Early in the history of “Foreign Words”, Kalleh posted a column with a strange translation of the form “pegadita.”

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…a sign that has some women up in arms. .. based on a Spanish word "pegaditas," which loosely translated means "little ones strung together."... women lined up, with their hands on their tushes, alluding to their being spanked."... When on earth would you use that word?

The article (now in archives) is posted (here. Perhaps Trice meant ‘little ones stuck together—still pretty rough! In a small Yahoo Q&A entry, here, even local Spanish-speakers failed to interpret the billboard that way.

The ad in question was for a DJ-top40-type radio show. Pegar means ‘to glue/stick together’, ‘to be adjacent to/ lean on/abut’, ‘to hit’, and in compound constructions ‘to give (a scare)’, ‘to set (a fire)’, et al. The verb has relevant forms such as 'a hit' [song] (pegada/ pegadita and pegajosa(sticks in your head , catchy), along with some close relatives used with baile (dance) for 'slow'(/close/ ‘dirty’) dancing; usage varies from one country to another. Pegadita is also the adjective you’ll find describing clothing or shirt when it’s ‘stuck’ to your hot skin… As the diminutive of the noun pegada (a punch or kick), Trice suggests correctly that it also means ‘spank’. I think it’s fair to say that pegadita contains a smorgasbord of meanings, which on this billboard have been reductively (but accurately) reduced to a crude image.

PEGAR illustrates our challenges as native-English-speaking translators. Because of our ‘melting pot’ language, we’re accustomed to a choice of near-synonyms with a different word for each shade of meaning. Languages with fewer words must use one word in different grammatical expressions or contexts in order to produce a variation. If you’re not careful about details, you may end up saying ‘I’m going to glue your face together’ (Voy a pegarte la cara[I/]) instead of ‘I’m going to smack you in the face’ ([I]Te voy a pegar en la cara).!

Agreed. When I was in the Milan Airport, I was trying to find the gate for my plane, and I couldn't understand their signage at all, even though I had my book of Italian with me. I must have looked lost, so someone stopped and in Italian asked if she could help. I found the word "gate" in my phrasebook, but it must have been the gate in the fence because she just laughed at me. It was annoying, but finally she was able to help me.

I'm not sure, but I think it was Milan airport that I was at some years ago when I noticed a curious design feature. Although the airport in question (I'm almost sure it was Milan, had monitors to say which gate the flights were leaving from, and plenty of seats to sit down on, the monitors were positioned in such a way that there were NO seats from which it was possible to see them. You HAD TO stand up and walk around, losing your seat to some other traveller in the process.

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You HAD TO stand up and walk around, losing your seat to some other traveller in the process.

Probably a cunning Italian device to ensure a fair turnover of seating. It wouldn't occur to them simply to install more seats, of course.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Agreed. When I was in the Milan Airport, I was trying to find the gate for my plane, and I couldn't understand their signage at all, even though I had my book of Italian with me. I must have looked lost, so someone stopped and in Italian asked if she could help. I found the word "gate" in my phrasebook, but it must have been the gate in the fence because she just laughed at me. It was annoying, but finally she was able to help me.

GRR don't you hate that? I hope an afficionado of Italian steps in & explains the "joke".

In my teens, visiting Mexico, I learned quickly not even to try to say "I'm embarrassed," because it was so easily confused with "I'm pregnant."word.ref.

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Originally posted by Richard English:

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You HAD TO stand up and walk around, losing your seat to some other traveller in the process.

Probably a cunning Italian device to ensure a fair turnover of seating. It wouldn't occur to them simply to install more seats, of course.

Last night on Charlie Rose the architect and the choreographer who designed JetBlue's new terminal at JFK were rhapsodizing about the ergonomic-- even exhilirating-- experience to be had finding your gate, once it's built. (Wonder if JB will still be in business in '09?)

The other thing about Milan that I noticed was that the line through security...well, one couldn't call it a line really...the crowd through security was just a mess. People just coming in would rush to the front, and basically it was like being in a cattle car. The funny part was that the British and the Americans were trying quite hard to stand orderly in line, but obviously it wasn't working. We were being pushed and shoved until finally we gave up and did what everyone else was doing. I hadn't experienced that in any other airport, though I've not traveled that extensively...like Richard and Bob have. Has that ever happened to either of you? If you don't have plenty of time and if you aren't assertive, it can be stressful!

