This week’s podcast was all about travel and transport, but this time in Spanish. Below you’ll find links to transcripts.

But in this post, I wanted to point out some vocabulary which is highlighted in the Spanish transcript, and make a few comments.

Corrala: This is a communal living area built around a central open patio, often 2 or maybe 3 floors. So the building is square, as viewed from above and all the individual floors are connected via an exterior balcony. A corral is literally a place where you can keep your carriage (or carro), so you can imagine the carriages rolling in to the patio. A similar term is also used for the old 16th-17th century corrales de comedia, theatres designed in the same way. There are plenty of examples of these in Spain, most notably, from my point of view, Almagro The photos will give you an idea, even if you don’t speak Spanish.

Gilipolleces: It means nonsense, rubbish, but a cruder version of the word, which I won’t mention here, but might begin with a B in English… The story goes that in the early 17th Century, one of the advisors to the King of Spain was Don Gil (I forget his surname). He was seen as a figure of fun, and he and his two daughters would go out in their carriage and face the mockery of the public, possibly beacause he couldn’t find husbands for his “pollas“, as in the old meaning of a female chick, referring to his daughters, not the more vulgar meaning used today. So they would be referred to as Gil y sus pollas... Gilipollas, basically a vulgar term for an idiot.

Viaje, escapada, desplazamiento, salida: We talked about the differences between a short trip, a holiday, a journey, an excursion… So many words, so much pedantry on both sides! No, it’s not pedantry, they are different things, aren’t they? It helps to have the vocabulary at your fingertips to express yourself clearly. Interestingly, in English, we’d say a school trip, whereas in Spanish they would use excursión, though an excursion in English is more like a day trip that you take as a bit of a jolly. Just to make it more confusing.

Amenities: This has been appropriated by Spanish. Like in French they say le weekend. Steal our words, why don’t you!

Dolce far niente: A bit of Italian thrown in; the sweet pleasure of doing nothing!

Camping: This one is a particular bugbear of mine… In English we would say go camping, or to camp. They mean two different things. The first is like a holiday, and the other, though it can mean the same, is also used simply to mean staying in a tent; we camped out, or set up camp, maybe on military manoeuvres, for example. In Spanish the equivalents would be acampar, to camp, ir de camping, go camping. But to top it all, the campsite is called a camping! No, no, no, I say. Find your own word! (See amenities!)

Rapel: In British English we’d say abseiling, but something I didn’t know was that it’s called rappel in American English. So another new thing for me!

Masificado: Referring to mass tourism. There’s a lot of talk these days about the concept of masificación in terms of tourist destinations being overrun. So much so that any landmark is filled with tourists taking selfies and it’s impossible to enjoy the place you’re visiting. Coachloads of people, no free tables at restaurants, and especially in Spain, though probably the world over, the dramatic and seemingly unstoppable rise in rental prices for residents.

Desmadre: An interesting word, which has nothing directly to do with a mother (madre). It means chaos, something uncontrolled, but comes from the Latin, mater, meaning the main source or channel, the mother of something. So, with the des- prefix, indicating un- , it means moving away from the main, established order. So; chaos!

Sarten: Córdoba is the sartén de Andalucía, the frying pan of Spain, so pretty hot!

Paradores: parar means to stop, so these hotels take their name from the idea of a stopping place, maybe like the idea of an inn, historically speaking, (but nowadays much more luxurious!)

y pico: I like this one. It serves to express and a bit, without specifying how much. In the podcast the year 1100 y pico is mentioned, which could be 1110, 1120… Who knows!

Forfait: I wasn’t familiar with this word. Apparently it comes from French and refers to a package deal, a pass, like you may get at a ski resort, where it’s all-inclusive, passes, equipment and so on. So I learnt something new. Having no experience of ski resorts, I forgive myself for not knowing the word!

Kalimotxo: A frightful, in my opinion, drink of red wine and cola. If the spelling doesn’t look very Spanish, it’s not. It’s Euskera, or Basque, as the drink originated in Bilbao (or Bilbo). In Castillian Spanish it would be calimocho.

So there you go. A few little titbits to chew on.

This is a link to the Spanish Transcript, and English Translation. A couple of notes: in the Spanish transcript, the questions are not preceeded by a ¿ , as they should technically be. Hopefully this won’t detract. In the English translation, the spelling is American English. Apologies for any inadvertent errors in either. Honestly, it was a question of time. They will give you the gist, though.

PODCAST

Podcast in Spanish this week! Transportes y Viajar

Also on Spotify and Espanglisher on Pocket Casts

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