sergiogomez
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Feb 4, 2009, 2:16 PM
Post #7 of 13
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Is the Mexican version of Spanish more descriptive?
In many ways, yes. Every country has its own version of Spanish, and for some reason I find Mexican Spanish particularly colorful. Part of it is the words borrowed from Nahuatl and other indigenous languages. Most of it is the Mexicans' love of playing with words, which often involves borrowing words from English and making up new words that describe--very bluntly--what an object does or looks like.
It's considered perfectly acceptable and lots of fun to invent a new word for something if you're not satisfied with the existing words for it. The problem is that all these new, fun words can't be found in any dictionary, because the dictionaries are usually written by "there is a proper Spanish and we should stick to that standard" people. So if "dictionary word" is what you mean by specific meaning, most Mexicans don't know the dictionary word.
My bf always cracks up when I pull out a big dictionary word. He counters with a handful of words that you won't find in any dictionary, and we have a good laugh. The average Mexican has an amazing vocabulary. The problem for learners is that most of that vocabulary isn't written down. Actually, I should take back what I said about Mexicans not knowing the dictionary word. They might not know it per se, but they know more or less what it means. I remember my bf and I were listening to a Rocío Dúrcal song once, and all of the sudden he says, "Mi amor, altivo es como presumido, o algo así?" The funny thing is we had listened to that song who knows how many times, and I just assumed he was familiar with all the words. Altivo, presumido, orgulloso, stuck-up. Mexican Spanish is all about coming up with as many ways as possible to say the same thing.
Tengo hambre, traigo hambre, ya no aguanto la p*** hambre...colorful, descriptive, and very Mexican. I'm off to get some chow. Maybe I'll try Carron's picadillo spaghetti recipe.
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