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Has that ever happened to either of you?

Oh yes. There are plenty of countries where the natives seem to think that pushing and shoving is the best way to get through any restriction.

One of the worst such instances I have experienced is on the Cairo Metro.

On the London Tube the guard opens the doors and everyone who wants to gets off and then everyone who wants to gets on. Once everyone's on the guard closes the doors and the train leaves.

In Cairo the system is similar but differs in timing. When the train stops, all those who wish to get off, get off, and all those who want to get on, get on. But all at the same time. As in London the guard guard closes the doors - but after 15 seconds - regardless of the state of the passenger flow.

In London in spite of the business of the service, there is rarely any untoward pushing or not waiting for one's turn (except in the case of visiting Egyptians)

Oh yes. Egypt, as Richard says, is especially bad but it's not the only place. It's quite normal through most of Africa and Asia for everyone to try to achieve their objective (getting on/off/in/out/whatever) simultaneously. Sadly it's actually becoming more common here. I commute by Metro and the passengers waiting on the platform frequently start pushing past those trying to get off. This is because I catch it at the start of the line and there are not enough seats or trams to allow everyone to travel seated so everyone is trying to get on and sit down before everyone else.

Even I have my strategey, based on the knowledge that the second set of doors always clear before the front set. So I wait on the platform at the point where the second set open and as soon as (but not before!) they have cleared I get on and stride down to where passengers are still alighting through the front set. Then as they clear the doors I walk past them to the end seats and sit down. It works nine times out of ten.

Because visitors (especially foreigners) using the tube don't always understand the conventions, there is now always a station announcement made, "....Let all the passengers off the train first..." followed by, "...Move right down inside the cars, please...".

Incidentally, the London underground is probably the only railway in Britain where the carriages are commonly referred to as "cars". This tradition comes about from the very earliest days of the system, which was built using a fair amount of American money and expertise. And the Americans call railway carriages, "cars". The terminology has stuck for over a century.

I traveled the NYC subways for many years. Although conductors always intoned something about the proper order of movement, you had your wise guys at rush hour poised to squeeze in immediately. One of the first things I learned was (said with a loud, rude intonation): GETTING OFF PLEASE.

We have discussed this in the past and, whereas I agree that there are other countries (including the USA) where people are well-behaved when it comes to taking their turn, in the UK we have made it an art form.

Indeed, we have a special verb - to queue - for the activity of standing in line, and the noun for queue itself. We also have a derived noun - queue-jumper - for a person who tries to get ahead of another in a queue, and this kind of individual is considered one of the lowest forms of life on the planet.

One of the few times when the taciturn English will speak to a stranger is when they are faced with a queue-jumper. Then the words, "...Excuse me - there's a queue here..." will usually be heard. But sadly, since the queue-jumper will generally be a foreigner, unversed in the ways of the British, it's more than likely that he or she won't understand anyway!

It is a fascinating study for people-watchers to observe the behaviour of passengers on the London underground in the rush-hour when the exchange of travellers at stations is almost balletic in style, with all trying to avoid both physical and eye contact with each other and without exchanging a single word. When the pressure of bodies is such that physical contact is impossible to avoid, then the single word, "sorry" is the most common utterance.

One area where in recent years we seem to have changed our travelling habits for the worse is in the numbers of people who sit in the seat next to the central aisle, when there is an empty window seat next to them. This makes it difficult for other passengers to sit down, having to pick their way cautiously by their legs to reach the window seat. In the past most people would move over to allow others to reach a seat without too much disturbance, but not now.

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One area where in recent years we seem to have changed our travelling habits for the worse is in the numbers of people who sit in the seat next to the central aisle

I have noticed this phenomenon myself. Furthermore, I have also notice the propensity for such aisle-sitters to use the window seat as a repository for their luggage instead of the luggage rack.

This makes it even less likely that anyone will try to occupy the adjacent seat, thus ensuring that the aisle-sitter gets the benefit of an empty seat next to him or her.

I fear it's a manifestation of the selfishness syndrome that seems to be becoming more evident in recent years.