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Perder la silla

In addition to Dutch, Papiamento, and English, most Arubans can also speak perfect Spanish, as Landa Henríquez attests to by singing it with ease. The island has deep seated and ongoing ties with Venezuela, only fourteen miles to the south, and neighboring Colombia. So it should be of little surprise that Landa peppers her song with a common Colombian expression.

 

Ya sabes, te vas de Barranquilla y te pierdes tu silla

You know, you leave Barranquilla and you lose your chair

Caption 48, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta

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The expression is actually a take on a popular saying from Spain which goes Él que se va a Sevilla, pierde su silla ("He who leaves Sevilla, loses his chair"). Either way, the meaning is the same: if you're not vigilent, you'll lose what is yours.

There is another way to express the same sentiment, and we hear it in a cumbia song playing at that disco that Milagros and Gloria have snuck out of the orphanage to visit in Muñeca Brava

 

Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.

The shrimp that sleeps is taken away by the current. ["You snooze, you lose."]

Caption 29, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 6

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American English also expresses this idea with an analogy to sleep: "You snooze, you lose."

 

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Expressions

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Requete-

Another interesting phrase to tumble from Landa Henríquez's lips is:

 

La mujer a los cuarenta, ya sabes está requete buena

A woman in her forties, you know she's very very hot

Caption 41, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta

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"Estar buena" is "to be hot," as in sexually attractive. It's got little to do with the temperature on those sweltering Caribbean nights. (Meanwhile, the sand might be hot under foot, but you'd use "estar caliente" to describe that.) But what's "requete"? According to the authoritative Diccionario de la Lengua Española (by the Real Academia Española), "requete-," "rete-" or "re-" are prefixes that intensify the meaning of what follows -- like "very" in English, or "muy" in Spanish.

 

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Grammar

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Enhorabuena

Celebrating women of a certain age, Mujer Cuarenta is an invitation to party, dance, fool around and enjoy life, Caribbean style. Listen in:

 

Baila y canta y vive sin pena, si te enamoras, en hora buena

Dance and sing and live without worries, if you fall in love, congratulations

Caption 11, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta

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"En hora buena" literally means "at a good hour," but it's understood as a congratulations -- as in, "Good for you!" or "Congrats!" You hear this in Spain and throughout Latin America -- from the Caribbean coasts down to the Southern Cone.

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When it's used as a noun, "enhorabuena" is usually written as one word. For example:

Todo el mundo quería darle la enhorabuena después del partido.
Everybody wanted to offer congratulations to him after the match.

But as an interjection, you'll see both "en hora buena" and "enhorabuena" (both are correct). Here are a few more examples:

 

Estamos, estamos... -Enhorabuena.

It's a deal, it's a deal... -Congratulations.

Caption 46, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos

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En hora buena, Elena, tu hija es hermosa.
Congratulations, Elena, your daughter is beautiful.


¡Llegaste! ¡Enhorabuena!
You arrived! Congratulations / At last!


Queremos que Julio venga enhorabuena, porque ya han pasado dos semanas.
We want Julio to finally come back, because it's already been two weeks.

Note that in the last example above, "enhorabuena" is an adverb, modifying the verb "venir." In this usage, "enhorabuena" comes closer to its literal meaning of "at a good hour."
 

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Meanwhile, Spanish has two other congratulatory interjections: "Felicidades" and "Felicitaciones." There's some overlap between the three words, but "enhorabuena" and "felicitaciones" tend to congratulate accomplishments or achievements while "felicidades" might celebrate an occasion like a birthday.

 

Vocabulary

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