Wednesday, October 24, 2007

se habla comillas


Ok, I took 5 years of Spanish, but I forget what "Camaron" is. Acccording to babel fish, it means shrimp. They sell "shrimp" in the house of law? That doesn't make sense. Maybe somebody with more fluency can help me out here. Or Emily, who took this picture in Yelapa, Jalisco Mexico.

15 comments:

Minh Nguyễn said...

Wow, for once, maybe they do mean it sarcastically. Who knows what “shrimp” is a euphemism for in this courthouse?

Cliff O'Neill said...

Sure it seems odd. It is.

Basically, someone at the building which is known as the "Law Building" is selling shrimp. I would imagine it's in front of and not in the building, but what do I know?

Andrés Madrigal said...

Well, you shouldn't underestimate Mexican originality for names. "Ley" (and I hope I'm using my quotation marks right) could be a name. So it won't necessarily refer to a "law house" (now, using quotation marks makes me nervous), it'll be more like Ley's house.

I'm just guessing here, can't be sure...

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed looking over your blog. I am kind of new, and a lot of these blogs are either a. boring as hell, or b. copy & paste news articles and pictures.

It was refreshing to see all the unncessary quotes. Just what I needed.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

So I've Been Laid Off said...

i suspect there's a restaurant near the courthouse, and it's called The Law House. at The Law House, they serve shrimp, at least on the day this picture was taken. the shrimp isn't real shrimp, it's ersatz shrimp, made in a mold. because The Law House is near the court house, it fears being brought up on false advertising charges by the litigious men who eat lunch there, so it prudently uses quotes. if our restaurants were this scrupulous, we'd all eat a lot better. that's my take on it.

the antipop said...

and i say, the court house broke the "law" of quotation marks. go sue.

phatcatholic said...

Just found your blog thanks to the Blogger homepage. Congratulations on being a "Blog of Note." ;-)

I hope you realize that wherever I go from now on, I'm going to be looking for misplaced quotation marks.

Damn you.

Courtney said...

Being a "misused-punctuation/grammar-watcher", your blog appealed to me immediately. Seriously, I look forward to reading it just as much as I do my friends' blogs. It's so good!

Reading the blog tonight has actually made me a little ill for some reason. HOW do all these people decide to use the quotation marks like they do? Are these wrong ways being taught in some school somewhere? It's alarming and annoying, yet also hilarious! Thanks for making me laugh. I voted for you.

Incidentally, has anyone read the book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss? I currently am and its hilarious. If the misused quotation marks bother you, you should read about what this author does with the commonly misused apostrophe mark! Very funny!

isitez said...

Love your blog. My biggest "tiff" is mispelling till I found your blog. Now I'll also be looking for another "Qoute" out of place. Yes I know I spelled it wrong so I have to leave it that way. I'm not perfect either.

Catherine W-I said...

Yep, it is shrimp. Having lived in the inner city of Chicago for ten years in a 99% hispanic 'hood, I can concur. It is shrimp. Love your humor and your writing.

Ray Leon said...

"Shrimp are sold at the house of the law" huh?

Casa de Ley is probably the name of the restaurant with Ley being someone's name or nickname. I don't think it has anything to do with a "house of law" in which case you would just say corte.

Anonymous said...

I am Mexican, raised bilingual, and a resident of Yelapa where the photo was taken, so I believe I can unravel the mystery for you... *smile*...

"Ley" is the nickname of one of our local residents, and she sells fresh shrimp at her house. The quotation marks are a common spelling mistake in Mexico, often used in informal signs such as this to stress a word. (Go figure why they don't underline it instead!)

Cheers!

Francisco Bravo (Bulldozzzer) said...

Hello there, i'm spanish and the only "thing" that i kwnow with this name: Camaron, is an ancient Spanish Flamenco Singer Camarón de la Isla

Maikel92 said...

Yeah this blog are incredible! I'm spanish and yes, camarón is a shrimp. I suppose that the animal is a jewell no? Ha, ha. (Sorry for my bad English)

Anonymous said...

Maybe James Cameron's directing a telenovela about lawyers and has a really, really small advertising budget.