Mí Blogíto
That is how a Costa Rican would refer to their blog.
"Blog-eeto", "i" is pronounced like "e" in Spanish.
ICE is "ee-say". ICE is our supplier for the good stuff (electric, phone, etc.)
Not the ice company as I thought when I first arrived here.
Back to "íto" (masculine) and "íta" (feminine)-
Ticos (Costa Ricans) are very calm, happy, gentle people. They don't have an army. They use their manners to an extreme. Especially with greetings. Typically, they don't yell at their kids and rarely will you see them hit their kids either. They correct with love. They are non-confrontational and will fib about something as not to hurt your feelings. In the restaurants, Tico restaurants, you have to "ask" for the check. They think it's rude and rushing you to bring the check without you asking for it. Little things like that. By adding "ito" or "ita" to a word is their way of softening it and making it gentle. "Darme un besíta." Give me a little kiss. It just sounds cute and sweet.
Por favor, regalarme un sand-wi-chí-to. Present me/gift me with a sandwich.
You always preface favors or requests with "por favor". It's rude not to.
Adiós is really "A Díos" (Ah Díos). As in "Vaya con Díos". Go with God.
...................Gracías a Díos...................
11 comments:
darme su attencione! :0 my spanish is AWFUL! But, I gotta say.... I really like reading your blog. A friend of mine just got back from Panama, and LOVED the life and people there. He and his wife are now thinking about CR.... for retirement. I have been preaching CR for 20 years now! They are suddenly figuring it out.... I think, that in the next 10-15 yrs, CR will be filled with Canadian ex-pats. Is this a good thing? .......
If you love Costa Rica,
Don't tell anybody.
I was writing to tell you in the email version all your 'itos' came thru as "atos" with a tilde above the A. Just wanted to let you know but read the other comments & I gotta say I agree with your comment. What will the place be in 5 more years?
Thanks Jen, how do you do the tilde thing? It was a real pain to put the accents in only for blogging to screw it up.
I think I've also heard them add "tico" and "tica" to the ending of some words...eg "gatico" for a kitten, or pocitico (for very little)? Have you heard this? If so, I wonder what the relation is to their being ticos and ticas. I guess in gringo-speak, a kitten would be called a catingo:)
Beth.
They talk so fast, how the heck can you understand what it is exactly. Check your Costa Rican book. Cat is ga-ti-to.
Pobrito Max. "po-bree-to"
Poor Max.
I know you know what I'm talking about. I miss ya Gringa!!
Aah...I found it in my CR book. Not my CR Spanish book, but "Choose CR for Retirement". "Tico/a is used as diminutives sometimes instead of "tito"...as in "monentico". It's not that common, but I THOUGHT I'd heard it...
Another example of CR super-politeness: you never hear "de nada". "Con mucho gusto" is much nicer. The first time a waitress said that, I quickly translated in my head and, viola, 60 seconds later I figured it out. (I don't speak Spanish. But I listen fluently.)
Beth.
You go girl. Thanks for checking that out. Now, can you explain the time change to me?
Everything you don't need to know:
www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving
Beth
Hell, I can't even figure out how to get the translator to look right on my site, gave up. Tildes from the keyboard, a magical phenom. Is your translator from google? If so how'd you get it so little?
I asked my blog hero, The Blog Bloke, to help me put it on my blog. I could never figure it out. His site is very information and entertaining.
http://blog.instabloke.com
His link is also on the left hand sidebar of my blog.
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