Well, I wish I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had the pleasure. In Thursday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Journal, I read a detailed obituary for Ruben Cobos, the author of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For years, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a copy of the latest revised edition in our house and at work. Cobos, who died last week at age 99, provided quite a service, especially helpful to people like me, who grew up with Spanglish and who as a youngster, just knew that we often speak a different slanguage.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the volume by Cobos, an esteemed educator, was helpful. He earned a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University and taught at numerous institutions, including Stanford, UNM, Highlands and even in the pin-dot community of Wagon Mound. I wish I could have met him.<\/p>\n
At the Optic, we have Cobos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 volume as a reference. People often provide us information that we in the newsroom aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t familiar with.
\nOne obituary, for example, referred to the deceased as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153El Jefito,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (pronounced \u00e2\u20ac\u0153heff-ito\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), a slang term for boss. Where did we go for clarification? Cobos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dictionary, of course, where it states the term is an affectionate application for a parent.<\/p>\n
For anyone with a question about how we in northern New Mexico use the language, this dictionary is essential. According to his obituary, Cobos worked most of his life exploring, interviewing, researching, and trying to give substance to how and why we in this area use language as we do.<\/p>\n
The dictionary generally doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pass judgment on usage but merely reports it. And though this issue is not necessarily addressed by Cobos, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a question. One of the first words we came across in our beginning Spanish class at Immaculate Conception School was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153aparador,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d translated as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sideboard.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Interesting, but I doubt there was one person in the class of 25 students who had ever heard of a sideboard, much less an aparador. I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what it is, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even curious.<\/p>\n
Cobos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 book addresses different words for the same object: Is it bu\u00c3\u00b1elo or sopaipilla? Is it luminaria or farolito? My sister-in-law, Virginia, once invited our family to tour Santa Fe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to see the farolitos.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Well, had she said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153luminarias,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we would have understood. As it was, we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure what we were touring.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
In the preface to his dictionary, Cobos explains that he had omitted standard Spanish words likely to be found in dictionaries. Accordingly, I selected some words that have made the rounds in El Norte for centuries. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re unlikely to find the words below in a standard Spanish dictionary. They all appear in Cobos\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dictionary, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re extremely helpful.<\/p>\n
If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever smoked, slipped on your sandals and jacket, left your house, driven a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc50s-era car, bought cheap gas and taken a spin by any of the area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s several auto graveyards, with change in your pocket, you ought to be able to identify these words: bacha, cloche, chancla, chante, chortes, reque, flate, daime, cuara and cute (pronounced koo-teh).<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Notice that people have their individual terms for things and people, not to be altered or abused. For example, none of my offspring call me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153el jefito\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; our oldest son, Stan, refers to me as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Papa Dad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; the second-born, Diego, calls me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Daddrrr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and he rolls not only his r\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s but also his d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. I try to imitate that and come up with something risible, like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Daddrrrlll\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; and the third-born, Benjie, simply calls me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pops.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We have an understanding in our household: It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work if, for example, Stan or Diego calls me Pops. Each one has a personalized moniker for me, and the usage simply is not interchangeable.<\/p>\n
The same applies for what I call them, but that remains our secret.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll bet there are more restaurant menus in Las Vegas that misspell the word for fried bread, usually served with honey. Is it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sopapilla\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or does it have an extra \u00e2\u20ac\u0153i,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sopaipilla\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the sound but not the taste of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the item otherwise known as a bunuelo, but we seldom hear it.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
My wife and I, opponents of the proposed low-altitude flying planned by Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, aimed our vitriol at the wrong person last week. Soon after the San Miguel County Commission\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost unanimous vote to support the fly-over plan over northern New Mexico (can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Air Force simply fly over Clovis and leave the rest of the state alone?), we ran into Ron Ortega.<\/p>\n
We asked why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d voted in support of the low flights without ever consulting with his constituents, the people he represents. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take the blame for it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even on board yet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Our bad. The newcomer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s term doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begin until 2011.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Ortega promised always to keep the will of the public uppermost in his mind. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he said last fall, as he knocked on doors in our neighborhood, soliciting our votes.<\/p>\n
Few, if any, of us constituents sensed any real effort on the part of the current county commissioners to check the pulse of the San Miguele\u00c3\u00b1os on this important issue.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Tony Marquez, the former mayor, won the fitness challenge, which he originated, with support from the city and Alta Vista Regional Hospital, a while back. And for the also-rans, including me, he sent a thoughtful letter congratulating us on having entered the challenge.<\/p>\n
He was a great fitness role model.<\/p>\n
We will miss him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, I wish I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had the pleasure. In Thursday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Journal, I read a detailed obituary for Ruben Cobos, the author of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For years, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a copy of the latest revised edition in our house and at work. Cobos, who died last week at age 99, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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\/683"}],"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=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}