New vent fan/Spanish family members
Sep. 28th, 2014 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebMy house was built in 1955. It has many of the awesome things from that time period. For example:
* big fenced-in yard for your dogs to play in
* driveway for your car (everybody has one these days!)
* fire-resistant asbestos shingles
* indoor plumbing
* automatic washing machine
* refrigerator
* natural gas oven and stove with huge fume hood
* open floor plan
* big windows in just about every room (small window in the bathroom)
* built-in closets (six of them!) plus a big pantry cabinet in the bathroom
* easy-care laminate counters in the kitchen
* easy-care vinyl flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom
Since it was built, various owners have helped bring it along into the future. Things I know about:
* central heat and air conditioning (thank you, thank you)
* concrete patio
When I got the house, I immediately had it weatherized and fixed up a few things. But this weekend, we brought it another step forward in time and installed a bathroom ventillating fan.
There's really not much else to say. It works. The bathroom doesn't steam up like crazy during showers anymore, even if we don't open the window.
Spanish of the Day
In our next unit, we cover "the family." Which means we have to memorize a huge list of words for various family members. I do not like memorizing. So I tried to find a fun unit on families out there on the internet. I had no luck. So I just started looking up a bunch of the words to see if there were any interesting connections. I already knew this one from my friend and classmate, Paul, who is a police officer for his side job:
* esposo - husband
* esposa - wife, handcuffs
But here are a few more:
* sobrino - nephew
* sobrina - niece
* sobrar - to be leftover, spare, more than enough, superfluous
I don't know if sobrar is related to sobrino/a, but if it is, it's like nieces and nephews are extra children, in case you need someone to finish the rest of that birthday cake or huge watermelon.
* cuñado - brother-in-law
* cuñada - sister-in-law
* cuñadismo - nepotism, old-boy network
Robin and I actually are in the habit of explaining certain kinds of crazy goings-on in town as due to someone on City Council's brother-in-law.
* nuera - daughter-in-law
* yerno - son-in-law
* yernar - to make one a son-in-law by force
We just don't have a verb for that in English (that I know about). (We do have the phrase "shotgun wedding.")
They also have the words for "twin" in my book (gemelo, gemela; obviously related to gemini). That's nice. We still have to look up "triplet," etc. ourselves.
Here's another interesting one:
* suegro - father-in-law
* suegra - mother-in-law
* consuegra - mother-in-law of one's child
As if the mothers of both children are conspiring against them. (All for their own good, of course!)
* big fenced-in yard for your dogs to play in
* driveway for your car (everybody has one these days!)
* fire-resistant asbestos shingles
* indoor plumbing
* automatic washing machine
* refrigerator
* natural gas oven and stove with huge fume hood
* open floor plan
* big windows in just about every room (small window in the bathroom)
* built-in closets (six of them!) plus a big pantry cabinet in the bathroom
* easy-care laminate counters in the kitchen
* easy-care vinyl flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom
Since it was built, various owners have helped bring it along into the future. Things I know about:
* central heat and air conditioning (thank you, thank you)
* concrete patio
When I got the house, I immediately had it weatherized and fixed up a few things. But this weekend, we brought it another step forward in time and installed a bathroom ventillating fan.
There's really not much else to say. It works. The bathroom doesn't steam up like crazy during showers anymore, even if we don't open the window.
Spanish of the Day
In our next unit, we cover "the family." Which means we have to memorize a huge list of words for various family members. I do not like memorizing. So I tried to find a fun unit on families out there on the internet. I had no luck. So I just started looking up a bunch of the words to see if there were any interesting connections. I already knew this one from my friend and classmate, Paul, who is a police officer for his side job:
* esposo - husband
* esposa - wife, handcuffs
But here are a few more:
* sobrino - nephew
* sobrina - niece
* sobrar - to be leftover, spare, more than enough, superfluous
I don't know if sobrar is related to sobrino/a, but if it is, it's like nieces and nephews are extra children, in case you need someone to finish the rest of that birthday cake or huge watermelon.
* cuñado - brother-in-law
* cuñada - sister-in-law
* cuñadismo - nepotism, old-boy network
Robin and I actually are in the habit of explaining certain kinds of crazy goings-on in town as due to someone on City Council's brother-in-law.
* nuera - daughter-in-law
* yerno - son-in-law
* yernar - to make one a son-in-law by force
We just don't have a verb for that in English (that I know about). (We do have the phrase "shotgun wedding.")
They also have the words for "twin" in my book (gemelo, gemela; obviously related to gemini). That's nice. We still have to look up "triplet," etc. ourselves.
Here's another interesting one:
* suegro - father-in-law
* suegra - mother-in-law
* consuegra - mother-in-law of one's child
As if the mothers of both children are conspiring against them. (All for their own good, of course!)