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Is Spanglish a Language?

Spanglish. What’s it all about? Is it a real language, or just a funky amalgam? Ilan Stavans‘ book Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language traces the varieties of Spanglish that have sprung up around the country, and includes...

Pungle

Quiz time! Does pungle mean a) a baby platypus, or b) “to put down money.” It’s the latter. Pungle is most common in the western United States. It comes from the Spanish pongale, an imperative meaning “put it down.” For...

Translated Movie Titles

What film title, when translated from its Spanish version, is known as An Expert in Fun? It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Now take a crack at decoding these two: Love without Stopovers and Very Important Perros. This is part of a complete...

Cat’s Game

Why do we refer to a draw in tic-tac-toe as a cat’s game? Throughout the history of the game, cats have been associated with it. In some Spanish-speaking countries, for example, it’s known as gato, or “cat.” This is part of a...

Hoosegow

Lock the bad guys up in the hoosegow! This slang term for a jail comes from the Spanish juzgado, meaning tribunal. It’s an etymological relative of the English words judge and judicial. This is part of a complete episode.

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