirt.
The NOS and the VEMOS would also change roles.
In the witty interrogative it is implied that NOS really means " you and me alone", while under the temporal conjuction construct NOS becomes more of a "ALL of US".
VEMOS is the action in both, but it in the second case it would not necessarily be a thing of a mutual literal SEEING of one another, as in Yo te veo y tu me ves = Nos estamos viendo = Nos vemos, and eeventually meaning = Nos Encontramos. In the non-interrogative reading VEMOS by virtue of being the follower of NOS, becomes a more extensive plural that encompasses pretty much everyone.
....thus IMO in such a case of a T-Shirt sporting CUANDO NOS VEMOS would be something akin to " WHEN WE LOOK AT OURSELVES" , an elegant haiku of self reflection.
Remeber the song? ...Dime cuando, cuando, cuando??.....CUANDO HACEMOS YOGA mejoramos las neuronas. CUANDO NOS PELEAMOS terminamos arruinados todos. CUANDO NOS VEMOS reflejados en el espejo, aprendemos de nuestras arrugas. CUANDO NOS OBSESIONAMOS, somos impertinentes...
I'm sure I don't know the rules to explain this but I hope Lesley and/or other experts will validate this peripheral interpretation. Why not?
- Tordok
:ninja: :surprisedirate:
There is another possibility that has to do with elements of punctuation. If the phrase had been printed like this CUANDO NOS VEMOS? (I don't have the typing font skills on this keyboard for the pre-sentence signo de interrogacion or reverse question mark of Spanish characters. then it has the meaning that pretty much all of us have deduced from it. It is the not so subtle "interrogativa".
But, if instead of the implied inquiry of " when do we see each other?" if written as CUANDO NOS VEMOS. ; ending with just a good old period; then it might have to take a somewhat different connotation.
CUANDO is a tricky concept. I believe it is mainly a temporal conjuction that denotes a generic time-space as in, "me voy para mi casa CUANDO deje de llover", no one really knows if it'll stop at 1pm or at 343pm, CUANDO is sort of 'whenever it happens'....other example "recuerdo CUANDO nos conocimos" ; it could have been 20 minutes ago or 70 years ago, CUANDO can substitute for a special moment that is not easily defined in its specific dimensions, especially when found isolated from its original context, as is the case of the mischievous T-shirt.
The NOS and the VEMOS would also change roles.
In the witty interrogative it is implied that NOS really means " you and me alone", while under the temporal conjuction construct NOS becomes more of a "ALL of US".
VEMOS is the action in both, but it in the second case it would not necessarily be a thing of a mutual literal SEEING of one another, as in Yo te veo y tu me ves = Nos estamos viendo = Nos vemos, and eeventually meaning = Nos Encontramos. In the non-interrogative reading VEMOS by virtue of being the follower of NOS, becomes a more extensive plural that encompasses pretty much everyone.
....thus IMO in such a case of a T-Shirt sporting CUANDO NOS VEMOS would be something akin to " WHEN WE LOOK AT OURSELVES" , an elegant haiku of self reflection.
Remeber the song? ...Dime cuando, cuando, cuando??.....CUANDO HACEMOS YOGA mejoramos las neuronas. CUANDO NOS PELEAMOS terminamos arruinados todos. CUANDO NOS VEMOS reflejados en el espejo, aprendemos de nuestras arrugas. CUANDO NOS OBSESIONAMOS, somos impertinentes...
I'm sure I don't know the rules to explain this but I hope Lesley and/or other experts will validate this peripheral interpretation. Why not?
- Tordok
:ninja: :surprised
irate:The "s" was there probably because there is a lamentable habit among illiterate people here to put that letter where it doesnt belong They think it sounds "mas fino." I once had a woman in San Juan ask me if the chain around my neck was real "plasta" instead of saying "plata." As for the lack of the future tense, in some expressions there is no need for it, the present tense automatically implies the future. I might point out that the verb appears in the indicative, whereas in fact any putative encounter that might or might not occur in the future would normally require that the verb appear in the subjunctive. "Cuando" is one term that may or may not require a subjunctive (like "aunque") depending on the usage.
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