Friday, September 2, 2011

Word play

Though I speak Spanish there are still thousands of words that I don't know. I don't study vocabulary anymore I just pick it up along the way as occasions demand. Since arriving I have learned several words.

Thanks to some car trouble I learned the word for spring (resorte), shock absorbers (amortiguadores), and suspension (amortiguaciĆ³n).

I have also been looking at cars to buy. In doing so I came across what might be my new favorite Spanish word: quemacoco. This is a compound word that I couldn't quite figure out. The first part, quema, comes from the verb "to burn." The second, coco, is the word for coconut. However, coco is also a slang term for one's head. Hence, the term quemacoco means something like "head burner." Which still isn't all that clear when applied to a car. I suppose if you think long enough about what part of a car might burn your head and that someone selling the car might want to highlight you might come up with the answer.

That's right, it's a sunroof.

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