Sometimes it gets you in trouble…
Today I was at the market visiting with a friend who works there. I was waiting as he waited on a customer and the guy across the aisle, who sells hammocks, started talking to me. As I have learned, there are people who I can understand in Spanish and people that I just cannot. The hammock man was one who I just could not understand. So… what did I do? Smile and nod of course… with a couple of “si” comments thrown in. I thought the whole time that he was talking about my coming back to buy presents before I leave Costa Rica… but I kept hearing a word that sounded like “cansada – tired”. As I smiled and nodded, my friend Juan Jose started laughing, looked at me and said, in English…
“you don’t understand, do you?” “Actually no, I don’t understand at all. How did you know?” “Because he just told you that before you leave Costa Rica you’ll be married and you nodded and said yes” “Right.”
Not being sure how to remedy the situation I just walked away from the hammock man hoping Juan would explain once I was gone. For future reference remember that the word “casada” sounds like “cansada” but they DO NOT mean the same thing!
Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteToo funny girl - actually - almost every time I say that or ask that of someone, I ALWAYS think through the word before I say it. Casa = house - casada = marriage - that is my little trick.
ReplyDeleteWell that's pretty short notice for me to plan a wedding - especially since I haven't met the groom. Isn't language learning fun :)
ReplyDeleteyeah, I encountered that one too. oops!! At least you'll never make the mistake again...
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