Catchword: llamar pa’ atras

Filed under: Spanglish, United States, Florida

Part of speech: v.

Quotation: The phone rings inconveniently and, with an English idiom, you promise to call back. “Back” in English is not just the opposite of front, it also connotes an opposite reaction in a way that makes words like “backlash” work. The Spanish word for back, atras, doesn’t have that secondary meeting. If you translate it directly in a usage like “call back,” the result is Spanish gibberish. But it happens. And when Spanglish speakers issue a baffling promise to llamar pa’ atras (“to call in the back”), they move Spanish words to an exclusive Spanglish understanding.

Article or document title:
“Is this our creole?” (URL)

Author:
Rick Stone

Article, document, publication, web site:
Sun-Sentinel

Publishing location:
Florida

Date of publication:
Dec. 26, 2004

This catchword has yet to be researched.