Ninth Radio Broadcast!

Living with Lola the dog was something new for sure, since I never had a pet in my life. The way Spaniards treat their dogs and how they walk them around without leashes inspired my ninth show on pets...which are called "Mascotas."

I have a couple interesting things to say about this broadcast...

You would wonder what they call mascots...they call them "mascotas" also. Although, mascots truly are an American concoction since their sports really don't have mascots.

The song used is "The Underdog" by Spoon. They don't have a translation for an underdog because it really doesn't exist. They don't have that cultural idea of surpassing mediocrity to get to greatness. That's an American concept.

Reindeer Syrup

I was talking to my host dad about typical breakfast food in America today, so of course I needed to talk about maple syrup. They don't really have that here, because they don't have maple trees.

I remember looking it up in the dictionary before, and it's "jarabe de arce" (syrup of maple). I kept saying that until he stopped me and said "Arce? Arce? When we think of Arce, we think of the animals that Santa Clause has."

So he was saying "arce" meant "reindeer." But I looked up maple in my dictionary to be sure and I was right, it was "arce." Reindeer was something completely different. But if that's what he calls reindeer, I have no way of describing maple.

I mean, I could draw a maple leaf, but it would most likely look like a marijuana leaf.

And I can't just point out the type of tree, because they don't have them.

It's something so abstract that you can't even describe the flavor...just that it is sweet, and goes well with pancakes.

"ooooh f**k."

Normally, on Tues. and Thur., I eat lunch with Carlos. I call him and hang up (it's free if he doesn't pick up) to notify him when I get on the bus to go home. Then I come home and the food is ready and we eat.

On Mondays/Wednesdays, I make a meal or take a tupperware of pasta/food to the internship and microwave it there.

So today, Wednesday, Carlos asked me the following (translation follows).

"Qué pasó hoy? Dónde estuviste? He esperado tu llamada por dos o tres horas, y hice la comida. Rocío estuvo aquí y comió, pero le dije “voy a esperar a Melissa.” Y esperé, y esperé, y después me dije “voy a comer ahora también, porque ahora tengo hambre!” Pero pensé en que era tú, y normalmente me mandas un mensaje si no puedes comer o algo, pero…ohhh Fuck. Es miércoles."

What happened today? Where were you? I awaited your call for two or three hours, and I made lunch. Rocio was here and ate, but I told her that I'd wait for you to eat. I waited and waited, then I was like "Now I'm gonna eat because I am hungry!" But I thought with you being you that you would send me a message or something if you couldn't get home and eat, but...oh fuck. It's wednesday."

And yes, he actually swore in English.

How does one translate "superfly"?

One of the technicians I work with at the radio station is younger, in his late 20s, and recently asked me to help him understand the lyrics of one of his favorite songs. Thing is, the song was "Pusherman" by Curtis Mayfield. Super 70s, super slang, and super hard to translate.


i'm your mamma, i'm your daddy
i'm that nigga in the alley
i'm your doctor, when in need
want some coke, have some weed
you know me, i'm your friend
your main boy, thick and thin
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

First I had to explain that the n-word should never EVER be repeated. He didn't understand why, and I just had to say it was very degrading to black people to be called such a thing. He was like "I thought it was the same as 'black'" and I was like " NO NO NO NO NO! Please oh please never call someone this. Please. It's very bad."
I also had to look up what exactly IS a pusherman. It is a person who pushes drugs, or something like that.
Then I had to explain thick and thin, and how it means that it means good and bad, and that this (unlike many slang words you will see in this song) is still acceptable to use in everyday conversation.




haha

ain't i clean, bad machine
super cool, super mean
feelin' good, for the man
Superfly, here i stand
secret stash, heavy bread
baddest bitches, in the bed

I completely ignored his request for translating superfly...I just said it meant cool or something. I also said "you will sound silly using this in every day language".
"What is 'stash'?" I explained it meant something you meant to hide...usually drugs or money. He was like "is it the same as 'stuff?'" No, no it is not.
He understood the last line...so we moved on.



