Forums > Specific Focus > Learning Spanish

1 2 3 View All

rayitodeluna

May 25, 2011, 10:22 PM

Post #1 of 65 (12194 views)

Shortcut

Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

I'm curious to see what your favorite mexican sayings are! Google search would indeed turn some up for me, but that isn't as fun as hearing the reasoning behind what your personal favorites are!

I'm wondering because A) So far the mexican sayings I have heard are fun, witty, and oh so true! B) I'm starting a family blog/living in Mexico blog and C) why not!?

The only one I quote in real life is :"Panza llena, corazon contenta" - "Full stomach, happy heart" (no tildas on my laptop, excuse me). Mostly because I grew up in a culture that looked down upon eating "too much" and many people (not generalizing here, speaking from experience of the people I know) have issues with enjoying food, and sometimes life, because of other people's expectations and judgements.

Your favorite?

~~~~~~ Enjoying life in northern D.F. with our family of Americans and chilangos.
Family and expat blog here : http://threecurlygirlys.blogspot.mx/ ~~~~~~

rayitodeluna

May 25, 2011, 10:47 PM

Post #2 of 65 (12170 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Esperanza - look what comes up when you google "panza llena, corazon contenta" !!
http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/...ach-happy-heart.html

I loved it! Epecially this one you posted:
El hambre es la buena, no la comida. Hunger is the good thing, not the food

Anonimo

May 26, 2011, 3:21 AM

Post #3 of 65 (12160 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

No tilde necessary. An accent over the "o" in corazón, sí.

Saludos,
Anonimo

esperanza

May 26, 2011, 4:42 AM

Post #4 of 65 (12153 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Glad you liked it, rayito. Kitchen sayings are some of the most fun!

Psst...it's panza llena, corazón contento. No tildes. (The tilde is the one over an ñ.)

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

rayitodeluna

May 26, 2011, 7:28 AM

Post #5 of 65 (12115 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Anonimo] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

You will both have to excuse the "I'm posting past midnight as a mother of two under two when I should be sleeping and my 1 month old is nursing at the moment" grammar mistakes : ) . I meant accent (the straight not the squiggly one) as I can't do that on my computer either without inserting a large space into the middle of the word : corazo`n - see how strange that looks?! Or perhaps I just don't know how to use my computer to it's fullest potential. Any tips on using a NOTB laptop to insert both accents and tildas?!

~~~~~~ Enjoying life in northern D.F. with our family of Americans and chilangos.
Family and expat blog here : http://threecurlygirlys.blogspot.mx/ ~~~~~~

cbviajero

May 26, 2011, 8:15 AM

Post #6 of 65 (12100 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Mas vale bien comido que bien vestido,asi pasa cuando sucede,el valiente existe hasta que el cobarde quiere, there are too many to list,there is a great little paperback titled Dichos,dicharachos y refranes mexicanos by Jose Perez I got mine at a Soriana
Regards
Chris.

Goyo

May 26, 2011, 8:26 AM

Post #7 of 65 (12097 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

I like "chinga" anything.

richmx2

May 26, 2011, 11:38 AM

Post #8 of 65 (12053 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Anonimo] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

In ENGLISH a "tilde" is the virgule over a letter, as in the Spanish letter "ñ". En español, una tilde es cuelquier accento orthográphico. (as the "á" in orthográphico).

WOW... this is the second mention of a tilde in two days. You can't input them into a U.S. laptop keyboard with the usual "ALT+ASCII CODE" trick, so — when I was working mostly on a laptop — I used to have a little message apogizing for the lack of accent marks automatically appended to my emails. Someone once since a longish reply questioning my use of "tilde" in Spanish, and I had to look it up. And that is your trivial pursuit for the day.

http://mexfiles.net
http://voiceofmexico.com
http://editorialmazatlan.com

norteño

May 26, 2011, 11:47 AM

Post #9 of 65 (12050 views)

Shortcut

Re: [richmx2] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Es mejor pedir perdón que permiso.

