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AlterEgo

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Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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South Coast
I had my own opinion about vaina, but I’m not Dominican, so I asked my Dominican expert, Mr AE.

He says Hijo is right. He actually used the word vulgar too.

That being said, he uses it, mostly with his brothers and when he’s arguing with campesinos. Not everyday conversations with normal Dominicans. He has an internal switch, his Spanish alternates accordingly. 😊
 

aarhus

Long live King Frederik X
Jun 10, 2008
4,412
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I had my own opinion about vaina, but I’m not Dominican, so I asked my Dominican expert, Mr AE.

He says Hijo is right. He actually used the word vulgar too.

That being said, he uses it, mostly with his brothers and when he’s arguing with campesinos. Not everyday conversations with normal Dominicans. He has an internal switch, his Spanish alternates accordingly. 😊
I think most Dominicans would just think it’s funny if a foreigner uses it. I can think of many much worse slang words.
 

terantius

Member
Jul 28, 2022
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Plants
Vaina is not even close to being vulgar. It has a neutral connotation. You will not find one example of it being censored anywhere. That is because it means "thing" and thing is a neutral word.
Vulgar language needs to inspire "dirty" imagery.

I don't say this enough, but people should look up the definition of words before using them.
 

flyinroom

Silver
Aug 26, 2012
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It may be straying "off topic" but...
It isn't doing any harm and it is, after all, Dominican related.
It didn't take long after I landed in the D.R. to learn and adopt the commonly used coño.
I used it one day in "polite" company and was stared down to the ground. (ie...major side eye)
The thing is, that the Spanish used it as frequently as did the Dominicans.
It was everywhere around me and became one of my "vulgar" habits.
p.s.
JD's alt164 did not work for me.
 
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JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
11,824
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It may be straying "off topic" but...
It isn't doing any harm and it is, after all, Dominican related.
It didn't take long after I landed in the D.R. to learn and adopt the commonly used coño.
I used it one day in "polite" company and was stared down to the ground. (ie...major side eye)
The thing is, that the Spanish used it as frequently as did the Dominicans.
It was everywhere around me and became one of my "vulgar" habits.
p.s.
JD's alt164 did not work for me.
One more try: Hold the alt key down. While you're holding the alt key down, type 164. Release the alt key. ñ
 

flyinroom

Silver
Aug 26, 2012
3,799
686
113
One more try: Hold the alt key down. While you're holding the alt key down, type 164. Release the alt key. ñ


The most common reason for ALT codes not working is that the number lock setting has been turned off. This setting controls how numbers on the numeric keypad function, so check it if you're having trouble with your ALT codes. Another cause of this problem is incorrect language settings on Windows.

ñ.
Yay.
JD to the rescue...once again.
 

El Hijo de Manolo

It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous!
Dec 10, 2021
3,957
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Dominican Republic
ñ.
Yay.
JD to the rescue...once again.
Yay fly! 35 year old alt codes for a qwerty PC keyboard. Hey folks, no need to Google these simple things, just post your IT challenges here! Not to mention for the past 15 years you can just pull up the esp keyboard on windows. If that is too hard you can just copy and paste a ñ from one of 360 billion websites. Enjoy the evening and God bless!
 

MariaRubia

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2019
2,285
3,059
113
It may be straying "off topic" but...
It isn't doing any harm and it is, after all, Dominican related.
It didn't take long after I landed in the D.R. to learn and adopt the commonly used coño.
I used it one day in "polite" company and was stared down to the ground. (ie...major side eye)
The thing is, that the Spanish used it as frequently as did the Dominicans.
It was everywhere around me and became one of my "vulgar" habits.
p.s.
JD's alt164 did not work for me.

Spanish Spanish has way more swearwords than Dominican Spanish. I'm quite shocked by some of the expressions they use. Businessmen constantly using expressions involving references to their balls. I even see it on Netflix in Spanish Spanish programming, what is considered normal there wouldn't be acceptable by Dominicans.

I always equate coño to the F word in English. "What the F... are you doing" translates to "Que coño haces?"

Apologies we have gone off topic but as someone said this is quite an interesting discussion.
 

flyinroom

Silver
Aug 26, 2012
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686
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I always equate coño to the F word in English. "What the F... are you doing" translates to "Que coño haces?"
I think it is far more vulgar than that.
The way it was explained to me is that it is the equivalent of another nasty four letter word that begins with a "c".
Vulgar with a capital "V".
Nasty stuff.
Not to be compared with the far less offensive "vaina"...
However, both expressions could be described as "vulgar" in the truest sense of the word.
BTW...
If qwerty is good enough for WORDLE it is good enough for me.


Wordle 698 3/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩


:geek: (in 01:46)
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,549
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dr1.com
Two young girls, round 12 or 13 years old, walked by the house when I was sitting having a coffee. One of them said " coño,.....etc. I raised my eyebrows and she blushed and apologized for saying a Malo palabra. Like anywhere, the language devolves depending on the company kept. The trash talk we used at work when I was in the military would not be acceptable in mixed company or at the dinner table.
 
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cavok

Silver
Jun 16, 2014
9,598
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Cabarete
I spoke with a good friend of mine last night. He's a college educated Dominican that is 100% fluent in English and Spanish. He explained that "vaina" is an actual Spanish word that originally came from the conquistadores meaning "scabbard" for their swords. He said it is not even remotely profane or obscene and not even offensive unless you consider slang offensive. On the other hand, cono is and shouldn't be used in polite company. Several other Dominicans I've spoken to have said the same thing.
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
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Cabarete
I spoke with a good friend of mine last night. He's a college educated Dominican that is 100% fluent in English and Spanish. He explained that "vaina" is an actual Spanish word that originally came from the conquistadores meaning "scabbard" for their swords. He said it is not even remotely profane or obscene and not even offensive unless you consider slang offensive. On the other hand, cono is and shouldn't be used in polite company. Several other Dominicans I've spoken to have said the same thing.
When I first came to live here I heard the word "vaina" and I actually thought it was "baina" because that was the way people seemed to say it - the good old substituting b for v. So I asked a local I knew what it meant and he said "cosa", with no mention of not to use it in polite society or anything like that.

I'm getting used to (and rather tired of) people on DR1 who believe that whatever they think on any subject is right and anything that is not in line with their ideas must be wrong.
 
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Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
2,528
829
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I've been through the Las Americas peaje paso rapido twice recently, no problems
Yes ..maybe you have had your pass for a while and do not all have all those dots above your rear vision mirror but I put mine on exactly as was instructed and it did not work at La Romana peaje .
 

drstock

Silver
Oct 29, 2010
4,517
2,100
113
Cabarete
Yes ..maybe you have had your pass for a while and do not all have all those dots above your rear vision mirror but I put mine on exactly as was instructed and it did not work at La Romana peaje .
So if you have those dots above the mirror (I don't know if all modern cars have them) where should you stick the thing?