While listening to two mutual friends talk I heard the word ganga for the first time. These two friends, older than me by 20 years, share a language all their own. They have been best friends for almost 30 years. When they talk with one another, I never know if the words they are using [...]

The English word complacent means to be satisfied. Normally it is used to mean self-satisfaction. While technically accurate, I was a bit surprised by that definition. It often carries a negative connotation and I always thought of it as having the idea of lazy without a desire to improve the situation. According to every dictionary [...]

I ran across this interesting word a week or so back. Menguar means to diminish, to lessen or to wane. It can be used to refer to something that was substantial but is now a mere shadow of itself.

To train someone for a position is capacitar. You can easily see the English word capacitate in the Spanish version. We just don’t use capacitate enough for that word to be the first one we think of when looking for the word train. You can also use it to equip someone for service. There is [...]

Chiflado can be the past participle of chiflar, to whistle, or it can be an adjective to mean crazy or loony. I am thinking of the adjective. It can also mean mad as in, not having it all together as opposed to mad meaning angry. This can be used to say someone is crazy about [...]