Rolly

May 26, 2011, 12:10 PM

Post #10 of 65 (12044 views)

Shortcut

Re: [richmx2] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

There is an easy way to deal with tildes, accent marks, and even fractions.
It is a free add-in program for Windows that lurks in the background waiting for you to click the activation key to insert what ever you need. á ñ ½ ¾ ¿
Go here for a quick download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/allchars/

Rolly Pirate

Sculptari

May 26, 2011, 12:42 PM

Post #11 of 65 (12030 views)

Shortcut

Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Esperanza - you once told me a good one on another forum;
What was the Mexican equivalent of "If you lie down with dogs, you pick up their fleas"

You replied "When you Run with the Wolves, You Pick up Their Ways"
Which makes a lot more sense, and is closer to the truth.

Did you ever come up with more kitchen ones, as mentioned in your article?

Here's an original:

MI CASA ES SU CASA
minus brokerage fees and closing costs...

(This post was edited by Sculptari on May 26, 2011, 12:45 PM)

La Isla

May 26, 2011, 1:11 PM

Post #12 of 65 (12024 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Here's one I like that I recently learned from one of my English students:

"Hay gente que nace con estrella y gente que nace estrellada."

johang

May 26, 2011, 1:55 PM

Post #13 of 65 (12014 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Any tips on using a NOTB laptop to insert both accents and tildas?!

The simplest for folks who do it infrequently is to hold down the Alt key and type a sequence of digits on your keypad. On my machine it only works if I use the keypad.

ALT 0241 gets you ñ
ALT 0237 gets you í
ALT 0243 gets you ó

Full list here : Numeric codes for Spanish Characters

There are more complicated ways useful for people who do it a lot listed here: How to use Spanish Character on an English keyboard

Johan....If we all do a little we can do a lot. Visit our little corner of paradise at the Jaltemba Jalapeño.

johang

May 26, 2011, 1:59 PM

Post #14 of 65 (12012 views)

Shortcut

Re: [rayitodeluna] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

My favourite is:

Si todos hacemos un poco, entre todos hacemos mucho - If we all do a little we can do a lot. - or more literally - If everyone does a little between us we do a lot.

Johan....If we all do a little we can do a lot. Visit our little corner of paradise at the Jaltemba Jalapeño.

mazbook1

May 26, 2011, 3:53 PM

Post #15 of 65 (11986 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Anonimo] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Anonimo and esperanza, Sorry, but the OP is correct. IN SPANISH all diacritical marks (diacritics), those that we call accent marks, cedillas, circumflexes, tildes and others that I don't know the specific English name for, are called tildes. This confused me no end when I was a regular participant on WordReference Spanish-English forums when the native Spanish speakers would refer to all to them as tildes, which, as esperanza says, is just the little squiggle above the n in the enye (ñ) IN ENGLISH.

Anonimo

May 27, 2011, 12:59 AM

Post #16 of 65 (11923 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Thanks. I learned something new.

Saludos,
Anonimo

esperanza

May 27, 2011, 6:54 AM

Post #17 of 65 (11904 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Mazbook1, there are big differences of opinion re what you posted. See this thread:

http://forum.wordreference.com/...thread.php?t=2024994

As in many things, usage is different here in Mexico from usage in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries. So...just sayin'.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

jerezano

May 27, 2011, 8:39 AM

Post #18 of 65 (11884 views)

Shortcut

Re: [johang] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hello all,
johang asked for any tips about being able to put tildes on Spanish words.

This is so easy to do on a computer using Windows that it isn't funny. Go to your Control Panel, then to Keyboards, and in Keyboards which is usually set to English (US) change to English International. Back out clidking OK to all subsequent queries.

Done. From now on you have two things to remember:

1. When writing in English and you need an ' or a " you must put a space after striking the key. If not you will get all kinds of strange characters.

2. When you want to put a tilde on something just hold an alternate key and strike the letter. áéíóú ñ ¿¡ etc. What could be easier?

Now to complicate matters a bit: If you want the tilde on a capital letter you must hold down an alternate key and the shift key and strike your letter ÁÉÍÓÚ.

One more complication: If you want the two dots over the u you hold down the alternate and strike y and you get ü . For a capital the alternate and the shift and strike the y and you get the Ü. Still simple isn't it?

As ever, jerezano

mazbook1

May 27, 2011, 5:29 PM

Post #19 of 65 (11832 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

esperanza, this particular discussion in WordReference sounds very much like the ones years ago when I was actively participating. Even folks from the same country don't agree with each other. I guess it just depends on what school you went to. Me, I tend to go with the RAE if at all possible, and except for some very specifically Mexican words, they have proven to be correct every time.

