LA PALABRA DEL DÍA: MANTERO, TOP MANTA

¿Qué es un mantero? ¿Qué es el top manta?
What is 'un mantero'?  What is 'top manta'?

Muchos emigrantes que llegan a España, desde Africa o de otras partes, se decican al top manta para vivir.  Se les llama manteros, tal vez porque todo lo que venden está a la vista en el suelo encima de una manta. 

Many migrants who arrive in Spain, from Africa and other places, sell goods in the street in order to survive. These goods are displayed on the floor on a blanket.  In Spanish, the word for blanket is 'manta'  so it is likely that the expression 'top manta' came from this selling style.

Los manteros siempre van acompañados de  alguien que vigila, y cuando llega la policía avisan a los manteros que rapidamente pliegan la manta con la mercancía dentro y salen corriendo. Esta clase de venta no está regulada, así que puede haber problemas si la policía los coge/agarra.

The 'manteros' work with someone who keeps an eye and warns them when the police is close by. Then, they quickly fold the blankets with the goods inside and run away.  This type of selling is not regulated so sellers can get into trouble if they are cought.

What they sell:
 When they started they sold illegal copies of Cds, DVDs and sport goods and t-shirts; later they added all sort of items from leather goods like handbags, wallets to jewlery, watches & perfumes etc. 

Qué venden:
Al principio vendían copias ilegales de cedes y dvds, camisetas de deporte etc. más adelante ampliaron el surtido con artículos de imitación de piel desde bolsos y carteras hasta bisutería, relojes o perfumes.


EXPRESSIONS:

• dedicarse al top manta:   

En España muchos emigrantes sin papeles se dedican al top manta.

• los top manta: Cuando se acerca la policía los top manda salen corriendo con la manta y la mercancía al hombro

(When the police comes the sellers take off with the blankets on their shoulders)

• mantero: los manteros son inmigrantes  que venden en la calle ilegalmente.  

(Manteros are migrants who sell illegally on the street)

WORD OF THE DAY in Spanish: Una trifulca (a row)

Una trifulca es una pelea que suele tener lugar entre varias personas, en un lugar público, normalmente con poca violencia pero con mucho alboroto.

A trifulca is a row that usually takes place in a public place, normally with more than two people and with some aggresivity but not violence.

Examples:

Me voy. No tengo ganas de trifulcas
I'm leaving. I am not in the mood for rows.

Es una trifulca sin importancia. Se pelean por nada.
This row is irrelevant. They are fighting over nothing.

SPANISH VERBS: LEVANTARSE (to wake up)

LEVANTARSE is a reflexive verb that usually means to get up from bed but also from a chair, from the ground etc) 

Me levanto a las 7 cada día

(I get up at 7 every day)

PRESENT TENSE (present )

Me levanto,

te levantas,

se levanta,

nos levantamos,

os levantáis,

se levantan.  

Mis padres SE LEVANTAN  a las seis pero nosotros NOS LEVANTAMOS a las ocho. 

(My parents get up at six but we get up at eight)

SIMPLE PAST (pretérito indefinido) 

me levanté,

te levantaste,

se levantó,

nos levantamos,

os levantasteis,

se levantaron.

Ayer ME LEVANTÉ tarde, a las nueve y media.  Era domingo. 

(Yesterday I got up late, at nine thirty. It was Sunday)

FUTURE (futuro simple)

me levantaré,

te levantarás,

se levantará,

nos levantaremos,

os levantaréis,

se levantarán.

 Esteban y Marta SE LEVANTARÁN mañana a las cinco para ir al aeropuerto.

(Esteban y Marta will wake up at 5 tomorrow to go to the airport).


COMMOM ESPRESSIONS:

¡a levantarse! = Show a leg!
levantarse temprano = get up early
levantarse de madrugada = to get up at the crack of dawn
Levantarse con el pie izquierdo = to get out of bed on the wrong side 

 

LANGUAGE MATTERS: Does Espanglish or Spanglish have a future?

LANGUAGE MATTERS - THE SPANGLISH
 
Hoy no vamos a lonchar en el rufo porque está frisando (Spanglish)
Hoy no vamos a almorzar en el tejado (arriba) porque está helando (Spanish)
Today we are not going to have lunch in the roof because it is freezing (English)
 
Los vecinos janguean en la marqueta con el peligro de un jolope.

Hay un liqueo en la boila que me está dañando la furnitura (Spanglish)
Hay un escape en el calentador de agua que me está dañando los muebles (Spanish)
There is a lick on the boiler who is damaging the furniture (English)


The Facebook Page of El Muro de los Idiomas, which I follow, asks its readers, how do you react reading these sentences in Spanglish?

 I react badly, I can't help it. I feel it is a total lack of disrespect and also that it makes a total mockery of the English and Spanish languages. This 'new' pseudo-language called Spanglish is spoken in some states of the US where a great concentration of Spanish-speakers who migrated from Central America live. You need to understand both English and Spanish to understand Spanglish so I think that if it is taught to children, we are, in fact, dealing with a potential 'new language'.

This brings this to mind: I have recently spent some time in Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain, a city who was for some centuries a city of great relevance to the Roman Empire. The Romans spoke Latin and brought the language to Spain (the Roman Hispania) as well as to other countries they colonised.  We all know what happened: when the locals had to speak in Latin what they did was not much different to what is happening with Spanglish now in The States. Purists do not want to hear this: that the beautiful modern languages that we all so adore Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Galician, French etc are just the product of an evolution and a bastardisation of Latin.

So, despite my reservations I think that you can't stop change happening and that a language will always evolve, or die. How do you stop people using it? Humans need to communicate and sometimes the way they do it is the best way they can manage or they know. Academics have books and have time and have knowledge. They do not do manual or menial jobs in a language they have not had time or ability to learn. 

Languages are always evolving and will continue to do so. I am afraid I am too old to see how this matter will be in 50 or 100 years time, I can say that with some reservations for those careless or lazy with language I think that Spanglish may become a language in the future. And how about Portuñol? Brazil and Latin American countries are being quiet about this one. Topic for another day.
Some words in Spanglish:

lonchar: to have lunch (from to lunch)
el rufo; the roof
está frisando = it's freezing
la marqueta = the maket
un liqueo = a leak
la furnitura = the furniture

SPANISH VERBS: TIRITAR de frío (to shiver with cold)

tiritar is a verb that means 'to shake slightly and uncontrollably as a result of being cold, being frightened, excited, ill etc.

Hace tanto frío que estamos todos tiritando

(It’s so cold that we are all shivering)

EXAMPLES:

• Ella tiritaba de frío (She was shivering with cold)
• El niño tiene fiebre. Está tiritando (the child has a fever. He is shaking)

EXPRESIONES IDIOMATICAS:

tiritona s. f. fam. Temblor del cuerpo producido por el frío o la fiebre. Tiritera.

una tiritona is an informal expression meaning a "shivering fit", like probably you´ll ever have after swimming in cold water or also the "shake" you might feel whenever you have got high fever.

tener escalofrios: to get/have the shivers

tener la tiritona / la tiritera: (informal) to get/have the shivers

tengo escalofrios: I have the shivers

tengo la tiritona (familiar expression): I have the shivers