{"id":2330,"date":"2022-07-08T16:40:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T20:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2022-07-08T16:40:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T20:40:04","slug":"peruanismos-speaking-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/2022\/07\/08\/peruanismos-speaking-in-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Peruanismos: speaking in Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 papaya!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 pi\u00f1a!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Es la muerte!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Es de ley!\u201d You\u2019re unlikely to find these phrases in a Spanish dictionary, but you\u2019ll certainly hear them upon arriving in Peru. I have been in Cusco for less than a week, and these phrases have already come up in multiple conversations that I\u2019ve had with the local cusque\u00f1os.

Peruvians are incredibly proud of the food they produce, and especially so of their fruit. During my first meal with my host mom, one of the first things we discussed were the many different types of fruit that Peru produces (avocado, papaya, pineapple, l\u00facuma, maracuy\u00e1, blueberries, strawberries, mango, cactus fruit, the list goes on), and during my first class the following morning, we spent a significant amount of time learning about the value of fruit in Peru, both culturally and economically. In this context, it was not surprising to learn that a few of the most common colloquial phrases used here are related to fruits. \u201c\u00a1Que papaya!\u201d or \u201cEs papayita\u201d is used when something is super easy, be it homework, a chore, or a challenge posed by a friend. I\u2019ve heard this phrase used by both my professor and some local students. \u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 pi\u00f1a!\u201d is the other fruit-related phrase I\u2019ve heard (pi\u00f1a being pineapple), and people say this when someone has suffered a bout of bad luck. For example, if you missed the bus to class (or got on a bus heading in the wrong direction), stepped in one of the presents left by the many dogs on the sidewalk, or had an activity canceled due to bad weather, a common response is \u201cQu\u00e9 pi\u00f1a!\u201d I learned this phrase from my professor when she told me the story of an accident experienced by a past student. I definitely hope to put both of these phrases into practice – they\u2019re super fun to say, and I\u2019m also a big fruit lover.

Moving away from fruit phrases, \u201cEs la muerte!\u201d is used to describe something incredible or impressive, especially in terms of food or a good view. Going back to my first dinner with my host mom, when she was explaining to me the delicious fruit that Peru produces, she finished by saying \u201cLa fruta en Per\u00fa es la muerte!\u201d\u2014\u201dThe fruit in Peru is incredible!\u201d The last Peruvian phrase I have learned so far is \u201cEs de ley!\u201d, which is used to describe something that is a must-do, can\u2019t-miss opportunity. I learned this phrase from a tour guide who was showing me around Cusco, and when I asked him what a few things I should do before leaving Peru are, he said, \u201cHay muchas cosas que puedes hacer, pero ir a Machu Picchu es de ley\u201d\u2014\u201dThere are a lot of things you can do, but you absolutely have to go to Machu Picchu.\u201d Like the fruit phrases, I\u2019m working hard to integrate these \u201cperuanismos\u201d into my daily Spanish vocabulary; they\u2019re short, fun to say, and allow me to express myself more like a native speaker. Learning Spanish in a classroom has its benefits, but interacting with natives has allowed me to pick up some new phrases that I otherwise wouldn\u2019t have learned. Es la muerte!
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A display of many of Peru’s finest fruits in Saint Peter’s Market!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A stunning view of Rainbow Mountain. Es la muerte!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 papaya!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 pi\u00f1a!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Es la muerte!\u201d \u201c\u00a1Es de ley!\u201d You\u2019re unlikely to find these phrases in a Spanish dictionary, but you\u2019ll certainly hear them upon arriving in Peru. I have been in Cusco for less than a week, and these phrases have already come up in multiple conversations that I\u2019ve had with the local … Continue reading Peruanismos: speaking in Peru<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}