Pizza tastes so much better with a side of Spanish

With Mexican Independence day around the corner, it became the topic of discussion at my most recent Spanish meetup group. Our discussion centered around a few articles about the war for independence and some of its heroes. Here's a link to one of them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niños_Héroes


But that conversation took place after a few rebanadas (slices) of pizza. And lucky for us, pizza is the same word in both English and Spanish.

You can also use the word rebanadas to talk about a slice of anything, cake, bread, etc. It can also be used colloquially to talk about slicing your finger open too. Ouch! And the word rebanar is the verb meaning "to slice".

I overheard someone asking for a straw, which is a popote. At least in Mexican Spanish it is. The other term that came up was pajilla. But wait, it's not that simple. As was I double checking the spelling of these wonderful Spanish words, I discovered that the word for a drinking straw is quite regional. You can learn more words here:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=6897

Now, back to the pizza. I decided to share a pizza with una amiga. We ordered a pizza with peperoni, brócoli, and pimiento verde. I'm guessing you won't need much help translating the first two. Pimiento verde is a green pepper. Other types of peppers - pimiento rojo and pimiento amarillo. But ¡cuidado! You don't want to confuse these with good old-fashioned black pepper, which is pimienta.

I asked the esposa of my newly married amigo how difficult it is to get a tourist visa from Mexico to the US. Well, it's not incredibly hard, if you have a trabajo fijo (permanent job) and/or own property in Mexico. And you have have to pay the application fee, of course. Apparently governments all over the world have caught on to the concept of charging people for services.

Some other random things that popped up....

MXP is the abbreviation for the Mexican Peso.

On the off chance you ever need to talk about the Chicken Pox, the Spanish word is varicela. My amiga refered to those nasty itchy little bumps as ronchas, although a quick search also revealed the word ampollitas.

A mechanical bull is a toro mecánico.

Remember the famous statue of the Thinker? Well, in Spanish you would refer to him as el pensador. To be slightly more exact it would be the "estatua de pensador".

And last but far from least, I learned what a coqueto is - a person who likes to coquetear. A flirt. And like most adjectives in Spanish, if you're talking about a woman she would be a coqueta. So the next time that cute Spanish guy or gal is giving you the eye, ask them...

¿Estás coqueteando comigo?