i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

solid life, of crime
a man of odd circumstance
a victim of ghetto demands
feed me money for [style]
and i'll let you trip for a while
insecure from the past
how long can a good thing last?
woo-hoo, no
got to be mellow, y'all
gotta get mellow now
pusherman gettin' mellow y'all

"'Feed me money?' what does that mean?" It means get money...and a lot of it.
Trip was also an interesting translation. "No, not viaje, not travel" i said, but more like something with drugs. He thought it meant stoned, but I clarified that trip referred to more LSD type drugs.
I also threw in the phrase "you be trippin'" as a way to say someone is being crazy.



heavy mind, have you signed?
makin' money all the time
my [LD] entrusts me
for all junkies to see
ghetto prince is my thing
makin' love's how i swing
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman
huh

too bad, [Splee]
for a generous fee
make your world what you want it to be
got a woman i love desperately
wanna give her something better than me
been told i can't be nothin' else
just a hustler in spite of myself
i know i can rake it
this life just don't make it
lord, lord
got to get mellow now
gotta be mellow, y'all
got to get mellow now

"Andres," I said, "Rake in this case refers to receiving lots of cash."

i'm your mamma, i'm your daddy
i'm that nigga in the alley
i'm your doctor, when in need
want some coke, have some weed
you know me, i'm your friend
your man boy, thick and thin
i'm your pusherman
i'm your pusherman

Okay? Okay. Okay! OKAY!

The other day, Morgen called me after dinner. I was staring out the window in the family room, where Dante and Carlos were sitting.

Of course, Morgen and I were speaking English on the phone. She did most of the talking, so I was mostly saying "okay" over and over.

I turned around to look back at Carlos and Dante, and Dante had a huge grin on his face. He then started saying "Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay!" over and over again. He had no idea what he was saying.

Carlos was like: "Dante, sabes que significa okay? Es igual a vale, pero es la palabra en inglés." (Do you know what OKAY means? It´s the same as the word "vale", but in English)

Dante just kept repeating it over and over with a huge grin. It was super cute. Even when it started morphing into nonsense words, then eventually Carlos' nickname (koki). "Okay! okayokayokayokaykoh! kay! kayko! koki?"

Happily living with squirrels in your house

About animals...

I learned today that (spanish) people willingly have squirrels as pets...that live in their house. Ohhhhkay then.

Secondly, I learned the word for sloth in Spanish, which is "perezoso", which means lazy. Like, if I were to say "he is lazy" I would say "es perezoso." Apparently that is what sloths are called. I mean, it makes sense since sloth means laziness as well...but it's just funny!

Who cuts the cod 'round here?

"Quien corta el bacalao aqui?"=My new favorite Spanish colloquialism, both for its use of my favorite Spanish word: bacalao, and it's odd meaning.

Significance: Who is in charge.

Literal translation: Who cuts the cod around here?!

Can you repeat that?

Rocio and Carlos were telling me how their parents would mispronounce old movie actors from back in the day, and it was pretty funny...

John Wayne---Yon WHY-nay
Cary Grant---Cahr-ee Grahnt
Gary Cooper---Gah-ree Cop-poor
Humphrey Bogart--HOOMP-hay-ray BO-gurt

Radio Segment TWO, Live tomorrow!

Tomorrow, at 1:40 or 1:45, you can hear me play LIVE on Radio San Vicente via a live stream on their website.

It is 6:40am Chicago time, TOMORROW Thursday Jan 28th.

Just go to http://www.radiosanvicente.com/programas.php?user=__public__
and there is a bar that says "escuchanos"(listen to us) and if you click there, a popup with the streaming radio comes on.

But remember, it will be at that time, so I would advise listening around 6:30am or so.

Even if you don't understand what is being said, I think you'll know what it is when the fluent spanish speaker stops talking and you begin to hear a slow, poorly spoken 6 minute segment.

Enjoy!