Читать книгу Cubanisms - Pedro García-Menocal - Страница 22

strike out a batter. In school, however, it means to flunk out. “Me poncharon,” “They flunked me.” Similarly, guindar, which means to hang, also means to flunk someone in any course in school. “Me guindaron,” “They flunked me.”

Children, of course, love to play in playgrounds. That is what they are for. Perhaps they will slide down a canal (a slide) or fly on an hamaca, which is the Spanish word for hammock, but in Cuba it is also a swing. Or perhaps they will roll around on a chivichana, a sort of homemade scooter or cart used by kids for racing. And if the kid falls off his chivichana, he may get a ñáñara or a yaya, which are each words used to describe any small bruise, wound, or scrape that a child may get from playing around.

A cachumbambé is an Afro-Cuban word for seesaw. It is also used to describe a person who keeps changing his mind. An old nursery song ran, “Cachumbambé, la vieja Iné’, que fuma tabaco y toma café.” Totally Afro-Cuban, it means, “Seesaw, old Inez, who smokes cigars and drinks coffee.” “La vida es un cachumbambé” (“Life is a seesaw”) means that life has its ups and downs.

Estar enbaracutey is to be pregnant, which may be a play on words from the name Baracoa, a city in Cuba, and the correct Spanish word embarazada (to be pregnant). Some people also say that it means “to live alone” or “to be a loner.” A pregnant woman may have jimaguas, which is the indigenous word for twins, still used by all Cubans and only by Cubans. The correct Spanish word for