day five

CNBC just called and wants me to go on tonight to discuss Facebook. "el face". I, of course, answered the phone "ola?" and the producer was silent for a second and then said, "James?"

Is there a CNBC Ole? Or Latin CNBC? I'm only on Day 5 but maybe it would focus me if I had to go on the all-Spanish, all-the-time CNBC. I have very strong opinions about Cristina Kirchner.

Some good words today. Was in "Nick's Burger Joint" on 77th and the guy at the cash register said, "you never get tips" to a waitress. So I asked him what "never" was in Spanish. He, of course, knew, because even in a place called "Nick's Burger Joint" all of the employees speak Spanish. It doesn't matter what food you eat in NYC. Back in the kitchen, its all Spanish food being prepared by Spanish-speaking people. Japanese, Thai, indian, doesn't matter. You are eating Spanish food.

So "never" is "nunca". I got to my favorite dictionary writer see day 4 and, of course, he has some gems for "nunca":

His first example is: no dejen nunca objetos de valor en el coche , "never leave your valuables in a car" . So i guess "objetos de valor" must be "valuable objects" and "el coche" must be "car".

Then he has: " es una lección que nunca jamás olvidará " - its a lesson he'll never ever forget. I wonder if he said that after his embarassing escapade with the girl he tried to pay on day 4.

So now "una leccion" - a lesson. "jamas" - ever. and "olvidara" i assume is the conjugated form of "to forget" for "he". I'm not learning that one today.

Claudia tells me I need to do some easier ones that are important also. "Don't do 8 verbs a day!". "cosa" she says is important. "It just means 'thing' ". She said "mi cosita" is an affectionate term. I guess if you like comparing people you love to "small things that you own" it is. Then we took my favorite word from day 3 and came up with more uses:
"pero primero" but first. "segundo" second. "nosotros vamos a el restaurante pero primero nosotros vamos que ir a AT&T" .

Oh, thats because earlier in the day I learned "to go" - "ir".
I go - "voy"
You - "vas"
he - "va"
we - "vamos"
they - "van"

and then I learned "vamos que ir a" - "we are going to go"

Finally, I learned "de nada" - "you're welcome" (there must be something self-deprecating in Spanish culture. because when someone says "thanks" to me I think its a pretty big deal that I did something but I guess Spanish people say "its nothing" for "you're welcome". When I say "you're welcome" I mean, "it was something enormous I just did and if you hadn't said "thank you" I might've gotten upset.)

But then she kept saying "gracias" and i would forget to say "de nada".

I guess I don't do that many things for people because I'm not used to saying "you're welcome".