Amigas, amigos. The last installment from La Dominicana. I have been traveling a bit, to the mountains and to the beach. I’ve finally gotten the requisite sunburn. Silvana (amiga mía preciosa—¡voy a extrañar verte en tu natural habitat aquí!) has been driving me around the Capital, too.
Through my travels I have come to appreciate the Dominican usage of the horn. We Americans have an extremely limited sense of what the beep of a car horn can communicate. For us it means ‘Danger!’ or ‘Hurry up.’ Here in the DR it is like ‘Aloha’ in Hawaiian. It means ‘Hello,’ it means ‘Goodbye,’ it means ‘Watch out I’m about to crush you like a bug,’ and it means ‘I’m here, please don’t crush me like a bug!’ It means ‘I’m passing you on this dangerous road.’ Beep beep. It means ‘I’m coming around this blind curve on the wrong side of the road.’ Beeeeeep. It means ‘I am a guagua [bus], need a ride?’ It means, ‘Hey cutie’ and it means ‘Move it or lose it.’ Very communicative. Beep beep.
Since I came here to learn to speak like a Dominican, I suppose I’ll end with a little taste of what I’ve learned in the streets:
La Lengua Callejera Dominicana
[Dominican Street Talk]
Amigo: ¡Hola rubia!
Friend: [Hi white girl!]
Yo: ¡Hola moreno!
Me: [Hi brown guy!]
Amigo: Dime a ve' ¿que lo que?
[somewhere between ‘what’s up’ and ‘how’s it hanging’]
Yo: Cogiendo lucha, mi hermano
[grinning Life’s a struggle, bro.]
Amigo: ¿Ya comiste?
[Did you eat yet?]
Yo: ¡Tu ‘ta mofle! Ya son la 10
[You’re way behind! Literally, ‘You’re a muffler!’ It’s already 10]
Amigo: ¡Coño, pero tengo hambre!
[Damn, but I’m hungry!]
Yo: Bueno, vamo a comel, amigo.
[ok, let’s go eat, buddy]
Scene.
I am going to miss it here. I am going to miss the bachata and merengue, and the fried food, and the open hearts.
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