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Rolly

Feb 9, 2005, 2:03 PM

Post #1 of 18 (2468 views)

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My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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When I first moved to Lerdo, I felt a bit lost in the grocery store trying to read labels, so I started making a list of food words I needed to learn. My list grew much faster than my learning. As I searched various lexicons and dictionaries on-line, I quickly saw that none of them was complete and many of them conflicted. So I decided to try to sort through it all and create my own. It seems like I have been working on this monster all my life, but now it is mostly done.

I invite you to take a look. I also invite comments, suggestions of words to be added, mistakes to be corrected, etc. I have verified each definition with at least two sources, so I am more concerned about omissions, but there still might be definition errors. I have tried to focus on Mexican usage, but I'm sure some South American and European Spanish has crept in. I know there must be a lot of regional expressions that I have not found; please share with me any you know. I plan to keep banging away on this.

http://rollybrook.com/lexicon.htm

It's pretty long, so the download will take a minute or so. Hang in there.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

(This post was edited by Rolly on Feb 10, 2005, 7:16 AM)

Uncle Jack

Feb 9, 2005, 2:37 PM

Post #2 of 18 (2456 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Rolly, that is going to be one great resource. How long have you been working on this?

uj

Rolly

Feb 9, 2005, 3:12 PM

Post #3 of 18 (2449 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Hi Jack,

I've been working on it off and on for four or five years, but really seriously only for the past three or four months.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

Carol Schmidt

Feb 9, 2005, 8:39 PM

Post #4 of 18 (2435 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Fantastic page, Rolly! I did check for one word we saw on herb plants for sale this week in San Miguel but you don't have it, either, and neither did any dictionary I checked: The word was ruda, and the herb looked a bit like the basil next to it, but definitely a separate kind of herb. Anyone know what ruda is?

Carol Schmidt

Rolly

Feb 10, 2005, 6:51 AM

Post #5 of 18 (2426 views)

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Re: [Carol Schmidt] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Thanks Carol.

Ruda = rue

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

viejomalogato

Feb 12, 2005, 6:21 AM

Post #6 of 18 (2393 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Thank you for all the hard work. As a newbe I find this resource to be invaluable.
Richard

elgringomudo

Feb 13, 2005, 4:23 PM

Post #7 of 18 (2365 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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That's pretty good! I'm gonna go ahead and use the 30 pages to print it off, I know a few Americans (like me) who have trouble reading Mexican cookbooks & vice versa.

BTW, here's a few to add to your list

mojarra = perch
bagre = catfish
charales = what we would call smelts although I don't believe they're actually the same fish.

I ate a couple of mojarras yesterday (only 69 cents a pound so my nephew dragged over 15 of 'em)! I also discovered it's very hard to stuff a perch, the spine goes down the middle of the fish...
Ned Carlson Triode Electronics Chicago,IL USA
Fighting bad sound and electronic ignorance since
1985 (sorry, folks, it's taking a little longer than I thought)

Caarina12

Feb 15, 2005, 10:00 AM

Post #8 of 18 (2342 views)

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Re: [elgringomudo] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Rolly,
What a great resource!!! I hope that some of these suggestions/corrections will help you.

Here are some cross references for you:
apricot: chabacano (Mexico)
junk food: comida chatarra
onion scallion: cebollita
straw (for drinking): popote

corrections (mostly just spelling):
snail: caracol
hot to taste: picante
romeritos: a fresh green, similar in appearance to rosemary, but used cooked in sauces, especially during Lent and Christmas.

Congratulations on this great site!
Caarina

Rolly

Feb 15, 2005, 1:39 PM

Post #9 of 18 (2330 views)

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Re: [Caarina12] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Thanks to all for your much appreciated help. I need all the help I can get. I'm sure I don't have all the words yet, and I'm sure they are not all spelled right. I can't spell or type well, and it looks like I'm not even very good at copying. I think my true calling would be as a professional eater. Smile

Rolly

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

elgringomudo

Feb 15, 2005, 8:45 PM

Post #10 of 18 (2314 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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OK, here's some more:

suadero = a beef cut,I don't know what part of the cow it's from
huarache= A really big tostada sold in Mexico City
nance = sour cherry
winny = in Chihuahua, means a hot dog. Pronounced like English "weenie"
deshebrada= Shredded beef in chile sauce, a typical burrito filling
tinga = Like deshebrada but from further south in the country
cafetera = coffee pot or coffee machine
hielero = ice chest or Igloo cooler
salsa inglesa = Worcestershire sauce
michelada = drink made from beer, salsa inglesa, Maggi sauce, and lime juice in a salt-rimmed glass
charanda = cane liquor from Michoacan
sotol = a version of mezcal made from a type of maguey grown in Chihuahua
sazon = seasoning powder, like barbeque rub
sazon de la cocinera (cocinero)= "the cook's touch"
suiza = Swiss, means it's got cream on it, like enchiladas suizas
conejo pimentado = Haasenpfeffer. This phrase is my invention, created as part of a conversation trying to explain German food to a Mexican (but it's a direct translation from the German). I think I called sauerkraut repollo fermentado but I believe there's a correct Spanish name for sauerkraut.

