WHISKEY!!

No, actual whiskey has not been a part of my HNGR experience (although EVERYONE knows who Jack Daniels is). Just the word – quite often, actually. It’s the Spanish equivalent of saying “Cheese!” when taking a picture here! – “WHISKEYYYY!”

There are quite a few sayings, phrases, and words that I’ve had fun figuring out here … and sometimes literally translating words just doesn’t cut it. The following is a little catalogue of just a few of these expressions. Some of them are unique to Andahuaylas, others are common in all of Peru (so I’m told), others are just your average Spanish … but I must say that I was pretty excited when a Peruvian that I met in Bolivia told me I speak Spanish like an Andahuaylina!!

“Ya no ya”: At first I was so confused – does it mean yeah or no or yeah?? Well, literally, it means “now no now” … So it means no. Like if you’ve finished eating and you’re asked if you’d like more – ya no ya, I’m full.

“Salud!”: Literally means “Health!” It’s the Spanish equivalent of “God bless you” in response to a sneeze. Which makes a lot more sense to me, actually.

“Así??”: Means “thus” … or kind of like “Really?” But I swear it’s the most common response to any statement ever made here. I found my pen. Así?! I can’t find Lupe. Así?? I love you. Así???!!

“No más”: Literally means “no more” … but if someone says “Come no más” (eat no more) it doesn’t mean stop eating – it means START eating! Just EAT for goodness sake!

“Carajo!”: No literal translation here. It’s some kind of expression of being annoyed or … really an expression of any strong feeling, I think. Kind of like “Geez!”

“Pues …”: Means “Well …”, but this word is seriously used in EXCESS here. It’s a fill-in when you want to make a point, basically. Did you find her? Sí, pues. Do you want to go with me? Claro, pues. Are you you mad at me? No, pueeeeees!

“Oye!”: Can be “Hey!” or “Ouch!” or “Dog, drop the food you just put in your mouth!” I was so excited the first time that “oye!” was my genuine response to stubbing my toe ☺

“Asuuuuu …”: Probably my host mom’s most common expression. It means something like “wooooow …” … or Nigeria folk, it kind of reminds me of “kai!”

Ito/ita: Ok, this is ridiculous here. People add ita/ito to the end of EVERY noun! It is generally used to imply that something is small – like a small perro (dog) is a perrito. But here it’s not uncommon to hear someone say something like “Estita chicitita flacita está viniendo con su perrita pequeñita, que lindita!” (This little girl who is a little skinny is coming with her little dog who is a little tiny, how littely cute!) A little overboard sometimes.

Azo/aza: This is another common prefix. It’s basically the opposite of ito/ita, implying that something is HUGE. The other day on the way to work I heard a little boy go “Mira esa ALTAZA!!!” Look at that HUGELY TALL woman!! I laughed. But even better was to get a hug from a good friend who greeted me as her “amigaza” ☺

Mamá: At first I was really confused when I said “Gracias, Mamá” only to have her respond “De nada, mami.” Why was SHE calling ME mami?? Turns out everyone calls EVERYONE Mamá or Papá! It is not uncommon to hear a mother trying to calm her screaming infant son by saying “Tranquilo, Papá.”

“Porfies!”: Haha, for all of you who have been aggravated by my abbreviations in the past … imagine my excitement when I found out that I can do it bilingually!! Porfies is short for “por favor.”

Papito Lindo: One time, my host dad was asking me to translate common names for God into English. Señor? Lord, I told him. Padre? Father, I told him. Amado Dios? Beloved God, I told him. Papito lindo? Ummm … Well, literally that means something like Beautiful Daddy … but we don’t really use that one, I told him. As I reflected on it, though, I realized that I really like that one. I don’t think we really capture that view of God as “Abba” very accurately in English.

Learning another language forces you to think a lot about your own language … and to discover that when you only spoke one language, you couldn’t express certain things that you can now! It is a really enriching process … although tedious and humbling as well. Our HNGR covenant expresses the desire to see “as through the facets of a diamond, the beautiful spectrum of [God’s] light.” I am thankful that Spanish and Andahuaylan culture have revealed to me another facet of that light. Gracias, Papito Lindo!