While I was walking our two dogs, a group of 4 or 5 preschool-aged children from our neighborhood ran towards me, and one asked in Spanish if they could pet the dogs (I assume). The dogs at this point were really freaked out by the children, and I'm very nervous about them biting a child so it didn't seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't actually know any Spanish, but rather than make the obvious assumption that at least one of the children (and probably all) had better English skills than I had Spanish, I decided I'd tough it out with my Spanish gleamed from movie titles, band names, and the Amigos menu.
"No, gracias," I said. "Perro malvado." To complete this inter-cultural exchange, I widened my eyes ominously.
The children seemed confused and ran away.
This was not the correct way to say this for at least two reasons:
1) Malvado apparently means evil, not just bad. So I'm now the hombre in the neighborhood with a blood-thirsty pack of 9-kilo dogs.
2) I used the singular (I think), which means they either thought I was calling the child who asked an evil dog, was talking to a different and unseen evil dog, or I was calling myself an evil dog.
In other words, imagine approaching a man walking two dogs and asking to pet the barking dogs which are straining at their leashes towards you. The man looks confused for a moment before shouting in a heavy accent, "No thanks, Evil Dog!" The man then widens his eyes and walks away.
Would you invite that man to your next neighborhood fiesta?
Showing posts with label Malvado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malvado. Show all posts
9.20.2007
Exhibit 3.3
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Anonymous
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