Caray, Caray!

Great topic, Adriana. Thank you!

I love this --- "They started laughing and said/ "This is such a telenovela expression.""
LOL!!! And how are we to know that? ;-)

Oh, the phrases I have learned that I would never need to use (hopefully!), like:
- El hijo no es tuyo.
- Largate.
- No me toques!
- Quiero un divorcio.
- Te mato. (which Jacqueline Andere said in some telenovela instead of 'te mataré' as a threat, and I learned that was how they really speak ... "o te mato" for "or I'll kill you." She was not a nice character....I think that was the same telenovela where she physically assaulted some floral arrangements, too, and it was probably a Salvador Mejía telenovela so that tells you something about the floral assault. LOL
- "las esposas" (handcuffs!)

When I watched Cazando Un Millionario (a Limavela) a long time ago, I learned some rather unpolite words for daytime viewing, that I can never use in public, like:
-- boludo
-- joder! (the female protagonist's father said it all the time when he was ticked off over anything)

Telenovelas also taught me some regular everyday things that one never learns in formal Spanish class, like:
- "con permiso" before leaving a room
- "voy" or "me voy" for 'I'm coming' when answering the doorbell
and there's more, but I just can't recall it right now.
- "el hombre/mujer de me vida"
- "bajate" (get out of the car)
- "subate" (get in the car)
 

Adriana, what a great topic! Even though I have been bilingual every since for what seems to be forever, there are still words and phrases that I have learned from TNs. This is going to take some time to gather my thoughts along with my “new” vocabulary, so I’ll be back later :-)

Oh, there is one that seems to be at the top of my list and that I hear consistently across TNs—

It seems like every character, whether good or bad, seems to think that anyone who aggravates them is an “imbecil!” They use it like we use “idiot,” “dummy,” or even “a-hole.” ( ‘scuse the language:-).

Laters with more....

 

Rgv Chick - yes, "imbecil" and good old "infeliz".
 

How about "Nada ni nadie nos van a separar, jamas." Of course, the undeniable truth is that those words, usually uttered by the galan, doom the couple to be separated for a long. long time. This comes about by either "misunderstandings" or outright evil plans by the antagonistas.
 

How many times did Gala say, "Estupido," in Un Refugio?
 

Pardon me if I have to laugh everytime a seriously ill patient or accident victim is brought in to the hospital. The family/friends wait anxiously for the doctor to emerge with an update. They are told the patient is very "delicado" and could morir and the next 24 hours after the pending treatment/operation are critical. Some member of the family then tugs at the doctor pleading, annoyingly, "Salve a mi _____ (hijo, hija, amor de mi vida, juarever)." The reason I laugh is that what else was the doctor going to do, kill the patient?

This is a little off topic, but germane, somehow:
Speaking of killing patients--how many times have we seen someone just walk into intensive care or a hospital room and inject poison into the IV, or smother the patient.

Then there is the requisite scene where the monitors go off when a patient goes into cardiac arrest or serious distress and no one comes. The family/friend runs out frantically calling for help. Wasn't the monitor hooked up to the nurses station? Funny, always.

We also have the traditonal accident victim, seriously ill person lying in the street or on the floor and everyone just stands around looking, while the person who is "attached" to the victim cries for help, helplessly.
 

Great topis, Adriana.

I love all the terms for a loved one...mi reina, my vida, mi cielo

In Alborada, my first show, I kept hearing , Maldito sea! " How bad an expression is that?
 

OT..Anita, I found a channel showing " A Place to Call Hone" quite by accident. Wow..That is an Australian telenovela. I need a bingo card.
 

Doris, I learned about "con permiso" while watching, also. Everybody always uses it all the time, no matter the age, social status or circumstance.

RGV, oh, yeah, the good old "imbecil" - there is always at least one character who gets this lovable characterization. Stronger than "idiota" or "estupido", it is always uttered with such passion,not many are deserving of it.

Anita, it always drives me crazy when a family member clings to the busy doctor asking them to save their beloved. Or when the victim is lucid enough to say " no me quero morir".

Susanlynn, I love "mi cieolo" it's my favorite term of endearment, something that loses its essence in translation.

Adriana Noel




 

Anita - if there is anything I've learned from watching telenovelas it is that there are no privacy laws and I never ever want to land in a hospital located in telenovelalandia. 😳😛
 

To second what Anita and Doris said...apparently HIPPA doesn’t exist telenovela land lol

Although I had heard it before in previous telenovelas watching ECDLP I think the audience definitely heard someone (a female) being called “gata” a lot lol
 

That should be *HIPAA lol
 

Adriana Noel, thank you for posting this topic.

I so enjoyed hearing everyone's take on this.

"con permiso" is something I've always been tempted to say but haven't. I will then. It's a very cool expression.

What I have uttered a few times is "basta". I sometimes get looks of surprise and suspicion and enjoy every single crane of the neck.

