Comments on: In the Garlic – Spain from A – Z

By: Margot

Margot — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:10:37 +0000

Just stumbled upon this post (a year later evidently) and ordered the book from Amazon. Armed with both your wonderful new compendium of expressions and this – I’ll have no excuse to not sound like a native (HA!….that’ll be the day tho’ hope springs eternal.as I creep toward that ever receding goal…….

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:13:55 +0000

OK, so I think you got all of them amongst you, but just to clarify the books answers:

Llave inglesa – monkey wrench
pataleo – throwing a tantrum
piñata – cardboard box filled with sweets, hung from the ceiling and bashed by kids with sticks until the sweets fall out
selectividad – university entrance exam
callista – chiropodist
dominguero – sunday drivers/trippers
Ikastola – Basque school

So, do you need the book or not ?

By: Theresa

Theresa — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:03:52 +0000

Llave inglesa: monkey wrench

Pataleo: A temper tantrum

Piñata: papier mache figure filled with candies, hung from a rope. Blindfolded kids hit it with a stick to break it open.

Selectividad: The exam you must take to get into college in Spain.

Callista: A colloquial way of saying podologist.

Dominguero: Spaniard out for a Sunday in the countryside. Usually you find whole families who park their cars and set up their little folding table next to them to have their lunch, and they cause most of the traffic jams when returning home on Sunday evenings.

Ikastola: Special schools in the Basque country where people send their kids to learn Basque and to soak up Basque culture.

Did I pass? Now, can you tell me who Marisol was, who sings “Mi Carro”, and who did the comedy sketch “Empanadillas de Móstoles”?

By: Edith

Edith — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:44:15 +0000

I just read one of the book’s excerpts, ‘Con Franco vivíamos mejor’ by author Valerie Collins. It never ceases to amaze me how much Spain has changed over the past few decades – kudos to this country for re-joining the European family so fast and so well. Telling is story is an excellent antidote to the prejudiced, anti-Spanish attitudes which still exist in some parts of Europe (—> ‘Spanish people are lazy, undemocratic and inefficient’). Astonishingly, the former GDR (DDR – German Democratic Republic) is still lagging behind in many respects, due to its economic recession.

By: Edith

Edith — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:26:27 +0000

Wow, this book should be on any vocab fiend’s wish list! I only knew the meaning of ‘llave inglés’ and ‘piñata’ (which is a household word in Mexico).

By: luke

luke — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:06:38 +0000

Accepting “Sunday driver” as correct, we’ve got another defn of Dominguero: “someone who likes to party a lot”.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:13:41 +0000

I have had personal experience of llave ingles, my neigrbour threatened me with one, but having fights with neighbours is not exactly a good method I would recommend for learning Spanish

By: Sakkio

Sakkio — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:04:35 +0000

Llave inglesa: adjustable wrench.
Pataleo: temper tantrum.
Piñata: piñata.
Selectividad: sat or act
Callista: never heard this one before but my grandfather was a podologo.
Dominguero: sunday driver.
Ikastola: euskara for school.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 09:06:15 +0000

Uuuum? Must confess to only knowing four, so perhaps I should buy it! Only yesterday in a class “dar el callo” came up in a text, but I still didn’t get callista, I’d have put podólogo. However, I see callista is perfectly acceptable.
Ikastola is of Basque origin, so I’ll forgive myself for not knowing that! I’ve always like dominguero, here they normally wear a flat cap as well! Can you keep the examples coming, save me buying the book, I’ve already got far too many!