NOuuuu

So after Topete, Rocío, Iván, Fer, and Norma joined us, I was playing deejay.  Well, I was at least assisting when my Mexican friends thought they had broken my computer.  Sometimes with this laptop, you have to slow down and just be patient.

At some point, I had to say, "no," and being a southerner, it had a few more syllables than necessary.  Well, that led to an educational experience.  Topete and Renato spent the next fifteen minutes trying to teach me the super-short "no!" that is said in Spanish.  I explained that that was hard for me because when I want to emphasize something, I just say it longer.

After I had practiced and kinda had it, they said something that caused me to emphasize my "no" and of course that meant too many syllables.  

I had to explain that there are many different ways of saying no.  One of my explanations of a longer no was that it means absolutely not.  Well, then something was asked of me that made me say no, but I meant, "well, maybe."  So I had to explain that that no meant no at first, but then after thought it might mean yes, so I needed to be asked again.

It was a hilarious circular conversation.  By the end of the night, we had decided that "nou" (NO-ew) meant no, but maybe yes.  Therefore "síu" (SEE-ew) meant yes, but maybe no.

It was so funny and I wish I could tell it better.  This will have to do.  Suffice it to say that the rest of the week (and still now), there were many unanimous "síu"s and "nou"s from my friends when I gave an answer they weren't content with.  Love them.  Have I said that yet?