Up the hill and down the dale, I walked the rocky mountain trail;
I saw the plains... I’ve got the pains
To prove it.
My back has spasms, my legs are sore,
But, what is more,
My pants are dry... so that’s not why
I‘m walking like I’ve peed myself.

Over the last five centuries hundreds of Spanish words have entered the English language. Here are a selection of the more common ones.

Part One: From adobe to desperado

DOESN’T time fly!  Since my last blog I have been very busy... in the best possible ways of course.  I have had many excellent evenings out on my horse, the wonderful Ludo, and some of them beyond excellent - the joy of riding out on these amazing autumn evenings is beyond amazing...

Yoga classes continue to grow and change and we have very special Sunday mornings at the Molino del Santo.  First of all in the yoga studio and then downstairs having breakfast on the terrace.  All manner of topics come up for analyzing and opining upon... heaven forfend that any gossiping might take place but it would be fair to say that we do set the world to rights!

AT this time of the year, when the date of All Saints or Halloween is approaching, all things night time and spooky come to mind.

While sitting in the garden with a glass of blood red wine waiting for friends to arrive for dinner, a low humming sound was heard coming from the flowers of the blue plumbago bush to my left.

Australian Vegemite, fairy bread and Anzacs
English Marmite, shepherd’s pie, sausage rolls, sherry trifle, Eton Mess, scones with jam, fruit flan, cheese and pineapple on sticks
Israeli  cholent
Canadian smoked salmon
American macaroni and cheese
Dutch apple cake
The foreign residents gave the Spanish locals a ‘taste of the world’.

LYING in my pool looking up at the three Griffon Vultures gliding in a circle above me, I was waiting for the end… of summer that is!

As the days get shorter and migrant birds, like the Bee-eaters make their way back to Africa, I think back to some moments of interest.

LIKE most languages, Spanish makes wide use of abbreviations.  In Spanish many abbreviations are the reverse of the English version, eg U.E. instead of E.U., O.N.U. instead of U.N.O. and O.T.A.N. for  N.A.T.O. This is because adjectives follow the noun in Spanish rather than precede it as in English.

As for abbreviations of plurals in Spanish they simply double the letter, eg EE.UU. (Estados Unidos – USA), FF.CC. (Ferrocarriles – Railways), JJ.OO. (Juegos Olímpicos - Olympic Games).

SPANISH is a very imaginative, colourful and at times earthy language. Take the common fruits, for example.

It’s no surprise, for example, to learn that limones, melones and peras are slang words for tits (breasts) and that plátano and ciruelo (plum tree) are vernacular for prick (penis)!
But, enough of this crude talk! Let’s have a closer look at the Spanish words for the common fruits, idiomatic phrases containing them and some alternative meanings.