¿Cono o vaso?

Yes, it's that time again where I share some Spanish with you that I learned while I was out and about stuffing my face.

I just recently got a new job, and luckily there's a Mexican restaurant just a few minutes down the street.  Only this isn't just any old Mexican restaurant.

So what's different about this place you ask?  Well, let's start by explaining what a few of those words on the letrero (sign) mean.  A taquería is a place that specializes in tacos, although many of these restaurants (including this one) sell much more than tacos.  I actually talked about taquerías in my last post.  If you missed it, click HERE.

Now let's talk about what a paletería is.  A paletería is place were they sell paletas.  OK, sorry, I know that didn't explain much of anything, but this probably will:

And yes, those are my fingers, just in case you were wondering.

Now you know a paleta is a popsicle.  But paleterías don't just serve popsicles, they serve popsicles made of fresh fruit, and man do they taste good!  You'll find all different kinds of flavors, like durazno (peach), sandia (watermelon), fresa (stawberry), melon (melon), mango (mango), mango con chile (mango with chile - it's supposed to be spicy but I've never tried it) and a ton of other flavors.  Sandia is my favorite.  Take a look at what's in the fridge:

To actually order one of these tasty treats, you can say something like:

Quiero una de fresa
I want a strawberry one

Deme una de sandia
Give me a watermelon one

Una paleta de melon
One melon popsicle

Don't forget the "por favor", you can never be too polite.

It's also fairly typical for a paletería to sell helado, which is ice cream for us English speakers.  And it should come as no surprise that Spanish also has a word for an ice cream shop - heladería.

Speaking of ice cream, here are a couple of other words you should know if you plan on ordering ice cream in a paletería or heladería.  But first, take a look at this video.  I probably won't need to explain much of anything after you watch it.

Cono - You've probably guessed that this means cone.

Vaso -   Technically this means glass.  It could also be used to ask for a cup made of plastic, styrofoam or  otherwise.  And obviously for a cup of ice cream, even if the cup is actually a bowl. And you will probably see the words taza or copa as well.

And just to be thorough, an ice cream scooper is called a cuchara para helado.  Or a pala para helado.  Don't be surprised if there are other words for it as well.  It's not uncommon for different Spanish speaking countries to use different words.

That's it for today.  If you're still dealing with those hot summer days, run out to the nearest paletería or heladería and use your new Spanish vocabulary to get a nice refreshing helado or paleta to cool off!

And no, Burger King is not giving me a kick back for posting their video. I wish they were.

¡Hasta la proxima!