LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

CONTRADICTIONS IN PROVERBS

2026-11-10T04:01:32.553-08:00

This morning I was merrily skipping down the street, trying not to step on cracks (step on a crack, break your mother's back), when an old lady shouted at me: "You are never too old to learn!" I immediately shouted back: "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks!" This must have dumbfounded her, because she ran away with her tail between her legs.

I then decided to cross the busy street, thinking, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." But then I remembered my mother telling me, "Better safe than sorry," and decided to use a pedestrian crossing. I waited for the light to turn green and remembered to "look before you leap." But I hesitated, and, as "he who hesitates is lost," I missed my chance to cross the road.

I finally decided to scoot home and forget about proverbs altogether. After all, they are full of contradictions.

DOES EVERY IDIOM HAVE A COUNTERPART? LILY AND RIZO

2026-11-09T08:42:32.113-08:00

I may be wrong, but I cling to the possibly simplistic idea that every phraseological unit in one language has a counterpart in another. To illustrate this contention once again, I would like to mention the Spanish expression rizar el rizo, meaning to go unnecessarily further, overdo something, or embellish what is already satisfactory.

A David le gusta rizar el rizo y explicar más de lo necesario.

— “Pero hay quienes se empeñan en rizar el rizo…” ABC Cultural, 17/05/1996. Esp. || “Esta declaración riza el rizo de lo absurdo…” ABC, 09/04/1985. Esp.

A close English expression is gild the lily, meaning to embellish something already beautiful or satisfactory, or to add unnecessary ornamentation.

The Press Secretary in Washington has a tendency to gild the lily by giving more explanations than necessary.

— “I know how to write, mind you. I've still got the knack, can still gild the lily, can still turn a phrase.” Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2006. US. || “That’s enough. That’s enough. Don’t gild the lily here.” Geraldo, 04/07/1992. US.

The two expressions are not identical in every context, but they show how different languages can find their own imagery to convey remarkably similar ideas.

I stand to be corrected.

A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT AND A CAR IN EVERY GARAGE

2026-11-08T01:42:45.430-08:00

Con las elecciones midterm recién celebradas en los Estados Unidos y las generales en España del 29 de noviembre de 2026, se oye a los políticos desgañitarse prometiéndolo todo, el oro y el moro. Ya dice el refrán que de prometer nadie se hizo pobre.

Todo este ruido me ha traído a la memoria una frase que nos dijo mi profesor de Historia de los Estados Unidos en la Universidad de Duquesne, al hablarnos de las elecciones de aquellos años, en torno a la Gran Depresión: A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.

El eslogan fue entonces muy traído y llevado y se ha atribuido a diversos políticos. Lo traigo a colación porque a los políticos les encantan los eslóganes simplistas, las promesas fáciles y las fórmulas que caben en una pancarta.

El PSOE de Sánchez, después de más de ocho años de gobierno, promete ahora hacer todo lo que no ha hecho durante ese tiempo. Y quiere que los votantes le crean. Promete, salvando las distancias, un pollo en cada olla y un piso para cada joven, además de amor, honradez y rigor.

Todo cambia, claro, excepto los políticos y sus promesas, tantas veces hueras: A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.

THE STOWAWAY IN OUR LANGUAGE

2026-11-07T02:45:37.694-08:00

A domestic flight is a flight taking place within the borders of a single country. The standard Spanish equivalent is vuelo nacional, although the calque vuelo doméstico is heard in several Latin American countries, particularly under the influence of English.

I am writing this because yesterday I watched the television interview Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid, granted to Canal 5, in which she used the expression vuelos domésticos when speaking about flights within Spain. Despite my admiration for her as a politician, I regret hearing her introduce this stowaway expression into Spanish. Before we know it, vuelos domésticos may well replace the established vuelos nacionales.

You might protest: so what? What difference does it make whether we say nacional or doméstico when referring to flights within a country?

Nothing of great consequence, really. I merely wish to point out the influence that persons of import can exert on our linguistic habits. Words spoken by these people have a way of travelling.

