I just came from Laura’s birthday party. The cake was delicious and so were the chuchitos. Yes, as you know that literally means the little dogs. They were spicy. And yes, the literal translation of the Spanish word for spicy is “it bites”. Therefore, Los chuchitos que comi picaron mucho. Which means something like “The chuchitos that we ate were very spicy”. Of course, this literally translates to “The little dogs that I ate bit me a lot.”
Well, I found it hard enough to keep a straight face when my host family members would say that their food was biting them before I realized that we were eating little dogs. Now I cant help but laugh when someone says their food is biting them. But it’s okay, because in Central America it’s considered good flavor when your food bites its eater and you are thus considered a good cook. It may, however, make you look bad if your bed bugs are spicy. (don’t worry, no bed bugs here)
So, while I’m explaining the funny things about the party I might as well tell you about the jokes somewhat at my expense. Our host families found it absolutely riotous when Doña Yoli told them about the time that I thought I had seen bank robbers in the street. Well they were wearing ski masks and trench coats and carrying shotguns so what else was I to think. But in reality, they were actually the equivalent of the neighborhood watch. They patrol the streets at night to keep the bad guys out. Of course that means they stop you when you are walking around at night or driving into town, and ask you what your business is.
It’s a good thing they didn’t stop me, because I might have just handed them my bag and ran away, before they had time to explain they were the good guys. And if I was in a car, and someone tried to stop me with a shotgun and a ski mask after midnight, I would probably try to run them over. Not kidding. So it’s a good thing I’m not going to be driving in this country. Really, how are you supposed to tell the good guys from the bad guys if the good guys dress up like the bad guys? Do the bank robbers dress up like priests? I don’t know. Wouldn’t that make it more dangerous if you mistook the real bad guys for the good guys, then they could rob anyone? Imagine if the cops showed up to your house, and when you opened the door they made off with your flatscreen. There must be something about this that I’m not understanding.
They pretty much thought my explanation of this was riotous. But I’m not sure what portion of the humor came from the story I was telling, and what portion came from my struggle to tell the story combined with my pantomimes for words like shotgun, ski mask and armed robbery. They seemed to think that my self-depreciating humor was funny. Especially when they tried to tell me I was “de buen humoro” (oomorro) which literally means in a good mood but I think they must use it to say you aren’t afraid to laugh at yourself. Which is good. Because when they told me that, I mistook them to say that I have “un buen morro” which just left me confused, so when I asked what “un buen morro” is, they all burst out laughing. Really they burst into absolute hysterics, much to my confusion, and never did answer my question.
Well, as it turns out “buen morro” means you have quite a nice snout.
I just came from Laura’s birthday party. The cake was delicious and so were the chuchitos. Yes, as you know that literally means the little dogs. They were spicy. And yes, the literal translation of the Spanish word for spicy is “it bites”. Therefore, Los chuchitos que comimos picaron mucho. Which means something like “The chuchitos that we ate were very spicy”. Of course, this literally translates to “The little dogs that we ate bit a lot.”
Of course, I found it hard enough to keep a straight face when my host family members would say that their food was biting them before I realized that we were eating little dogs. Now I cant help but laugh when someone says their food is biting them. But it’s okay, because in Central America it’s considered good flavor when your food bites its eater and you are thus considered a good cook. It may, however, make you look bad if your bed bugs are spicy. (don’t worry, no bed bugs here)
So, while I’m explaining the funny things about the party I might as well tell you about the jokes at my expense, because I found them hilarious. Our host families found it absolutely riotous when Doña Yoli told them about the time that I thought I had seen bank robbers in the street. Well they were wearing ski masks and trench coats and carrying shotguns so what else was I to think. But in reality, they were actually the equivalent of the neighborhood watch. They patrol the streets at night to keep the bad guys out. Of course that means they stop you when you are walking around at night or driving into town, and ask you what your business is.
It’s a good thing they didn’t stop me, because I might have just handed them my bag and ran away, before they had time to explain they were the good guys. And if I was in a car, and someone tried to stop me with a shotgun and a ski mask after midnight, I would probably try to run them over. Not kidding. So it’s a good thing I’m not going to be driving in this country. Really, how are you supposed to tell the good guys from the bad guys if the good guys dress up like the bad guys? Do the bank robbers dress up like priests? I don’t know. Wouldn’t that make it more dangerous if you mistook the real bad guys for the good guys, then they could rob anyone? Imagine if the cops showed up to your house, and when you opened the door they made off with your flatscreen. There must be something about this that I’m not understanding.
They pretty much thought my explanation of this was riotous. But I’m not sure what portion of the humor came from the story I was telling, and what portion came from my struggle to tell the story combined with my pantomimes for words like shotgun, ski mask and armed robbery. They seemed to think that my self-depreciating humor was funny. Especially when they tried to tell me I was “de buen humoro” (oomorro) which literally means in a good mood but I think they must use it to say you aren’t afraid to laugh at yourself. Which is good. Because when they told me that, I mistook them to say that I have “un buen morro” which just left me confused, so when I asked what “un buen morro” is, they all burst out laughing. Really they burst into absolute hysterics, much to my confusion, and never did answer my question.
Well, as it turns out “buen morro” means you have quite a nice snout.
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