Expressions

In the supermarket the other day the public address system started up: “Senores clientes, bla, bla, bla.” Not unusual. All supermarkets do it, announcing the day’s special offers. One of ours back in the UK uses the person with the most annoying voice possible. Someone in management must have decided that his slightly pompous, would-be posh but still man-of-the-people voice was perfect for it but it really grates on me. 

Anyway, here in Vigo, where such announcements in the supermarket next door are usually preceded by a sing-song “Mer – ca – do – o – na”, I heard an announcement I am unlikely ever to hear in Oldham, UK. It told the señores clientes that fresh fish had just arrived, fresh off the boats n the harbour. Wonderful!! 

Also in the supermarket, I gave in to the temptation to buy hummus, previously an unknown item her in Vigo but clearly selling well. The newness of the product is marked by the fact that it has serving suggestions in the packaging, something no longer deemed necessary in the UK. I am not mocking the Spanish for this. I know people who did not know what to do with long grain rice when it arrived in the UK. Accustomed to rice only being used in rice pudding, they had heard of this new idea and served it up for tea without any accompaniment. They found it hard to see where the attraction of this new product lay. 

On this particular packet I found a new bit of Spanish vocabulary. The producers of the hummus recommended, “Dipea con crudités o con pan tostado”. “Crudités” long ago became an international term, no longer French. However, “dipea” is a new word for me. It seems that anew verb has been invented: “dipear” = to dip. Now, for “dip” in my small Spanish dictionary they give “mojar”, which basically means “to moisten”. If you are soaked to the skin, in Spanish they say “mojado hasta los huesos” – soaked to the bones. The dictionary also give “meter”, really “to put”, used when you talk about dipping a ladle or a spoon into a bowl. I also hear “meter” used down at the pool. “¿No vas a meterte,” they say, “Aren’t you coming in?” Literally “putting yourself in” or “dipping yourself”. A “dip”, n the culinary sense, is “una salsa”. This is also the word for “gravy” or “sauce” so there’s plenty of room for confusion at the dinner table. 

Here’s another nice expression I’ve come across in my reading. To say, “this is not the right time for something” you can say, “No está el horno para bollos” – “The oven isn’t ready for bread rolls”. 

Now, isn’t language interesting?