Last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s column on the use of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153t\u00c3\u00ba\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153usted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d taught me a word that I would have thought of purely as slang, something conjured up for the nonce, for lack of the precise word, like when we use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153typiar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Spanish for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to type.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We invent words. We give them the familiar Spanish verb ending and sometimes get by. To \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wreckear\u00e2\u20ac\u009d un carro is common, and to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153watchar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back has become a language staple for many.<\/p>\n
The new word (to me), introduced by Art Vargas, is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tutear.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It appears in Spanish dictionaries and means simply, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be on familiar terms.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Imagine a conversation laden with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153usted,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d among peers. One conversant might then say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Vamos a tutear,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which gives both people leave to drop the formality of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153usted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and use the familiar \u00e2\u20ac\u0153t\u00c3\u00ba.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed and promise to tutear very soon. And some of my best friends are admitted tuteadores. The French word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tutoyer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d provides an analogous version of addressing someone familiarly.<\/p>\n
Vargas, an attorney now practicing in Taos, wrote that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153matter of when to use \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcusted\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 long ago came up in Spanish classes; here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the poser. When we pray, we say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dct\u00c3\u00ba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to God, and in the Hail Mary we say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbendita t\u00c3\u00ba eres entre todas las mujeres.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (In English, we use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blessed art thou).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And Vargas adds, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our terrestrial fathers, whom we call \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcusted,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 would agree that it is OK to call God \u00e2\u20ac\u02dct\u00c3\u00ba,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 even though our here-on-earth daddy agrees that God is above him. But \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcearth daddy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 still insists on \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcusted\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for himself. Do we \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctutear\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with God simply because that is how we learned to pray?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Finally, Vargas asks, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Does our sense of closeness to Him warrant the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dct\u00c3\u00ba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A couple of people commented that last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exposition on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153t\u00c3\u00ba\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153usted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should also have mentioned \u00e2\u20ac\u0153vosotros\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a key Spanish pronoun. But really, though we learned such elements in High School Spanish 101, has anyone heard \u00e2\u20ac\u0153vosotros sois\u00e2\u20ac\u009d without having been a classmate of Cervantes or having been in a church in Mexico a century ago?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great, on rare occasions, when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in a group without automatically being the elder statesman. Yes, there have been times in which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m among the younger players.<\/p>\n
An example is the just-concluded reunion for the classes of 1954, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc55 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc56 at Immaculate Conception School. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not old enough to fall into that fellowship, hence my teenie-bopper status. My schoolmates of yore are indeed old. I went just to take some photos \u00e2\u20ac\u201d now in my Facebook page \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and to enjoy a meal, at the insistence of Artie Geoffrion, Myles Sweeney and Eloy Gonzales, some of the reunion organizers.<\/p>\n
A former schoolmate, who served as master of ceremonies, was Mariano Pino, who moved to Belen decades ago. Mariano and I lived on opposite sides of the railroad tracks; my family lived on Railroad Avenue, the Pinos just across the tracks, on Pecos.<\/p>\n
The Pinos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 back yard contained a goal and a basketball, which all were free to use at any time. Mariano and his older brother Ray, both of whom were on the I.C. Colts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 starting five in high school, welcomed visitors such as my brother and I.<\/p>\n
At the time, our neighborhood in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc50s was the recipient of huge plumes of ashes that belched out of the many coal-operated trains that bisected our town. The ashen windfall went on for most of my childhood, and attempting any kind of serious yard cleaning was futile, that is, until the arrival of diesel engines and electric trains.<\/p>\n
Mariano said he and Ray used to play basketball in their back yard, literally just a few feet from the tracks and numerous passing trains, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and after we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d spent the whole day playing, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have ash all over our heads and faces.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Well, that explains it. Whenever we visited the Pinos, I just naturally assumed Mariano and Ray had been born with salt-and-pepper hair. Now we discover the speckled-hair appearance came from the ashes from the passing engines.<\/p>\n
And when we residents on the streets along the tracks got on our knees to pray for electric trains, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for Lionels, Atlases or American Flyers under our Christmas trees.<\/p>\n
No, the prayers were for real electric trains. They came within a few years, and our prayers were answered.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Marie Montoya served for and outlived at least three Highlands University presidents. As administrative secretary, she needed to make sure correspondence leaving the office was proper. So naturally, correct English matters to her.<\/p>\n
She called the other day to say one of the gubernatorial campaign ads bothered her. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it was a partisan issue with Marie: she simply believes in good grammar.<\/p>\n
In the TV spot for Susana Martinez, the GOP candidate touts her toughness on crime, as compared to the fact that her opponent, Diane Denish \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gives drivers licenses to illegals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Martinez ends the commercial with, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As governor, that will change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The error is a bit more subtle than the run-on sentence or the fragment. Martinez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promise implies a great deal. It makes the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an incorrect object of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153governor,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as if the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s highest office is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
What we assume Martinez really means is, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As governor, I will change that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the policy of allowing undocumented immigrants to get New Mexico drivers licenses.<\/p>\n
Officially, then, in English grammar, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153error\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is considered a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153general reference,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and without having to learn a slew of grammar rules, the gubernatorial aspirant merely needs to rephrase her sentence so that her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that\u00e2\u20ac\u009d refers to proposed policy changes, not the high office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s column on the use of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153t\u00c3\u00ba\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153usted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d taught me a word that I would have thought of purely as slang, something conjured up for the nonce, for lack of the precise word, like when we use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153typiar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Spanish for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to type.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We invent words. We give them the familiar Spanish verb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}