EL MÉTODO DE APRENDIZAJE DEL PROFESOR FERNÁNDEZ ARMESTO

2026-11-04T02:34:20.150-08:00

En el prólogo a mi libro Escribir y comunicar en inglés, escribe el profesor Felipe Fernández-Armesto sobre su método de aprender idiomas, que consiste en memorizar poesía. Dice en ese prólogo el profesor de Notre Dame, insigne historiador y gran conocedor de los idiomas inglés y castellano: “My own method of learning languages ought to disqualify me from introducing this book. I teach myself by reading poetry. Verse is memorable, because repetitive and often rhyming. And most cultures have a stock – a common culture – of poems familiar to everyone educated in the language concerned. So foreigners who quote them instantly forge the sort of bond of sympathy that enhances every experience of communication.” Y yo añadiría a la poesía, la letra de canciones también. ¿Lo ponemos en práctica? Tenemos poco que perder.

BUTTONS AND "COSQUILLAS" EN LA FRASEOLOGÍA BILINGÜE

2026-11-02T23:53:19.841-08:00

Tengo a mi alrededor gente a la que le encanta ponerme de los nervios, pincharme para que salte y pierda la calma. Esto, en román paladino, se llama buscarle las cosquillas a alguien o hacerle rabiar. Lo malo es que lo consiguen. Por mucho que trate de mantener la calma y no darles el gusto de verme sulfurado, they push my buttons, and I take the bait.

Por ejemplo: Mi amigo Peláez sabe exactamente cómo hacerme rabiar hablando de política, lo que en inglés podríamos traducir como: My friend Peláez knows exactly how to push my buttons by talking about politics.

Me gusta esta expresión inglesa porque lo de 'buttons' nos recuerda a 'tecla', que en castellano también se usa figuradamente: tocar las teclas de alguien.

He encontrado las siguientes citaciones de uso, para que no se diga:

— “… but you don’t want to push his buttons because he can turn very vicious.” Sporting News, September 8, 2006. US.

— “… and Jimmy would keep pushing her buttons until she’d lose her temper.” George Pelecanos, Shame the Devil, 2001. US.

THREE SMALL LESSONS IN SPANISH

2026-11-01T03:27:47.126-08:00

Yesterday, someone who knows no English congratulated me on my mastery of the language. I have also been told that my Spanish is good. I take these compliments with a grain of salt, since they come from unqualified experts.

The question of language proficiency is one I often ponder. The study of a language is a lifelong endeavor, and there is always something to learn, correct, or improve.

If my reader is studying Spanish, allow me, by way of digression, to offer three pieces of advice:

1. Avoid the passive voice whenever possible.
Do not say David ha sido visto when the more natural Han visto a David will do. Spanish often prefers the active construction where English readily resorts to the passive.

2. Use the progressive form only when it is needed.
Do not say Estoy yendo a casa when Voy a casa expresses the same idea more naturally. The progressive is not a substitute for the simple present.

3. Learn the subjunctive thoroughly—and use it.
Do not automatically translate as far as I know as hasta donde yo sé. In many contexts, the more idiomatic Spanish is que yo sepa. The subjunctive is not an ornamental feature of Spanish grammar; it is an essential part of the language.

These are only three small recommendations, but they may help the learner sound less like a translation and more like a Spanish speaker.

BORN ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BLANKET

2026-10-31T01:15:57.247-07:00

I believe I have already mentioned the truism that society has taken great strides forward in its attitudes toward marriage and births out of wedlock. What was considered a sin and looked down upon a few generations ago may today pass without raising an eyebrow.

The expression born on the wrong side of the blanket refers to someone born outside marriage. It is an old-fashioned, somewhat euphemistic way of describing what was once regarded as a social stigma. Given the changes in society's attitudes toward such births, one might assume that the expression has become obsolete.

And yet, it continues to appear in literature:

“I was born on the wrong side of the blanket.” Anya Seton, Winthrop Woman, 1958.

