[net.nlang] yet another language anecdote

bte (07/30/82)

 After the story on soap, I couldn't resist this one of my
 father's:
    While thavelling in Italy, some of his Spanish friends
stopped in a restaurant, and ordered eggs "el burro", which
means in Spanish, with butter. The waiter replied that, in
Italy, donkeys (burros) did not lay eggs.
   Which brings up a good point about homynyms:
How do they occur? Why are the Romance words for butter and donkey
so gol-darn alike? Just trying to start another flaming discussion.
			Until next time,
			Blackhand the Evil
			unc!bte

bvi@sri-unix (08/02/82)

The Spanish word for butter is *NOT* 'burro', it is 'mantequilla',
derived from 'manteca', meaning 'lard'; this contrasts with the 
English 'butter' and the French 'beurre' (if I remember my rusty
French), and the Italian word, which I believe has the same base
as the English and French.  The people who ordered eggs 'el burro'
may have been using some colloquialism such as 'eggs over easy'
which was common where they came from, but not widely known.
Ane example of an odd colloquilasm is the Spanish name for 
Guiness stout, which is referred to as 'Cabeza de Perro', or 
'head of dog', because the Spanish Guiness label has a reverse
label with an English bulldog on it.  [ooops - read 'One' for 
'Ane' up above!]

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