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jaybear

Mar 9, 2007, 6:05 AM

Post #1 of 13 (6225 views)

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can't read my t-shirt?

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My Ajijic t-shirt, which I bought because (a) it is pretty and (b) I needed more t-shirts for the coming hot weather, says "Lugar donde suena el agua." With my limited Spanish, I thought this meant something like "place where the water dreams." A local shopkeeper said he could not understand what it said, and now I am unsure. Could someone help me with this?

quevedo

Mar 9, 2007, 6:22 AM

Post #2 of 13 (6219 views)

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Re: [jaybear] Your translation...

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... is correct.

Saludos,

Quevedo

esperanza

Mar 9, 2007, 6:23 AM

Post #3 of 13 (6219 views)

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Re: [jaybear] can't read my t-shirt?

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"Suena" comes from the verb sonar, to sound or to play (as in music).

"Sueña" comes from the verb soñar, to dream.

So el lugar donde el agua suena is, loosely translated, the place where the water plays.

Edited to add: cross post with Sr. Quevedo. Querido amigo, que piensas?

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

(This post was edited by esperanza on Mar 9, 2007, 6:25 AM)

jaybear

Mar 9, 2007, 3:12 PM

Post #4 of 13 (6191 views)

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Re: [esperanza] can't read my t-shirt?

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As long as it does not translate as "place where they play in the water" I guess I'm safe against accusations of false advertising. Whew!

Thanks!

bunny

Mar 9, 2007, 6:49 PM

Post #5 of 13 (6182 views)

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Re: [jaybear] can't read my t-shirt?

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Jaybear, I just love the heading of your post. I can so relate.

Gretchen

PS: Just bopped over to your profile, and like you even better.

(This post was edited by bunny on Mar 9, 2007, 7:47 PM)

jaybear

Mar 10, 2007, 4:51 AM

Post #6 of 13 (6163 views)

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Re: [bunny] can't read my t-shirt?

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Thanks, Gretchen! I need all the friends I can get. Now that I have successfully translated my first t-shirt in Spanish, I am headed over to the Chapala pier to buy another t-shirt I don't understand. They have lots! With such interesting cartoons!

quevedo

Mar 10, 2007, 6:37 AM

Post #7 of 13 (6158 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Can't read my t-shirt?

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Oops. I think you're right, Esperanza. As it is usual for non-Spanish speakers to write down the Ñ as N, perhaps I made the mistake of reading suena as sueña. So, if it is suena, the water sounds; if sueña, it dreams.

(In my particular case, I sound as I dream: I snore.)

Quevedo

(This post was edited by quevedo on Mar 10, 2007, 9:23 PM)

sfmacaws

Mar 10, 2007, 8:54 AM

Post #8 of 13 (6152 views)

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Re: [jaybear] can't read my t-shirt?

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Careful with those t-shirts you don't understand. I've seem some really, really crude ones in the market in GDL. OK, I admit it, I even bought one for a friend. He is Cuban and laughed but said he'd never wear it. About a year later he told me he gave it to his sister's novio at the bachelor party, he said it was perfect. I think that t-shirt will have a long life as it gets passed along but never worn.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Bloviator

Mar 10, 2007, 1:46 PM

Post #9 of 13 (6137 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] can't read my t-shirt?

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It works the other way also. I'm frequently bemused by the filth that is expressed in English on some of the T shirts worn by virginal looking young girls here. Do they have mothers? Do their mothers know any English? Do their mothers care? Do we live in an all new world? Is the Mexican family disintegrating the way it has Nob?

jaybear

Mar 10, 2007, 2:06 PM

Post #10 of 13 (6133 views)

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Re: [dlyman6500] can't read my t-shirt?

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Often workers at our house often wear t-shirts with English expressions they do not understand. However, sometimes they understand them, but do not take them seriously. Our 26-year-old housekeeper was wearing one last week that said "Sexy Chick" and we kidded her about it; to her, it was all in fun. The best one we saw last week was on a very attractively endowed young lady at IMSS, whose close-fitting black t-shirt bore the legend across the breasts "silicone free." My husband wanted to test to see if that was true, but I restrained him. Believe me, she knew what it meant. Remember in our day when girls were called a "tease"? I think they still do a lot of teasing here.

jerezano

Mar 10, 2007, 4:22 PM

Post #11 of 13 (6125 views)

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Re: [jaybear] can't read my t-shirt?

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Hello,

An amiga here in Jerez was wearing a T shirt with the legend in English "They're bigger than they look".

I translated that for her and she has never worn it since.

Nor did she give me the opportunity to find out.

Adiós. jerezano.

Bloviator

Mar 11, 2007, 6:45 AM

Post #12 of 13 (6107 views)

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Re: [jerezano] can't read my t-shirt?

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My all time favorite was a very big breasted twentyish woman with a shirt that said in Oklahoma University colors - OKLA (lots and lots of cleavage) HOMA.

wendy devlin

Mar 13, 2007, 4:45 PM

Post #13 of 13 (6067 views)

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Re: [dlyman6500] can't read my t-shirt?

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ahhhhhhhhh...T=shirt culture?

Although tend to believe, although, many people buy T-shirts for 'what they say' , a statement as it were.

Some of us end up wearing certain T-shirts for comfort, somewhat oblivious or uncaring as to what we may or may not be stating:)

Example:, a young buck in Melaque, sporting a T-shirt....which said:
'TAKE BACK the NIGHT".
( remember the U.S. campaign re women being able to go out at night...without fear if rape or being molested...

Pretty sure, the guy might have been surprised at the 'message of his T-shirt)