WHEN
SPANISH AND ENGLISH SOUND SIMILAR
Cognates are defined as "words that are similar
in two or more languages as a result of common descent." The more closely
related two languages are the more cognates they may have. Nearly 40% of both
Spanish and English words have a common Latin or Greek origin.
Some examples are: Hospital, restaurant, abandon (abandonar),
abnormal (anormal), accent (acento), band (banda), bar (barra), bicycle
(bicicleta), camel (camello), cape (capa), contact (contacto), dialect
(dialecto), echo (eco), elegant (elegante).
Inspiration for this entry came after reading” The
world´s wackiest Spanish joke book” by Sue Fenton in which she registers over
500 puns in both Spanish and English.
The left-hand column will feature the Spanish word
whereas the right hand column will present the sound equivalence and a source
of fun which reflects and celebrates the playful spirit in all of us:
HIELO YELLOW
JIRAFA HER OFFER
JABALÍ HER
BELLY
JAGUAR HOW ARE
ERIZA ARETHA
IGUANA I WANNA
RANA RUNNER
ZORRILLO THE
REAL
BORRIQUÍN BURGER KING
GORILA GUERRILLA
CABALLETE COWBOY YETI
PICAFLOR PICK A FLOOR
PALOMA PLUMBER
MIRÓ MIRROR
ANARANJADA ANA RUN HARDER
ENERO A NARROW
HIERRO HERO
ESPERA GAS ASPARAGUS
MÁS
TARDE MUSTARD
IZQUIERDA HE´S SCARED TO SOMBRERO SOMEWHERE
ALGODÓN I´LL GO DOWN
JÁRTATE HEART
ATTACK
A MANGAS AMONG US
HIGO EGO
SALÓN SO LONG/LONE
SARTÉN CERTAIN
COLCHA CULTURE
LAVABO LOVABLE
SONORA SNORER
LA QUEBRADA LIKE A BROTHER
PESO PAY IS SO
VERACRUZ VARICOSE
DONDE VAS? ON THE BUS?
NACHO NOT YOURS
TURRÓN TO RUN
OLÉ AU_LAIT
SEVILLA SEVERE
GRANADA GROWN OUT OF
BARCELONA BOSS A LONER
ARAGÓN I RECKON
DON QUIXOTE DONKEY OUTIE
ANDALUZ ON
THE LOOSE
AJO EN JUAN A HOLE IN ONE
RÁBANOS ROBBING US
CHU-CU-CHÚ YOU COULD CHOOSE
GOLFA GOLFER
PICHA PITCHER/PICTURE
¿ TE PICA LA INGLE ? DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?
CRISMA
CHRISTMAS
CO-JO-NES GOOD MORNING
DESOLAO SOLD OUT
BAILABLE AVAILABLE
GIL HILL (Surname)
ASÍ(n) A SIN
¡AY! SÍ I SEE
LOCKER LOCA; LOCA
N.B. OBSERVE THESE PUNS: PIGCASSO, FRACKASO, SABADO DELI, INDALIBLE, FRA-CASADO(PP),..(Make
up your own pun)
Write a short creative text using the examples above as prompts starting:
Yellow leaves me cold........
