¡Qué bien sienta soltar un taco!

There's one Spanish word everyone in the US knows probably before they turn 3, and that word is taco.

On the bizarre chance you don't know what a taco is, here's a photo:

But like many words in Spanish, the word taco has more than one meaning.

That's right, a taco can also be a pool cue.  At least in Mexico, that is.  And technically they're called tacos de billar, although if you're in the middle of a game of billar (pool, billiards) then you can just say taco.

We're not done yet.  This is also a taco:

In Chile a taco is an atasco or embotellamiento.  We know it as a traffic jam.

I don't know if you consider this good news or bad news, but we've still got more to talk about.

There's also taco de ojo, eye taco.  Clearly this makes no sense in English, so let me explain.  Taco de ojo refers to a good looking guy or girl.  We call it eye candy.  Throw it into Google and see what comes back.   But finish reading this post first, I don't want you getting distracted.  And I believe this is a very Mexican expression, so it may not be understood by everyone.

There was also a movie called Taquito de ojo:

There's an expression that goes along with taco de ojo, and that is echarse un taco de ojo.  This is something to the effect of checking out the girls, or guys if you're a woman.

Ya se echó el taco de ojo y apenas estamos empezando 
You've already been checking out the babes and we're just getting started

Es inteligente, trabajador, y es un taco de ojo
He's smart, hard-working and is nice to look at

Voy a la playa y echarme un taco de ojo
I'm going to the beach to check out the girls

That leaves us with just one more expression involving tacos.

Soltar tacos is another way to decir palabrotas, or to swear.  This is used in Spain and perhaps some parts of Latin America.

I won't be teaching you how to actually swear in this post, you'll need to look at my other blog for that, 
No Seas Pelangoche.

Let's get back on track.

¡Qué bien sienta soltar un taco!   
It feels good to swear

Qué dificil hablar sin soltar tacos
It's hard to talk without searing

Papá soltó un taco en voz baja
My dad said a swore in a low voice

And that's it, or should I say that's enough.  Who knew the word taco had so many meanings?

¡Hasta la próxima!

Estoy a punto de llegar al cuarto piso

In my last post I talked about birthdays in Spanish - Estoy de cumple.  If you haven't read it yet, you should, because I talk about several birthday-related words your Spanish book left out.

Today we're going to continue on with the subject of age and if you thought your Spanish book betrayed you on the topic of birthdays, well, it's not going to get any better.

You've probably already mastered this bit of Spanish:

¿Cuántos años tienes?
How old are you?

Tengo 24 años
I'm 24

Your Spanish book leaves you high and dry after that, but that's where this post comes in to save the day.

You can also reply with:

Tengo 24
I'm 24

OK, that's just a slightly different version of what your Spanish book taught you, but I just wanted to let you know you can say it without the word "años".  It seems rather obvious, but I wondered about that for a long time.

Here are some more options.

Tengo cuarenta y algo 
I'm 40 something

Tengo treinta y algo
I'm thirty something

Tengo veinte y tantos
I'm twenty something

You don't even need the verb tener.

Apenas trienta y cinco
Barely thirty five.

 Now it's time for the really fun stuff.

Adivina cuántos años tengo
Guess how old I am

You could also just say:

Adivina
Guess

If you really want to have fun, you can reply with:

¿Cuántos años me pones?
How old do you think I am?

Literally that means how many years do you put on me, but literal translations don't always make sense, like in this case.

If someone asks you this question, you need to be ready to reply.  Let's take a look at this short dialog:

¿Cuántos años me pones?
How old do you think I am?

Te pongo 30
I think you're about 30

Uy, no, tengo 22
Um, no, I'm 22

Isn't that embarrassing.  Let's hope that doesn't happen to you.

Sometimes you don't mind telling people your age in general, but you don't want to discuss specific numbers.   The verb IR really comes in handy for this.

Voy para los treinta
I'm going on 30

Voy para los sesenta
I'm going on my 60's

Mi hija va para dos años
My daughter is going on two

You can also use the verb estar.

Mi hermano esta en su treinta
My brother is in his thirties

Mi esposo esta en los cuarenta
My husband is in his 40's

Here are even more cool options to talk about your age.

Soy cuarentón
I'm in my 40's

Es una cicuentona muy atractiva
She's a very attractive 50 year old

Use the verb ser to be somewhat specific about you age no matter how old you are:

Soy (I'm).....
veinton/veintona                I'm in my 20's
treintón/trientona               I'm in my 30's
cuarentón/cuarentóna         I'm in my 40's
cincuentón/cicuentona        I'm in my 50's
sesentón/sesentona             I'm in my 60's
setentón/setentona             I'm in my 70's
ochentón/ochentona           I'm in my 80's
noventón/noventona           I'm in my 90's

Surprisingly, or maybe not, there's another way to say the same thing.

Soy...
veinteañero/veinteañera  
treintañero/treintañera
cuarentoñero/cuarentoñera
cincuentañero/cincuentañera
sesentañero/sesentañera
setentañero/setentañera
ochentañero/ochentañera
noventañero/noventañera

Which version of the above you use is up to you.

Of course, you could always take Mafalda's approach on the subject of age:

Hopefully you got a laugh out of that.  And if you don't know who Mafalda is, you're really behind in your Spanish culture.  Maybe Malfada will be the focus of future post.

That leaves us with one more thing to discuss.

Estoy a punto de llegar al tercer piso 
I'm about to arrive at the 3rd floor

OK, that's the literal translation but at this point I think we all know what's really going on.

When you llegar to the 3rd floor, it's a way of saying you're about to turn 30.

You can arrive to a number of floors, like the quinto piso (5th floor) , and yes, you guessed right, it means you're about to turn 50.  Throw the floor in you need and you're good to go.

Well, I think that's enough for one blog post.  Now go forth and impress your Spanish speaking amigos with your new found ability to talk about, or even avoid talking about your age.

¡Hasta la próxima!