“… those royal romances which always seemed to involve births on the wrong side of the blanket.” Time magazine, February 21, 1969.

“… born on the wrong side of the blanket.” Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead, 2022.

These examples might lead us to question whether the expression is really dated, or whether it has simply moved from everyday speech into the literary repertoire.

In Spanish, expressions such as hijo de madre soltera, ilegítimo, de padre desconocido, and natural have been used, though they are not exact equivalents in every context.

Mary married this guy, born on the wrong side of the blanket, who hadn't a penny to his name. Mary se casó con ese tipo, hijo de madre soltera, que no tenía ni un céntimo.

Expressions, like people, sometimes outlive the circumstances that gave rise to them.

GRANDES BIBLIOTECAS CASERAS

2026-10-30T05:40:34.683-07:00

Escucho y leo a literatos, profesores, periodistas, hombres de letras, que explican en artículos y entrevistas, que poseen en casa enormes bibliotecas con muchos, muchos libros. Es más, creo recordar que había un programa televisivo donde el reportero recorría bibliotecas privadas de famosos, cuyas estancias estaban atiborradas de libros, colocados en estanterías, debajo de las mesas, en la cocina, en la bañera. Vi la de Amando de Miguel y Luis Alberto de Cuenca, y quizá otros cuyos nombres se han borrado de mi memoria senil. Arturo Pérez Reverte se ufana en las redes de tener 32.000 volúmenes en su casa. Recuerdo el horror de ver tantos libros desperdigados y apilados de mala manera. Un verdadero sinsentido. Aparte de la sabiduría tradicional, eso implica polvo, mucho polvo.

Saco mi ábaco y calculo: Si tengo 30.000 títulos y leo uno a la semana, sin saltarme ninguna semana, leeré 52 al año. Para leer los 30.000 libros necesitaré 577 años en números redondos. Claro que si leo uno al día, sin prisa y sin pausa, necesitaré sólo 82 añitos de nada. Ya oigo a los que van a decir que muchos de los libros de las bibliotecas privadas son de consulta, para mirar y no para leer. Pero aun así.

En mi vida he perdido tres bibliotequitas de nada, pero que eran importantes para mi quehacer intelectual. Ahora tengo los justos, a los que vuelvo una y otra vez. Y si necesito uno, voy a la biblioteca pública o al Project Gutenberg, o lo compro. Desde luego que jamás acepto libros como regalo.

También los hay que coleccionan vitolas de puro, belenes en miniatura, abanicos, sellos de correos, estampitas de santos, cromos de futboleros, postales antiguas... de todo ha de haber en la viña del Señor.

WHAT ABOUT PERELMAN AND SCHOOL IS OUT? (2)

2026-10-29T02:32:35.682-07:00

Postscript

Whatever happened to Lewis Perelman, the man who predicted the demise of conventional education? He did not disappear immediately after publishing School’s Out in 1992. He continued to write and work on policy issues, and an interview published in 1997 shows him still defending his thesis.

Yet today, Perelman seems to have faded from public discussion, while the schools he declared obsolete are still standing. His predictions deserve revisiting.

Perhaps that, too, is a lesson in the unpredictability of the future. Perhaps Dr. Perelman's mistake was not to predict that school would disappear, but to underestimate its capacity to survive. Or perhaps the real revolution is still to come.

Dr. Lewis Joel Perelman, born in 1946, passed away on March 10, 2026.

IS SCHOOL STILL OUT? (1)

2026-10-28T03:03:08.457-07:00

Has the internet and technology truly changed traditional classroom education? Are students learning more, and learning better?

In 2002, while preparing the fourth volume of my English in Action, an English grammar for Spanish speakers (hispanohablantes), I wanted to make it a chrestomathy of educated English: a selection of passages designed to help learners master a language. I included poetry, short stories, newspaper articles, and literary essays.

