Little men
Whilst attending a few lessons to improve my Spanish, I tried to explain that I was reading The Hobbit in Spanish. My Spanish tutor hadn't heard of it so I tried to describe the story of the little man, Bilbo Baggins. So, little - poco and man - hombre, I described the story of the poco hombre, whereupon my tutors eyes opened like saucers! It transpired that poco hombre means 'not much of a man', or something along those lines. What I should have said was hombre pequeño, meaning little or small man. Oops!
Sent by: Keith
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There is no translation for 'hobbit' in Spanish, however we know Bilbo as 'Bilbo Bolsón'.
In 1989 I, and a few student priests, were staying at a retreat home for priests in Santiago de Compostela. It was shortly after carbon 14 dating had placed the Turin Shroud as an artefact of the midle ages. Anyway, to counter this argument someone had writen a book maintaining the view that this shroud was that in which Our Lord was burried. A priest came quickly toward us waving this book in the air shouting "Holy Sheet, Holy Sheet." How many of you have heard a spaniard say the word "sheet". And coming from a priest, it was just about the funniest moment I've ever experience in my life.
I was in a restaurant in Madrid once and told the waitress Tengo un poco hombre ... I have a little man. Oops. She giggled as I corrected myself: ¡Hambre! Es diferente.
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