Spanish word help - the beach?
RossGK
Could someone help me with understanding the nuances of the word
playica vs playa - I see both in the context of a beach discussion.
Is the former slang? Typo? The online-translators are no help at
all.
Thanks...
Ross.
John
dictionaries; perhaps it's a slang.
ljc
"RossGK" <ros...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:f48a864e-d79a-483f...@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
I read your post earlier, but hesitated to respond since I am not 100%
certain of my answer.
"playa" is, of course, the word for beach
"playica" is a diminutive of playa, meaning a smaller beach or a term of
endearment for a very special beach (should someone perhaps have had a
special time at a beach). I have not ever seen the word used before.
"playita" is the usual diminutive, but some Spanish speaking countries do
use the -ica suffix. I'm guessing it could be the Dominican Republic or
Puerto Rico. I remembering learning this in college, but it was a while
ago.
Lani
Brad Blanchard
> Could someone help me with understanding the nuances of the word
> playica vs playa - I see both in the context of a beach discussion.
> Is the former slang? Typo?
"-ico/a" is one of the diminuitives in Spanish, along with the more
common "-ito/a" and "illo/a". Do a Google search with the keywords
"spanish diminuitive" for lots of examples and explanations which will
help you understand how it is used in the context you saw it in.
In short, "playica" = "playita". A sentence like "vamos a la playica"
or "vamos a la playita" could either mean "Let's go to the small beach"
or something like "Let's go to the nice beach". The second meaning is
much more difficult to translate into English.
--
Brad Blanchard
Braser Soft - Learn Spanish
http://www.braser.com/
ranolki
"RossGK" <ros...@gmail.com> escribió
> playica vs playa - I see both in the context of a beach discussion.
> Is the former slang? Typo?
If you are on the Costa Tropical or the Costa Cálida and are over 30
'playica' probably means "a scruffy little cove full of rubbish left by the
morons who came at the weekend". It would also mean the same in Aragon, if
they had any beaches, so they probably use it on visits to Asturias and
Cantabria, which actually don't deserve the epithet because the beaches
there are very nice, unlike the ones in the south which are all shitholes
apart from a couple of virtually inaccessible ones in Granada province.
-ico, -ica, then, is a contemptuous diminutive used mainly in Murcia and
Granada. (At least that used to be the case until ill-educated yoof
recruited it into their contemptible dumbed-down gobbledeygook. Fuck knows
what it means in some of the Google hits I've looked at. And of course, it
may have different connotations if you are in America (most things do, for
good or ill - probably the latter.)
sodulas
ranolki
Marina
Ah, estaban hablando de una playa...yo creía que "beach" era "puta". :-
D
Sabes, en Buenos Aires no se usa el diminutivo ico ica nunca, tampoco
illo illa; se usa ito o ita. Cuando nos reímos de los gallegos,
decimos illo, illa; cuando nos reímos de los cubanos, decimos ico,
ica.-
Y cuando los demás se ríen de nosotros, nos llaman boludos, jajaja.
Hugz
ranolki
"Marina" <marim...@gmail.com> escribió
>cuando nos reímos de los cubanos, decimos ico,
>ica.-
Pues, ¿en este caso también es más bien peyorativo, no?
sodulas
ranolki
Marina
> "Marina" <marimor...@gmail.com> escribió
Claro, en éste país y en especial en Buenos Aires, reirse
peyorativamente es una obligación cultural, lamentable pero real.
El porteño se cree "canchero", "piola", "vivo", "pícaro", si no se ríe
de los otros, no es porteño. La prensa amarillista y los programas de
TV que tienen más rating son aquellos donde se descalifica a alguien
famoso, donde hacen quedar como un boludo a alguien que se equivocó en
un discurso, o alguien que se resbaló en un acto público. Cosas de
argentinos.
Saludos.