Spanish Word of the Day: manda huevos

[Sam Wilson]

LiCR,

This is an interesting one... jejeje.                                                          [tl;dr - "uebos"]

manda huevos

Literally that means "Send Eggs".  However we get here in quite a roundabout way.  All the way back in Old Spanish to the early 13th century or thereabouts... and of course Latin before that (maybe... some word researchers disagree.)  There is a story (that is widely considered false) that this saying came to being directly from the mouth of, or should I say, the humongous Hasbury Jaw that made John Kerry's chin look like that of Don Knotts, of the ill-fated and most assuredly incredibly inbred Carlos II ("El Hechizado" / The Bewitched) King of Spain.  The king reigned from the time he was 3 until he died 35 years later (1665-1700) without an heir, corroded lungs, rotten intestines and a single atrophied testicle "black as coal".

His reign has traditionally been viewed as one of decline and decay...  I would argue, none of that was his fault. The inbreeding by European nobles certainly had been going on for a couple hundred years before Carlos was born, and as I mentioned earlier, he didn't participate. Government finances were in perpetual crisis during the hundred years leading up to the birth of poor Carlos II, with the Crown officially declaring bankruptcy 9 times during that period.  Anyway, as interesting as that may be, the story goes that with the kingdom plunged into a deep economic crisis, King Carlos II entrusted a favored duke with the supervision of the state accounts.  The duke began a journey throughout the kingdom, trying to understand areas of waste that could be eliminated and find places he could raise more taxes to enrich the treasury.  Among the oddities of "The Bewitched" was his passion for eggs.  It was said that he ate 3 eggs per day and was able to tell where the eggs came from with precision that amazed everyone.  In the communiques between King Carlos II and his traveling duke, he always added the postscript:  "Wherever you are, Fernando (the duke), send eggs".  The duke became increasingly frustrated by this because the king wanted to chat about everything else besides the economy and the duke's recommendations were given little attention in Madrid.  It was said that every time the duke got another letter from the king, after he read it, he would run stomping around shouting "¡manda huevos, manda huevos!" frustrated by the lack of concern about real matters by the king.

Whether that is true or not is subject to debate (not really) but it does illustrate the modern day meaning of the phrase, "manda huevos", an expression that denotes a mixture of surprise at an unexpected event, or indignation and often anger.  A fairly common Tico saying that is similar is "¡Qué bárbaro!"  Which can mean anything from "Awesome!" to "That's insane!" or "Outrageous!"

The less colorful word historians trace this back to the even older Spanish word: "uebos".  Sounds like "huevos" but it's not.  "uebos" came from the Latin "opus".  In old legalese, "mandat opus" was used when convincing evidence forced interpretation of the facts in only one way.  "mandat opus" / "necessity obliges".  Over time the words shifted:  "mandat opus" => "manda uebos" => "manda güebos" => "manda huevos".  And now it is used sarcastically in modern day Spanish.  Quite often in a vulgar sense as well - "Send balls!"

Now aren't you glad you read this far?  jajaja.  ¡Manda huevos!

Those of you on Spanish social media may see this expressed as the sticker: 

Technical breakdown:

manda 📣 - send or tell

manda

FEMININE NOUN

1.  (= legado) bequest

2.  (Latin America) (= voto) religious vow

huevo 📣 - egg

huevo

MASCULINE NOUN

1.  (Biology, Cookery) egg

2.  (vulgar) (= testículo) ball (vulgar)

3.  (Sewing) darning egg

4.  (Latin America)

(= vago) idler ⧫ loafer

(= imbécil) idiot

(= cobarde) coward

Usage examples:

• Manda huevos que es molesta la criatura que llora y llora
  Send eggs!  The non-stop crying kid is annoying!
  
  
• La mujer insistía e insistía con su pedido, hasta que finalmente su marido ya harto le gritó: “manda huevos que me has cansado.
  The woman insisted and insisted with her request, until finally her husband, already fed up, yelled at her: "Send me eggs!  I am tired of this sh*t!"

I swear I did not make any of this up.  jejeje.

--

Sam

[Sam Wilson]

Hi Gene,

In fairness, I did provide you a "tl;dr" link!  You simply chose not to take it...  jejeje.

Plus I figured that every time you saw this on WhatsApp you might think someone wanted to buy eggs!  ;-)

I was just doing my buddy duty by 'splainin' a little.  Didn't you like my little dig at John Kerry?

That, and how often does a fella get a chance to speak Spanish Latin to don Don?  

¡Qué bárbaro!

--

Sam

On Sat, Mar 5, 2022 at 4:03 PM Gene French <ge...@genefrench.com> wrote:

theres 10 minutes i will never get back...

lol

your buddy

gene

[gene french]

well...i did read the whole thing...so there!!!

and why would you insult don knotts....

harmless guy...kept his bullet in his pocket....

Pura Vida

Gene French

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[Don Hickman]

You guys are nuts!

Don

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[Sam Wilson]

Hi Don,

Welcome back!  I hope your re-entry was smooth.

Obviously we could use an adult in the room.  jejeje.

How's your Latin?  Did that "mandat opus" thing make sense from a legal perspective?

--

Sam

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[Christopher Howard]

si no me equivoco es manda huevo que + el subjuntivo porque denota emoción

Sent from my iPhone

On 5 Mar 2022, at 16:40, gene french <ge...@genefrench.com> wrote:



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[Don Hickman]

Your welcome is premature as we're still in St. Louis.  Flying home Monday.  But thanks anyway.  😁

As for Latin, yes.

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[gene french]

i didnt say welcome back  becsause i actually pay attention....you said 7th..

see...thinking out of the box, sam...

sure would like a synopsis of current events in the stayes if you would like to share a few comments and opinions...

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[Don Hickman]

Well, at steakhouse now so observations and comments later.

Don 

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[gene french]

i figured when you got back...enjoy your steak!!!

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[gene french]

we want YOUR version of the SOTU address...

lol

Pura Vida

Gene French

-------- Original message --------

From: Don Hickman <d...@proslink.com>

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