A toalla is a towel, what you would use to dry off. Pronounced twai-ya, to me is it hard to recognize at first when I see it written.

I have always used the word estirar to mean to stretch. It is used when you are exercising and stretch your muscles. It is also used when you are stretching high to grab something off a shelf.

But a new use of the word came up last night. We were walking into a restaurant and saw the word estire on the door instead of empuje (push). I guess the idea is that you are stretching out in front of you to push the door away.

The word marcha has many meanings, most of which have to do with either marching or motion. The one meaning I learned this week, which is not in the dictionary I most often consult, is for a car starter motor. The word I most often seen written is arranque to mean a starter, but locally the mechanics all call it a marcha.

The only reason this comes up is that I had problems with my starter this week. Each place I consulted about parts or repair referred to it as a marcha, though they knew what I meant when I called it an arranque.

I thought tintorería was a window tinting shop for a long time. Even though there is a lot of sun here I could not figure out why they needed so many tint shops. Then I found out tintorería is a dry-cleaner’s shop.

I have seen the word abarrotes on many stores. These are typically smaller stores that sell just basic food items. Mostly small neighborhood stores. I thought it meant something like “quick in and out store” but my friend told me the other day she always thought it meant groceries.

I looked up the word and saw that it indeed does mean groceries, but it also has a verb form, abarrotar, which means to pack or to fill up.

I can’t figure out how the two meanings are connected if they are. Anyone know?

Desechables are disposables. Items you would use once then discard, such as paper or plastic plates, cups and bowls or syringes or diapers.

Butaca is an arm chair, or a seat. It can mean theater seating.

At our local baseball stadium the seating is divided in four sections. Two of them are called butaca and butaca alta. Butaca would be the field level seating and the butaca alta is the upper deck.