During my research, I came across a review in the Financial Times titled “Is Education Outdated?” It discussed Lewis Perelman's School's Out: Hyperlearning, The New Technology, and the End of Education, published by William Morrow in 1992. I found the review sufficiently persuasive to obtain permission to reprint it.

According to the reviewer, Perelman argued that conventional education was obsolete and that investing in school reform was like investing in the horse and buggy at the dawn of the twentieth century while ignoring the automobile, which would soon sweep horse-drawn transport aside.

Technology, he maintained, was undermining the foundations of an educational system that had endured for centuries. He went further, describing American academic education as a costly fraud.

In his book, he wrote:

“A technological revolution is sweeping through the U.S. and world economies that is totally transforming the social role of learning and teaching. This learning revolution has already made the ‘classroom teacher’ as obsolete as the blacksmith shop.”

He added: “Learning has become too essential to the modern economy to be left to the schools.”

In a Wired interview, he went further still: “The conventional ‘technology’ of the classroom is a thousand-year-old invention initially adopted to discipline an esoteric cadre of acetic (sic) monks.”

Notice that ascetic means practicing self-denial, whereas acetic refers to vinegar and related chemical compounds. In another version of this argument, I might have made the misspelling a telling example of educational failure. But we should be fair: the error may have been the interviewer's, not Perelman's.

Tempus fugit. Here we are in 2026, almost four decades after Perelman's book appeared, and what has changed? School is still very much in session. Teaching, testing, grading, school boards, and their endless policies remain firmly in place. Educationally speaking, we are still riding the horse and buggy our parents and grandparents rode before us - along with the Amish.

Perelman was both right and wrong. His central insight remains compelling: technology has transformed access to information and the possibilities for learning. Yet the internet, cell phones, tablets, and instant access to information have not transformed classroom practice to the extent one might have expected.

Television, too, remains a great invention, even when put to poor use. Its educational potential was never fully exploited. The same may be true of the technologies that followed.

Perhaps predicting the future is a dangerous and fruitless business. Perhaps we prefer better safe than sorry and let sleeping dogs lie. Educators, like the rest of us, may fear changes that threaten established routines and our modus vivendi.

And so we still have:

Overcrowded classrooms.
Obsolete printed textbooks.
Irrelevant homework.
Outdated testing methods.
Teachers who stand before a class and repeat, year after year, what the textbook says.
Subjects poorly suited to the needs of the twenty-first century.
Pupils who struggle to write by hand or express themselves clearly—and who may confuse acetic with ascetic.
The assumption that educating the young is the school's responsibility alone.
The mistaken belief that education ends when we leave school.
Language skills that remain stubbornly stagnant.

Lifelong learning is no longer an option but a necessity. We cannot stop acquiring knowledge when we earn our degrees: facts change, knowledge expands, and information moves at an extraordinary pace.

We must adapt our teaching methods to the possibilities of technology, accept that those methods may need revising from year to year, and recognize that education extends far beyond the classroom. Otherwise, we risk missing the boat.

So, was Perelman right or wrong?

He was right about technology and wrong about education's imminent demise. Technology has changed how we obtain information, but it has not automatically changed how we teach or how we learn. The machine can be new while the method remains centuries old.

Why has this happened? I ask you.

NOTARIO LITERARIO DEL FRANQUISMO

2026-10-27T01:13:57.949-07:00

Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui: notario imprescindible de la España franquista

Sobre la novelística de Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui (1901-1982) escribí mi tesis doctoral en los años 1963-64, bajo la dirección de Joaquín de Entrambasaguas. Obtuve la calificación de sobresaliente, pero, más allá del valor académico, aquella investigación me abrió una ventana privilegiada a la España de la posguerra y la larga dictadura, a la que Zunzunegui sobrevivió.

Quien quiera entender la atmósfera social, moral y política del régimen de Franco debe leer a Zunzunegui. Sus novelas -a veces ásperas, otras llenas de ternura, siempre veraces- registran lo que la historia oficial callaba. Zunzunegui observó y reprodujo con precisión las miserias y grandezas de la vida cotidiana y supo dar voz a una España que sobrevivía entre las sombras. Muchos ahora hablan del franquismo sin haberlo vivido; Zunzunegui lo noveló casi como notario.