As my Spanish is almost non-existent, I wouldn't dare think of trying to use anything more complicated. I will leave that to the experts!

Diana
 

In addition to "con permiso" (thank you Adriana for reminding me) I guess I have to admit to learning at least one other new phrase from watching tns, but don't know if it is a common courtesy in Mexico or other Latin American countries.

When a guest or client is getting ready to leave, the host always says, "Le/te acompaño" to the door, even if the door is in the same room, a few steps from a desk or sofa. There are times that the person heading for the door says, no need, I know the way. I wonder why that phrase is still in use. It's not like the guest/client is in a hacienda and you need a map to get out.

Susanlynn--Whenever I hear someone say, "mi cielo," I immediately conjure up Alex (Sweet William Levy) saying it to MJ. As to "maldita sea," it's more like a strong dang nabitt, or darn or damnation. Whenever I hear someone say it, I immediately conjure up Bruno (Julian Gil) in LQNPA. He said it all the time when things weren't going his way.

TF--Of course, "gata"--a pushy, catty woman, pursuing her prey. [Gina in Te Doy, maybe?]
 

Anita, Doris mentioned 'con permiso' first, it truly is a special expression, as is 'te acompanio '.

Using 'Cielo' always reminds me of Ariel, Bianca's 'cornudo' husband in Pasion Prohibida- she was cheating on him with his own nephew, the handsome Bruno, who was played by Jeancarlos Canela.


 

Yes, it was Doris who used "con permiso" first--I skipped over it. Sorry. PERDONAME...ME PERDONES? Also used excessively.
 

Anita - no te preocupes!

"Ya basta" is how I've heard it said in telenovelas: enough already! And in LFMB one character always said "suficiente" for: that's enough, enough already!

I'll never forget the day I said "Callense" to my predominantly Latinos ESL conversation group. The looks on their faces was like I had said a curse word. 😳. Apparently only telenovela characters say that. I was nicely told "silencio" was the right word. 🤷🏼‍♀️
 

Doris, you made me laugh out loud. "Callense" is a sort of screamed "shut up".
Which reminds me of another favorite expression: "Calladito te vez mas bonito".
Whenever you see someone scream "callate!", especially at the beginning of a novela, you know that is one of the villans or someone slightly deranged. The baddies' vocabulary is always so colorful.
I remember Lety Calderon saying in an interview about her Tia Carlota how much she liked to play her because some of the things she had to say were so bad. Or they make up words that hunt you for many months to come (like Daniela Castro's "neni" - ughh, still makes me shudder).

Adriana Noel
 

Adriana - yes, I figured that out rather quickly. That was a case where Telenovela vocabulary was not a good thing.
 

Just heard last night on Te Doy by Andrea, but used probably at least once in every tn: "tenemos una conversacion pendiente." Unfinished business to be taken up LATER. It's even used on kids.
 

When I was teaching ESL , some students taught me how to say " Shut up..please" in Arabic one semester when I had a lot of talkers during class.
 

Susanlynn, "I love all the terms for a loved one...mi reina, my vida, mi cielo" Yes, those are very nice ways to address a loved one. There is one that I first heard on "Enamorandome de Ramon" that I really don't care for' it's "morra(o)" or morrilla(o). Ramon would alway refer to Fabiola as his "morrilla" (girl). I've also heard it used when referring to a child; in that sense it would mean "kid'.

And Susanlynn, I recommend that you not use "maldito sea(s)" unless you are really peeved at some one. In addition to Anita's explanation, at its harshest, it means "damn you/him/her/it."

Hear are some other new/rare terms I've picked up--

On "Simplemente Maria," a snobbish antagonist would often use "captas?" which means "understand?" It's like the Italian term "capiche?"

On EDR (and some other TNs) , "neta" was also used quite often. "Neta?" can be translated as "Really? (truly?)". If "la" precedes it, as in "la neta," that would be translated as "the truth" (e.g., Es la pura neta = it's the pure truth)

If anyone was on the "Doble Vida de Estella Carrillo,' you probably remember a long discussion about "me cae(s) pesado(a)" which is used when someone always seems annoying to you.
 

Chickie..thank you very much for the warning about " Maldito sea" which I heard a lot in Alborada. I thought it meant " bad word ".. mal" bad " dito" "word. " However, I once had a father and daughter as students , and they looked quite scandalized when I said it one day. I have been thinking of you , Chickie, and hoping you are safe and well.
 

"silencio" is used in real classrooms (hopefully with a por favor tacked on)
"cierre la boca" is used on children = hush, shut your mouth
"callate" is used extensively in telenovelas.