At least one of the biggies concerning acentos ortográficos / tildes – accent marks / tildes is that the Mexican government at one time ruled (and ordered taught in all the schools) that capital letters shouldn't have accent marks. There was quite an uproar about this in the Spanish speaking world and a few years ago in the WordReference forums. Thankfully, our government withdrew from that stand a few years ago and now teaches kids to properly put the accent marks on both lowercase and uppercase letters. However, there are a couple of generations of Mexicans who were taught this, so it's going to take a long time to straighten out. Most legal documents are still being written in all caps, just to avoid having to put accent marks where needed. Hopefully, as typewriters die out and computer become more universal, this practice will die out.

Flaekingur

May 27, 2011, 6:02 PM

Post #20 of 65 (11828 views)

Shortcut

Re: [jerezano] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

On my computer, Windows 7, going to Control Panel - Keyboard only gives me a window to change the "repeat Rate" and "Cursor blink Rate". No language window.
I go to Control Panel- "Region and Language" and add "Spanish Mexico" to the language list. It then puts a language button on the lower right corner, next to the speaker icon. clicking the button changes my keyboard to Spanish. I then added the Spanish characters to the apropriate keyboard buttons with a fine tip permanent white pen.
Al

esperanza

May 28, 2011, 5:31 AM

Post #21 of 65 (11784 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Mazbook1, what you posted about the 'Mexican government ordering that there be no accents on capital letters' is not the story I know. Unless you can quote me chapter and verse of the order, I'm sticking with what my Mexican friends have told me: back when type was set by hand, there was no room between the lines for an accent on a capital letter and people, including sign painters, simply picked up on what they saw in the newspapers. It's still pretty much the case. Upper case, that is: you still rarely see an accent on the capitalized letters of any written word.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

jerezano

May 28, 2011, 6:57 AM

Post #22 of 65 (11770 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Flaekingur] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hello Flaekingur and all,

I am using Windows 7 professional.

Go to Control Panel then Clock, Language & Region then Change Keyboard, and on the General tab you will find English (US) as your setup keyboard as it came from the factory; but looking down the list you will find a United States International keyboard option listed. Click that to change your keyboard. Click OK and back out clicking OK until you get back to your normal desktop.

From now on you can add accents and tildes as I have stated above in a previous post.

That is certainly a lot easier than adding the Spanish Keyboard option and then having to mark keys.l

Try it. Let me know by private message if you are having trouble and I will walk you through the process.

As ever, jerezano

RickS

May 28, 2011, 7:17 AM

Post #23 of 65 (11761 views)

Shortcut

Re: [jerezano] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

This option does not appear to be supported in Windows XP Home Addition....

jerezano

May 28, 2011, 7:44 AM

Post #24 of 65 (11747 views)

Shortcut

Re: [RickS] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hello RickS and all,

The opetion I have suggested to put accents on Spanish words has been available in all editions of Windows since Windows 3.

Unfortunately I no longer have Windows XP available to me here in Mexico although my computer in the US still runs that program so I am unable to walk anyone with Windows XP through the option. Nevertheless it is there in Windows XP you just have to look for it. Start by going to Control Panel and look carefully at all options there. If that doesn't work see if you can find a Regional Settings somewhere.

As ever, jerezano

Good luck. jerezano

Papirex

May 28, 2011, 8:26 AM

Post #25 of 65 (11736 views)

Shortcut

Re: [RickS] Favorite mexican sayings?

Can't Post | Private Reply

I have been using the English International keyboard for several years in all of my computers. My laptop has the XP home edition OS. It is harder to find the English International Keyboard for XP Home edition, but it is there. I learned a couple of new tricks from Jerezanos post, mainly the easy way to get the “upside down” question mark and exclamation mark, ¿ ¡.

I also press the comma key ' before any vowel to get the accent mark above it, thus, á é í ó ú. That is handy if you want to spell México with the accent mark above the E.

After anyone enables the English International Keyboard, open your word processor, and experiment. You can always delete everything.

It is very simple to use, you don't even need to think about it when typing English words. I have also enabled the Spanish keyboard to be able to use the degree symbol, ° sometimes, as in 70° Fahrenheit. I wish the degree symbol was easier to use, but I haven't been able to find it, except when using The Spanish keyboard, you press the tilde key.

Good luck, Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

1 2 3 View All