Algún día escribiré aquí sobre nuestras pequeñas tertulias, en la calle Viriato, donde Zunzunegui tenía su despacho. De momento, recupero una cita de su Esta oscura desbandada, que incluí en mi Diccionario panhispánico de citas y que resume bien su visión de la existencia:

“Pero en la vida nada se da completo y definitivo; todo tiene alternancia de bien y mal, goce y fatiga, alegría y tristeza…”

Una reflexión que sigue vigente y que muestra la profundidad de un escritor al que conviene volver.

BE UP FOR SOMETHING - APETECER

2026-10-26T07:44:08.958-07:00

Some people on social media insist on challenging readers bilinguistically, telling them that certain words in Spanish or English do not exist in the other language. One such word is "apetecer" which dictionaries translate as feel like, craving, or even how about.

¿Te apetece una pizza esta noche? / Lo siento pero no me apetece dar un paseo largo hoy. / ¿Seguro que te apetece? Segurísimo. Would that mean that the exact feeling or idea does not exist in the other language? Certainly not. The richness of our two languages is out there to be explored and studied. If we make the effort. The words may differ; the human experience does not.

In English, we can translate the above three Spanish sentences: Are you up for a for pizza tonight? / Sorry, I am not up for a long walk today. / Are you sure you are up for it? Absolutely.

In a nutshell: Be up for something = Apetecer and, of course, feel like and how about.

FROM "PATAPALO" TO "PERSONA DE MOVILIDAD REDUCIDA"

2026-10-25T02:36:11.242-07:00

The cruelty of human nature is well known. The cruelty directed at people with physical disabilities has a long and ugly history. Today, we congratulate ourselves on showing a certain degree of humanity in the way we refer to someone who limps or is missing a leg.

Spanish has a particularly rich, and sometimes brutal, repertoire of colloquial expressions for such people. The following are examples:

Patapalo
Patachula
Cojo
Cojitranca
Pataescombro
Cojo de mierda
Patituerto
Patamula

Today, euphemisms and more respectful expressions are increasingly the norm: persona con discapacidad motriz, persona con movilidad reducida, persona con cojera. We are now expected to say that David tiene movilidad reducida rather than call David a patachula or a cojitranca.

Language changes, and so do our ideas of what is acceptable. Whether this change reflects greater humanity, greater sensitivity, or simply a different set of social conventions is another question.

PRINCESS OF ASTURIAS AWARDS 2026

2026-10-24T03:56:36.258-07:00

I have made it a habit to watch the Princess of Asturias Awards on television every year, straight from Oviedo, Asturias. I enjoy the pomp and ceremony, the Asturian bagpipes, the Royal Family, the fanfare, and listening to the speeches delivered by some of the awardees.

I also appreciate the fact that people’s efforts in the humanities, science, sports, and other fields, as well as the work of certain institutions, are recognised, publicised, and discussed in the media. And I am all for indulging another of my habits: learning, discovering new people and institutions, and finding out about the progress they are making.

Yesterday, I discovered Patti Smith, the singer and writer. Imagine that, at this stage of my life! Timothy Garton Ash was also new to me, and I intend to read his work. His speech made me want to do so, which is surely one of the best things a speaker can achieve.

Julian Barnes was not exactly brilliant in his short speech but, truth be told, I was listening to the dubbed Spanish translation. I have heard of him, of course, and I am now reading his novels.

The best speaker, by far, was Christina Koch, the astronaut. Her speech was moving, well delivered, and heartfelt. One linguistic aside: Spanish television gave her surname a pronunciation that was not the English one. A small detail, perhaps, but these things catch my ear.

Both the Princess of Asturias and her father, the King, delivered well-written speeches and spoke them well.

And now I shall do some research, find out more about the people I discovered yesterday, and await next year’s awards, which I hope not to miss.

