Stupid Questions

I'm reading Waiter Rant right now and the waiter in question says "Mucho gusto tacos!". I plugged this into my Dashboard translator to see exactly what that says, and it came up "much taste swearwords". Huh? Does taco mean two different things?

Taco does mean (at least) two different things; we'd need more context to help. This could mean anything from (very colloquial or joking) "I like tacos" to "pleased to meet you, tacos!" to "Pink tastes pretty damn strong to me."

Found it: http://tinyurl.com/4x4d4fp. We're talking about a non-native speaker here, so it looks like he intends "I love tacos!" (a ploy to snag one) but is actually saying "pleased to meet you tacos," earning the waiter's scorn. That would actually make some sense if he was that hungry and addressing the tacos directly.

Edit for a related story I've probably typed here before: in college we had an assistant prof from Austria who was asked to offer opening remarks at a banquet. After introducing himself, he said "and now I'd like to speak to the food." Everybody laughed since we expected him to turn to the spread to continue talking, instead of telling us about it.

Right. That's why Ernesto follows up this line with "And your Spanish still sucks."

I presume he was going for "me gusta tacos".

So is this a good book?

I agree with Santander, "mucho gusto tacos!" sounds to me like "glad to meet you, tacos!"

"I like tacos" would be "me gusta los tacos" (literally, "tacos please me" or "tacos suit my taste", ; and I don't see how you can say it without a defiinite article), and "I like tacos a lot" would be "me gusta mucho los tacos."

As for other meanings, in Chile at least, "taco" is slang for both high heel and traffic jam. Not much Mexican food in Chile, and no one likes traffic jams, so outside of a shoe store, you're not likely to hear "glad to meet you, tacos!"

I am also constantly amazed when among native Spanish speakers of different national origins how many ordinary words in one dialect can be subverted into a private body part in another. For instance, in my son's preschool, the directive for kids to "put on your jacket" in a Central American dialect caused no end of giggles among my friends who were South American.

Essentially, if something is wider than it is tall, is a receptacle of any kind, or is shaped like half-moon...if two things can be put together...if it's shaped like an egg, if it has a certain kind of jiggle, or exists in matching pairs...the word can often be used in the way you'd imagine Beavis and Butthead using it. It's good to know your dialects.

Katie wrote:"I like tacos" would be "me gusta los tacos"

Must correct myself: that'd be "me gustan los tacos."

There's that saying, "the best thing since sliced bread". What was the bees knees before that? Just bread?

Mhays wrote:I am also constantly amazed when among native Spanish speakers of different national origins how many ordinary words in one dialect can be subverted into a private body part in another.

I learned Spanish in Panama and then went to live in Mexico. Thank goodness Mexicans are so understanding when a gringo speaking Spanish with a déclassé Panamanian accent innocently says something grotesquely obscene. Screams of laughter were the usual result, gracias a Dios.

It was the hand gestures that got me into the most trouble.

For what it is worth, 26 years ago in Indianapolis, a good friend of mine's family put up an exchange student from Spain, Javier, to whom we introduced Mexican food. In that context, Javier told us that "tacos" meant "swear words" in "Spanish as spoken in Spain." Javier was amused that food would be called such a thing. Javier also liked to eat cold omelets. That is all.

Javier was right, tortilla espanola is delicious! Although cold eggs are a bit of a shock the first time.