There seem to be a lot of "dichos" involving the word callar (from a very old dictionary).
"calla callando" on the quiet
"mas vale callar que mal hablar" it's better to keep quiet than say the wrong thing
"quien calla ortoga" silence gives consent
 

RGV--In Amores Verdaderos, Nikki was constantly using "captas" and "neta" and should I explain it in manzanas. She had a lot of unique phrasing--let me see if I can find some of the gems.
Eureka--here they are:

NIKKI’S SPANISH LESSONS FOR HIP GRINGOS
Thanks to Vivi for corralling these pithy sayings for us (May 11 posting) and Martaivett for translating

1. Estoy mas vigilada que un cajero automatico mientras lo rellenan de dinero
(I am more watched than an ATM while it is being loaded with money)

2. Comprate una alcancia y ahorrate tus comentarios
(Buy a piggy bank and save your comments)

3. Captas? O te lo explico con manzanas?
(Get it? Or do I need to explain it with apples?)

4. Tatito, los escoltas de esta casa son muy pintorescos. Uno parece empleado de funeraria y al otro nomas le falta el caballo.
(Tatito (grandpa), the escorts of this house are very flashy/peculiar. One seems employed at a funeral home and the other one is only missing the horse.)

5. Subete al Titanic y hundete
(Board the Titanic and sink yourself)

6. Mira gusanito, tu vas despues de la W, porque eres X en mi vida
(Look, you worm, you go after the W because you are X in my life)

7. Vas al banco y deposita todos tus comentarios
(Go to the bank and deposit all your comments)

8. Para mi eres como el 30 de Febrero. NO EXISTES!!
(For me, you are like the 30th of February, you don't exist!)

9. Seguro que no eres astronauta? Porque me tienes entre la luna y las estrellas
(Sure you are not an astronaut? Becuase you have me between the moon and the stars)

10.Si la luna es bonita, mas bonito es el sol, pero una mirada tuya no tiene comparacion
(If the moon is beautiful, the sun is even more, but one look from you has no comparison)

In the end, she did tone down her dichos and mellowed out.
 

Anita, what I remember Nikki saying over and over and over was " OKAY. "

It was very, very annoying.
 

I love the endearment “mi media naranja” (my half-orange — as in we fit together perfectly.) So charming and delicious.

Another expression I’m happy to have learned is “¡Guácala!”
 

Anita - Nikki in AV was one of my favorite characters. She was annoying as all heck, but she was also a hoot. Thank you for your list of her dichos.

This morning, I remembered a telenovela character who everyone called María Desamparado. Surely that one was a telenovela-only type of name.
 

There are some words that I find difficult to translate. One is “carińo.” It can be translated as “sweetheart” but it’s can also be used to describe how you feel about someone as in “ Te tengo cariño” and that’s where it becomes difficult to translate literally. The only definition I can come up with is that it is a feeling of caring, but IMO, it is more than caring because you also feel love for that person.

“Querer” and “Amar” are two other words that can cause some confusion. They can be used interchangeably to mean “ to love”, but then you might hear someone say “ Te quiero pero no te amo,” which would translate to “I love you but I’m not in love with you.”
 

Carino can be extended to mean affection, have affection for.

Oh yes, Maria Desamparada. She was the orphan lead in TdA (Maite Perroni). I think it was the nuns who gave her that name, meaning she had been abandoned. I didn't understand her name either, until I heard it used in a non-name way and looked it up.

Another word I'd never heard until tns, was apapachar. Silvia Navarro liked to use it a lot. Hard to give an exact translation, but it was a combination of cuddle up to and hug a lot and pay attention just to that one person who's feeling down in the dumps.
 

Cariño was explained to me by a Colombian as meaning affection. She said it is often used as the closing of letters and notes. "Con mucho cariño," .
 

Anita, I love your trip down memory lane. I didn't watch AV constantly, but even I knew that Nikki was fun to listen. Some of the things she said made me go "WTF" whenever I stumbled on the novela. I think some of those were written specifically to give color to her character.

Poor Maria Desamparada - can you imagine being abandoned at birth and having your name as a reminder of this your whole life? Why couldn't they call her Perez or another common Spansih name? I remember watching the original, Cristal, in the 90's - it was made in Venezuela and the main character was called Cristina Exposito, which also means abandoned as a child. And that character was shown to be affected by having to carry such an awful name.

Adriana Noel
 

Adriana Noel, CRISTAL was my first telenovela! I loved that beautiful Venezuelan Spanish. And the double-anvil of the two baddies killing each other in the hot tub has not, in my opinion, ever been surpassed.
 

Blue Lass, Cristal was among my first novelas. I used to watch a lot of stories from Venezuela, they have a certain charm. It's such a shame that the country is in such bad shape.
I was still very young and new to the stories, I was glued to my screen watching. The moment when Lupita Ferrer's character (played by Victoria Ruffo in Triumfo) finds out who her daughter is... I remember vividly watching the episode with my mom and grandma - we were all holding our breaths waiting to see the big confrontation between the ex rivals turned mother and daughter.
Cristal, with other stories such as Kassandra or La revancha taught me Spanish. I can still make a difference between the accents, even when I hear them now, 20 years later.

Adriana Noel
 

Anita and Doris, yes, affection is a very good translation of cariño. Thank you!