There is always something new to learn, even at this stage of the game. And long may that continue.

DO NOT PUSH MY BUTTONS

2026-10-22T03:11:03.392-07:00

These days I am irritable and touchy. I feel like everyone is trying to push my buttons to see which way I'll jump. And I jump sky-high, lose my cool, and watch my blood pressure rocket up. As I live in Spain, what people are doing to me would be called hacer rabiar or buscarle las cosquillas. Of course, English has plenty of ways to describe people who are easy to provoke, and I am apparently one of them. I turn vicious when someone pushes my buttons. Whatever the case, learn this idiom and try not to rise to the bait.

CUANDO EL IDIOMA SE PONE LA TOGA

2026-10-19T08:58:58.858-07:00

Hay expresiones que nacen en los tribunales y terminan en la calle, donde adquieren una vida mucho más amplia que la que les dieron los legisladores. Con premeditación y alevosía es una de ellas. En el uso corriente, viene a significar que algo se hace con malas artes, con intención deliberada y sin dar al otro la menor oportunidad de defenderse. No es poca cosa.

El artículo 22 del Código Penal español, aprobado por la Ley Orgánica 10/1995, define la alevosía en estos términos: «Hay alevosía cuando el culpable comete cualquiera de los delitos contra las personas empleando en la ejecución medios, modos o formas que tiendan directa o especialmente a asegurarla, sin el riesgo que para su persona pudiera proceder de la defensa por parte del ofendido». Una definición que, dicho sea de paso, no se distingue precisamente por su ligereza.

La premeditación, que figuraba en textos legales anteriores, desapareció como circunstancia agravante autónoma del Código Penal de 1995. La alevosía, sin embargo, sobrevivió, y la expresión con premeditación y alevosía siguió su camino por el idioma, sin pedir permiso a nadie.

Ya en 1852, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1833-1891) ponía estas palabras en boca de uno de sus personajes: «¡Usted me hiere con premeditación y alevosía! ¡Usted merece morir ahorcada por mis brazos!». Cuatro años después, Concepción Arenal escribía: «¿No ejecutan el delito con premeditación y alevosía, con circunstancias que le agravan?».

Desde entonces, la fórmula ha encontrado acomodo en la literatura española y ha sido empleada, entre otros, por Emilia Pardo Bazán, Joaquín Calvo Sotelo, Fernando Sánchez Dragó, Luis Mateo Díez y Juan Manuel de Prada. La lista podría alargarse, pero el espacio manda.

He aquí, pues, un buen ejemplo de cómo el lenguaje jurídico abandona los códigos, se incorpora al habla común y acaba sirviendo para mucho más que describir un delito. Porque uno puede ser herido con premeditación y alevosía sin que haya sangre, arma ni tribunal de por medio. Basta con que alguien nos haga una faena de las que no se improvisan y, además, se cuide muy bien de que no podamos devolverle el golpe.

El idioma, como se ve, también sabe de agravantes.

TRAIN YOUR SPEECH

2026-10-18T00:55:17.805-07:00

The more I hear people express their thoughts in English and Spanish in everyday life, the more convinced I become that we need speech training. I have mentioned reading aloud before as an excellent exercise. Actors constantly practice and train their speech, and I believe we should also train ourselves to speak well every day.

After all, the way we speak says a great deal about who we are and how we present ourselves to others.

My recommendation is simple and easy to follow: read aloud for five to ten minutes a day. Read slowly; savor the sounds, pay attention to points of articulation, how you articulate each sound, and experiment with stressing sentences in different ways. Do not rush or stumble over your words. Easy does it.

You may notice the results in a few weeks, perhaps even sooner. Your interlocutors will appreciate the difference.

Try it. You have little to lose and much to gain.

WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO? - ¿A DÓNDE VAMOS A IR A PARAR?

2026-10-16T03:35:12.626-07:00

¿A dónde vamos a ir a parar? / What Is the World Coming To?