Professional eater would be a great job in Mexico if you could get paid for it...maybe you could get a job with the Zagat guide.. ;-)
Ned Carlson Triode Electronics Chicago,IL USA
Fighting bad sound and electronic ignorance since
1985 (sorry, folks, it's taking a little longer than I thought)

husker

Feb 17, 2005, 10:36 AM

Post #11 of 18 (2289 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Rolly, Try looking at this web site and see if it offers some thing you can use Http://lingolex.com/spanish.htm scroll down to engish-spanish food glossary. Enjoyed your source.

elgringomudo

Feb 17, 2005, 11:32 PM

Post #12 of 18 (2273 views)

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Re: [husker] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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In Reply To

Rolly, Try looking at this web site and see if it offers some thing you can use Http://lingolex.com/spanish.htm scroll down to engish-spanish food glossary. Enjoyed your source.

Only problem with that is it's really an British English to Spanish Spanish translator (eg: they call eggplant aubergine)! He'll need this site to translate the English to American: http://www.effingpot.com/food.shtml

A Spanish Spanish to Mexican Spanish and an auto parts dictionary would be useful, too.
Ned Carlson Triode Electronics Chicago,IL USA
Fighting bad sound and electronic ignorance since
1985 (sorry, folks, it's taking a little longer than I thought)

Rolly

Feb 18, 2005, 6:23 AM

Post #13 of 18 (2270 views)

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Re: [elgringomudo] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Hi Ned,

One of the things that prompted me to undertake the food lexicon is that most of the ones I found on the internet are British English to European Spanish.

I think I'll take a pass on the auto parts idea. I've never been much of a mechanic. But I am working on one for building tools and materials. For this one I'm trying a different idea -- an illustrated lexicon. Stay tuned.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

Carron

Feb 18, 2005, 7:35 AM

Post #14 of 18 (2266 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Of course things also change from region to region here in Mexico as well.

The first employee Christmas party I attended at the University of chiapas where I worked required that each instructor not only attend but also bring some kind of covered dish. Since I was on a tight budget and would not get my aguinaldo until after the party, I decided to go with what I had in the pantry and that ended up to be an elbow macaroni salad with canned tuna fish and lots of veggies. I decorated the top with sliced canned jalapenos, red and green, arranged to look like a large poinsettia. I figured I would wow everyone with my NOB dish.

Imagine when there were about 6 more macaroni salads on the groaning board! Everyone nodded their heads approvingly and declared my dish a very familiar ensalada de coditos. Elbow salad.

Last week I took a similar salad to a luncheon for Mexican women here in northern Coahuila, just across the river from Del Rio, Texas.

When I told them the dish was ensalada de coditos, they asked very puzzled "a salad of elbows?"

Cynthia7

Feb 18, 2005, 6:31 PM

Post #15 of 18 (2252 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Rolly - I think an illustrated one would be great. I have an old Oxford-Duden pictorial Spanish and English Dictionary and I use it all of the time. A picture says a lot more that a word!! Thanks for the food lexicon..............

ncferret

Feb 19, 2005, 8:23 AM

Post #16 of 18 (2239 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Rolly,

That is one fantastic site you have created. I added it as a bookmark as I'm sure I will use it.

How about doing the same for car parts :)

Thanks!
Dave

Rolly

Feb 19, 2005, 9:26 AM

Post #17 of 18 (2233 views)

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Re: [ncferret] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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Car parts -- ugh! That's two requests for car parts. Well, maybe. But I still have work to do on the food thing and the building tools and materials that I have just started.

I never though I'd move to Mexico to write dictionaries. Especially when i kent even spel.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

elgringomudo

Feb 19, 2005, 3:10 PM

Post #18 of 18 (2223 views)

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Re: [Rolly] My Spanish - English Mexican Food Lexicon

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In Reply To

Car parts -- ugh! That's two requests for car parts. Well, maybe.

I was only making a general comment that it'd be useful if someone did such a thing, not referring to you specifically.

In Reply To

But I still have work to do on the food thing and the building tools and materials that I have just started.
I never though I'd move to Mexico to write dictionaries. Especially when i kent even spel.

That's what usually happens in Mexico, you end up doing things you never imagined you'd do.

Hmmm...get someone to do some illustrations, maybe you could self-publish, like that Dr Effingpot. He claims to have sold 30,000 books so far, at £7 each, for £210,000 gross. (equivalent to about US$400,000). 210,000 quid is nice pile of pix of the Queen, if I do say so.
Ned Carlson Triode Electronics Chicago,IL USA
Fighting bad sound and electronic ignorance since
1985 (sorry, folks, it's taking a little longer than I thought)