Thread: Japanese Straights

I was only half kidding about the "sombrero." Often foreigners to a term or product improperly use or translate words and form them to their own meaning...like the sombrero de charro which is the proper term for what we north of the Rio Grande know as just a sombrero. Does the fact that we use their language wrong make us right in naming things incorrectly? I mean, c'mon. Even you who will NEVER admit they are wrong (you know who you are...or sadly maybe you don't ) can't say yes to that.

Add to that that language is a fickle mistress. When I lived in California in the 80s the Mexican guys I knew called each other "cuñado." I asked them what it meant and they said "It doesn't translate. Literally it means brother in law but that's not what it means. It's like homeboy. It doesn't mean the same in Spanish as what you mean in English."