It’s the all-purpose sigh. Nobody expects an answer. You say it when the news is grim, when a scandal breaks, or when the kids do something that surely signals the end of civilization: Wars, wars… what is the world coming to? Or, if you’re reaching for the Spanish: Guerras, guerras… ¿a dónde vamos a ir a parar?

Examples:
--“No sé a dónde vamos a ir a parar.” — Rosario Ferré, La batalla de las vírgenes (1993, Puerto Rico)
--“No sé dónde vamos a ir a parar.” — Manuel Martínez Mediero, Las largas vacaciones de Oliveira Salazar (1991, Spain)
--“Alice watched the little girl leave and muttered: What is the world coming to?” — Charles Martin, Thunder and Rain (2012, US)
--“… Lord, have mercy! What is this world coming to?” — Mary Monroe, Bad Blood (2016, US)

RAGE BAIT EN ESPAÑOL

2026-10-13T07:37:57.676-07:00

ChatGPT me dice que, por "to rage bait", debería usar "provocar indignación, buscar el cabreo ajeno, provocar polémica, cebo para la indignación" en castellano. Sé que no debiera "rage bait" al pobre ChatGPT, que anda corto de fraseología comparada y hace lo que puede con lo que tiene o con lo que le han enseñado. También es cierto que esta expresión es muy nueva en inglés para describir lo que en lengua española experimentamos con "hacer rabiar a alguien" o "buscarle las cosquillas a alguien". Claro que, como todavía no lo he publicado, ChatGPT no ha podido copiar mi Diccionario Fraseológico, español-inglés.

Ejemplo: Amelia did not answer because she suspected David was trying to rage bait her - Amelia no contestó porque suponía que David le estaba buscando las cosquillas. Amelia no contestó porque suponía que David la quería hacer rabias.

LO PROMETIDO YA NO ES DEUDA

2026-10-12T01:17:41.079-07:00

Me van a permitir soltar un par de clichés lingüísticos y sociológicos: todo cambia, ya nada es como era en mis tiempos… Hablemos de los políticos.

Pedro Sánchez le ha dado un vuelco al idioma en más de una ocasión con aquello de «mentir no es mentir, es cambiar de opinión». También ha quedado trastocado aquel viejo dicho que rezaba: «lo prometido es deuda», que los ingleses traducían literalmente como «promise is debt».

Este político, muy comunista él, promete a las masas empleos dignos y bien retribuidos, casas por doquier, más dinero para los pensionistas, transporte público de calidad y barato, frenar a la ultraderecha, canalla y maldita, y ponerla en la picota. Todo vale, porque ahora lo prometido ya no es deuda. Lo prometido no vale nada: es papel mojado, palabras que se lleva el viento y que pronto se olvidan.

Y yo, que vivo en Las Batuecas, todavía creo en la palabra dada, en el honor, en la amistad, en la integridad; todavía creo que lo prometido es deuda.

EL ARTE DE DECIR SIN DECIR - PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

2026-10-11T02:20:13.045-07:00

¡Españoles y españolas!

Hoy comparezco ante vosotros, no solo como presidente del Gobierno, sino como un hombre que cree en el futuro. Y os pregunto: ¿qué es el futuro sino el presente que todavía tenemos que mejorar?

Hemos conseguido mucho. Muchísimo. Pero debemos hacer más. Porque hacer más no consiste simplemente en hacer más, sino en hacer lo que hay que hacer, cuando hay que hacerlo y para quienes hay que hacerlo.

Algunos dicen que tenemos un problema. A quienes dicen que tenemos un problema, les digo: el problema no es que tengamos un problema. El problema es creer que un problema no puede convertirse en una oportunidad. Y nosotros convertiremos cada problema en una oportunidad, cada obstáculo en un peldaño y cada crítica en una prueba de que estamos avanzando.

Porque España merece más. España exige más. Y este Gobierno, mi Gobierno, el Gobierno de todos los españoles, seguirá trabajando sin descanso, día tras día, noche tras noche, dejándose la piel, por una España más próspera, más progresista y, sobre todo, más española.

