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Permalink Reply by Eeeker on April 21, 2008 at 11:17am

I'll do my best on this--tricky because it's Venezuelan slang, but here goes:

"Is this how a Chavista (Hugo Chavez supporter) puts up with his scrawny little wife?"

My apologies to any Venezuelans who may not find this exactly right!

You're right--it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. That and more hilarious stuff are on www.macario.com.ve.

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Permalink Reply by James A. Austrian on April 21, 2008 at 12:15pm

My most sincere gratitude for your assistance! It's my first "success" with this web site, and I must say I'm really impressed. Thanks again

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Permalink Reply by Eeeker on April 21, 2008 at 12:21pm

You're quite welcome! In fact, I just joined today because I was fascinated with the video and your question, and I thought it would be challenging to answer it.
--Eeeker

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Permalink Reply by James A. Austrian on April 21, 2008 at 12:53pm

Well, I'm very happy to meet you M. Eeeker. Do you think it would be wise for me to conjure up some tricked-up name for this web site instead of my own? Maybe I should have done that in the beginning.

I joined this site because I'm an ESL teacher here in Westchester, NY and I am closely tied to an NGO: "Bridges to Community" where we build small but completely adequate houses for the poorest of the poor in rural Nicaragua. At least once a year my wife and I go there with a small group of like-minded people and actually build one of these houses with our own hands and minimal professional help. You might be interested in looking at their web site .

My ESL students are all undocumented jornaleros who, as you might imagine, are struggling mightely to survive in an element which is often unfriendly.
My Spanish is pretty good for simple conversaton ( based on several years study a half century ago) but I am always trying to expand into proper conjugations, etc.

I'd enjoy hearing from you again.

Cordially,

JAA

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on April 21, 2008 at 1:00pm

I notice that a meaning for calar in the Andes is "to humiliate" Could it be something like "Is this how a chavista humiliates himself by having a skinny scrawney wife"

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Permalink Reply by James A. Austrian on April 21, 2008 at 1:02pm

One last thought: Without a real translation, am I correct that generally the girl on the beach is raising some irritating point about Chavez that motivates her date to, shall we say, deflate the girl rather than listen to her comments?

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Permalink Reply by Eeeker on May 9, 2008 at 8:16am

Oops! It seems that I have not been paying attention to this thread! Thanks to Eddy for the suggestion, but I'm sticking to my translation. According to the Oxford Spanish Dictionary (which I highly recommend), calar is Venezuelan argot for aguantar, "to put up with." To me, it's just typical nagging by his little wife (esposita), and deflating her is a great way to put up with her! I wish we could get a translation of the nagging, but all I THINK I can hear is niños and calle, which indicates a family-type argument to me. I definitely could be wrong. Maybe somebody will help us on this.

James, I have perused the "Bridges" site. Your work appears to be very selfless and giving to those who need help the most. Best wishes!

BTW, one great way I've found to learn "real" Spanish is to listen to noventa y siete punto nueve, "La Mega" en Nueva York, as long as you can stand it. I'm in central NJ, so I guess you can pick it up in Westchester as well. I have it on the car radio all the time. It drives mi esposita crazy, however, so I'm looking for that little valve...

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Permalink Reply by Heidita on May 9, 2008 at 9:08am

Lo de calarse no lo tengo nada claro. Ni siquiera lo entiendo. voy a investigar.

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Permalink Reply by James A. Austrian on May 9, 2008 at 11:34am

Thanks for your interest and assitance. I'll try 97.7 (fm, I presume).
Regards.
JA

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Permalink Reply by Heidita on May 9, 2008 at 2:51pm

I said I would investigate and I did:

Para comprender la expresión, es necesario conocer algo del entorno político actual en Venezuela.
Los términos claves son los siguientes;
Chavista - Partidario de Hugo Chávez, actual presidente de Venezuela.
se cala - aguanta, tolera, soporta.
escuálido - es la palabra utilizada por Chávez para referirse a los grupos de oposición. Es lo contrario de chavista. Es un término despectivo. La Academia de la Lengua Española lo define de la manera siguiente: 1. Flaco, macilento. 2. adj. Sucio, asqueroso.
Además, es necesario saber que entre chavistas y opositores (escuálidos) existe fuerte confrontación. Son como perro y gato.
Para entender exactamente lo que se quiere decir sería necesario tener un poco más de contexto.
Sin embargo, en sentido general, lo que se dice es

'Cómo un chavista aguanta a una esposa de la oposición.

so, being this the final version the translation is:

How does a chavista (a Chavez supporter) bear a wife from the opposition??

I must say, to understand the part of "escuálida" as being the opposing party...that's only for natives!! AS I said before, I didn't understand any of this sentence.

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Permalink Reply by Eeeker on May 9, 2008 at 3:39pm

Heidita, what a great job you did on this peculiar sentence! It appears that James came closest to the actual meaning, "the girl on the beach is raising some irritating point about Chavez." Still, I would like to know what she is babbling about--it's incomprehensible to a non-native Spanish speaker. Have you seen the video? It is incredibly clever and funny! I don't know whether it is still available on www.macario.com.ve, but I have a copy of it I'll be glad to send you if you would like to see for yourself.

This has been very educational and fun. Thank you so much, Heidita!
--Eeeker

(To James: it's 97.9)

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Permalink Reply by Heidita on May 9, 2008 at 5:44pm

Hi eeker, how can I find this video?
I am glad you liked the investigation.

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