It's that time again. Time for you language people to learn something and you non-language folks to skip on to the next blog!
Cállensen. You Spanish students think on that one a minute.
Mull it over.
When I started my Spanish career (well, really started, in college), Mrs. Lindsay made sure we knew what the rude words were so as to be careful not to use them. You learn quickly that "Qué" is what. But as I said early on in this blog, here they say "mande" instead of "qué" though Mrs. Lindsay taught us to say "Cómo" whose literal meaning is "how." Confused? Good.
When I learned "qué," Mrs. Lindsay made a point to tell us it was rude to say "Qué" alone. It was only meant to be what when it was put with other words. "What did you do today? What color is it?" In Honduras, we used "Cómo" when we needed something repeated.
I went one summer to study in Spain. I heard "qué" everywhere. The kids in my house said it. The teachers said it. I began to say it. Much of my spoken fluency (though I would never call it fluency and mean fluency) comes from those two summers in Spain. Spanish that I don't have to think about is based there. The first few weeks here, I had a hard time saying "mande" because I was so used to responding with "qué." My mind knew to say "mande" but my Spanish habit took over and I said "qué." "Qué" is rude. Mrs. Lindsay made that point, and Mabel and I discussed it one night. It kind of gives off the "what do you want?!" vibe.
Okay, next on the list was callarse- to shut up. If you want to command someone to do that, it's cállate for someone familiar, cállese for someone formal (who would you tell formally to shut up?!) and cállense for more than one person who needs to cease talking. This is rude, she would say. You should never say it. Instead, say "close your mouth" - "cierra la boca." Here it's "guarda silencio" in a classroom setting.
At any rate, I have again, heard plenty cállates and cállenses etc. I was wondering, so I went to my source, Mabel. I told her I had been taught that it was rude, but that I heard my students saying it when I was trying to get them quiet (as if students' saying it made it un-rude) and I had heard Cosette and Mabel and Alma (the sister, not Shania's friend) saying it among themselves. What gives? Apparently when there's a high level of trust, like within a family or a close group of friends, it's acceptable.
Hm.
She said she and I wouldn't say it because we're not close (that was in Mazatlán weeks ago. We're still not close enough, but I think the day will come), but that she would say it without thinking twice to her sisters.
Interesting.
Then I started hearing and noticing "cállenseN" with an n on the end. The reflexive pronoun "se" never carries an n on the end. But I have noticed kids and my generation adding an n on commands that carry the se. Just an interesting tidbit. Probably interesting to no one but me!
1 comment:
Linguist.
Post a Comment