Talla, tamaño and medida all refer to size and what it is.
Talla is used to describe how tall a person is or what size shirt or pants you wear.
Tamaño is used to describe what size soda or french fries you want, large or small.
Medida is the measurement of something, how long your couch is for instance, or the volume of soda in your cup.
A jardinero is someone who takes care of the jardÃn, or garden. While the word gardener is not all that exciting, I do find the word, as used in baseball, to be hilarious. A right fielder is called the jardinero derecho, the right gardener.
Brújula is a compass for determining which way is north.
It can be used idiomatically to mean the way. For example, perder la brújula means to lose your way or go astray.
Compás is a word with varied meanings. While it can mean a compass which you use to find North, there is another word that is more commonly used for that, brújula.
Musically compás has to do with timing. It can mean rhythm or beat. It can also be used to mean a bar on the musical staff.
Also it can mean a compass that you would use in drafting to create a circle.
Ataúd means coffin or casket.
Fortunately I did not have to learn ataúd for any serious reason, but an ataúd played heavily in a joke I read today.
I also saw a couple of other phrases that mean a casket. But, I think they would probably be less formal. Pijama de madera and el sobretodo de madera (wooden pijamas and wooden overcoat).
While reading a book to my 4 year old daughter today we came across the word susurrar. I didn’t know what it meant, but she did. Susurrar is to whisper.
Yesterday at my son’s class, two parents were discussing the weather (the rainy season has started here). One mother was saying her other son’s class was canceled because of rain. But the word she used was chipichipi. Chipichipi, here in Mexico, means a light drizzling rain.