No nos distraerán. No nos desanimarán. No nos derrotarán.

Y quiero ser absolutamente claro: seguiremos avanzando.

Porque el futuro es nuestro. Y juntos, lo haremos posible.

Muchas gracias.

(No lo he escrito yo ni Pedro Sánchez. Se lo he pedido a ChatGPT, que ha captado, con notable habilidad, algunos de los recursos más reconocibles de la retórica política contemporánea.)

POETRY REPEATS ITELF - ANNE CARSON AND GUILLERMO DE TORRE

2026-10-10T09:00:26.383-07:00

Reading some poetry by the brand-new Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Anne Carson, I was reminded of Guillermo de Torre, the Spanish ultraist poet, and of how Julio Casares took him to task in an article titled «Hélices, por Guillermo de Torre». Casares discusses ultraist poetry with considerable humor and a good deal of sarcasm.

The article dates from 1920, 106 years before Carson won the Nobel Prize. Yet the two poets have something in common that is worth pointing out. Casares quotes a poem by de Torre entitled «Fotogenia»:

Rostros,

Muecas,

Visajes

Acordes faciales

de la emoción iluminada

Gestos dardeantes...

Now consider these lines by Anne Carson:

It's good to be neuter.

I want to have meaningless legs.

There are things unbearable.

.................................................

It is curious how poetry repeats itself. A century separates these two writers, yet both seem to challenge our expectations of what a poem should say, and how it should say it.

One was ridiculed by a critic; the other has just been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Have our standards of poetry changed so much, or have we simply learned to admire what once made us laugh?

QUOTATIONS, MISQUOTATIONS AND MISATTRIBUTIONS

2026-10-09T02:36:35.557-07:00

“There is no problem that the mind of man can set, that the mind of man cannot solve.”

I have always attributed this quotation to Dr. Samuel Johnson; however, it seems I was wrong. I have been unable to authenticate it from Johnson’s writings. Where, then, did I get it from?

Google led me to Dr. Terence Meaden’s CV, in which he attributes these very words to Dr. Johnson. Misquotations abound, as do misattributions, but what are we to do about them? Must we double-check every quotation we encounter for the first time?

I suggest that, when we cannot trace a quotation to its original source, we should at least identify the source from which we have taken it. In this case, we might write: “As Dr. Terence Meaden attributes it to Dr. Johnson in his online CV: ‘There is no problem that the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve.’”

It is not proof that Johnson said it, of course. But at least we are being honest about our source. Is that not preferable to perpetuating a possibly spurious attribution?

ANNE CARSON - NOBEL IN LITERATURE 2026

2026-10-08T10:05:55.122-07:00

I think the Nobel Prize in Literature is an event worth looking forward to. This year, 2026, it has been awarded to Anne Carson (1950–), a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, and teacher. I should have known that she was the recipient of the Spanish Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in 2020. I dutifully follow the proceedings on television from Oviedo every year in the fall, but somehow I missed her.

This is therefore another of my literary confessions: I had never heard of Anne Patricia Carson. To my shame, I suppose.

I tender my congratulations to her and to the English-language literary world. The fact that she has devoted so much of her life to Greek and classical literature in this day and age says something about her, and perhaps also about the enduring power of the humanities.

We have someone comparable in Spain: Professor Irene Vallejo, author of the well-known El infinito en un junco (Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World). These two women have grit, stamina, and no little courage to pursue their studies against the prevailing intellectual fashions.

To study, teach, and translate the ancient classics today is an act of faith in the human mind. It means believing that Homer, Sappho, Sophocles, Virgil, and the rest of that ancient company still have something to say to us.

Perhaps that is why the Nobel Prize is worth looking forward to: every now and then it reminds us that literature, fortunately, has a longer memory than fashion. I suppose that is one reason I look forward to the Nobel Prize in Literature: it gives me the pleasure of discovering writers I ought to have known, and of celebrating accomplishments that are not my own.