Thursday, November 28, 2013

¡Feliz Día del Guajolote!

If you want to tell your Spanish speaking friends Happy Thanksgiving, then this is the phrase you want:

Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias
Happy Thanksgiving

That's all fine and dandy, but it gets old and it's not very much fun.  Lucky for you there are a few other ways to say it that might impress your Spanish friends.

But before we get to those, let's talk about a few words you may not be familiar with.  The first one is pavo.

Here's a pavo:

That's right, it's a turkey.  And unlike with fish, pavo is the same word for seeing one in the wild and eating it on your plate.

Como preparar un sandwich de pavo
How to make a turkey sandwhich

That piece of information is probably not a big surprise, I'm sure many of you already know the word pavo.  But you may be surprised to hear that pavo isn't the only word for turkey.

In Mexico a pavo is also called guajolote.  In Guatemala it's a chompipe.  Cuba?  guanajo.  There are probably even more words for turkey, but I think you get point.

So what does any of that have to do with Thanksgiving you ask?

I'm sure nearly all of my American readers know have heard the phrase "Happy Turkey Day".  Well with your new found Spanish vocabulary for turkey you can now say the equivalent in Spanish.

Felíz día del pavo
Happy Turkey Day

That's pretty generic and should be understood anywhere.  Now if you want to impress your Mexican friends, you can say:

Feliz Día del Guajolote

Got Guatemalan friends?  Wish them Happy Thanksgiving with this:

Feliz Día de Chompipe

Well, that's it for today!  Except for one last thing:


1 comment:

  1. In mexico city they have a sandwich call Guajolot(a) also called torta de tamal all it is a bolillo stuffed with a tamale and whatever else you want in it salsa...