To precipitate a problem, or solution, is to bring it to the forefront, or to make it stand out. The word comes from the idea of to throw or hurl ahead. In Spanish, that is exactly what the word means, to throw or hurl with the idea of haste.
I have not heard this word used […]

Moda is fashion or style. To be de moda is to be fashionable or of the current style.
To go out of style is pasarse de moda.

Last night I was teaching a math class and ran across the word almacenar. I suggested to another teacher that it was the two words alma and cenar, which would be to eat souls for supper. She did not agree with me on that.
It means to store, as in to store food in the pantry.

Today I was reminded of the word lagaña as we stood in the eye doctor’s office. It was the first funny Spanish word I remember learning as a teen. We were making a trip across the border into Mexico and we taught a friend to say “soy lagaña” and told him it meant “I’m […]

Hacerse pato literally is to be a duck. But we know there is much more to it.
Idiomatically, hacerse pato means to pretend not to see or feign ignorance.
You know when the dishes need washing or the clothes need putting away you conveniently don’t notice (hacerse pato) them hoping someone else will.

When students bring their books to school they usually use a backpack as a book bag. They call them mochilas.
I was curious as to whether mochila was a very common word, or if it is one that changes from country to country. It seems, from my research on the net, that it is very common […]

To say future in Spanish you can just use futuro, but a much more interesting word is porvenir. I have heard it used mostly when talking about someone’s future as opposed to the future in general.
In the dictionaries I have seen they do not make a distinction between the meanings of the words futuro and […]

If you are in a building in an emergency and you are looking for the éxito to get out, you won’t find it.
Éxito means a success.
What you want, the way out or exit, is salida.

In English this word means to be acquainted with, but in Spanish it is to be related to. The word means a family member or having to do with a family. There is another Spanish word that also means the same thing, it is pariente.
Familiar as stated above is a noun, but there is also […]

The words say “it appears to you” but when asked as a question, it means “do you like it?” I think it could be translated, “how does it appear to you?” It seems to always be used when asking someone if they like what they see.
When we were house hunting for some friends I first […]