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Sofia
Posted
What is the word on a stop sign in Spain? Someone just told me that in Mexico the word was "ALTO". Thank you.
 
Posts: 37 | Location: upstate NY | Registered: 02 July 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
jer
"the man!"
Picture of jer
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Hi Sofia, in Spain it is "STOP", funny huh!

The word "STOP" has become international like "OK" and is used in many different countries.

Saludos,
jer...


- madrid nut, webweaver of www.multimadrid.com and keeper of the plazaCam.
- worlds biggest outdoor internet cafe --> www.plazawifi.info - GET CONNECTED!!!
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Posts: 12247 | Location: ny, u.s.a. --> madrid, spain --> the plaza mayor ! | Registered: 30 June 1998Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Redwood
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That kinda threw me for a loop also, seeing STOP in Spain. In Puerto Rico, stop signs say PARE. It was interesting in itself to see a direct translation.

Shawn


"Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down" - SONG OF SOLOMON, Toni Morrison
 
Posts: 1264 | Location: Richmond, VA but in MADRID now | Registered: 10 February 2002Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Max
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We don't translate anything: that's good for international understanding of signs, bad for Spanish language. Another example: the "L" plates for "Learning" drivers.
 
Posts: 399 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 05 July 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
jer
"the man!"
Picture of jer
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Really Max? They drive so badly I thought the "L" on the plate was for "Lepe", jejeje Wink

Saludos,
jer...


- madrid nut, webweaver of www.multimadrid.com and keeper of the plazaCam.
- worlds biggest outdoor internet cafe --> www.plazawifi.info - GET CONNECTED!!!
--------------------
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at Onspanishtime.com.
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at spainSIM.com.
 
Posts: 12247 | Location: ny, u.s.a. --> madrid, spain --> the plaza mayor ! | Registered: 30 June 1998Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Sofia
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As Redwood mentioned, I would expect "PARE" to have meant "STOP". Can anyone explain the mexican sign "ALTO"? I can't figure it out based on my background of the Spanish language. Thanks.
 
Posts: 37 | Location: upstate NY | Registered: 02 July 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
jer
"the man!"
Picture of jer
Posted Hide Post
Hi Sofia, as a former Spanish teacher I am ashamed to say that I do not know the origins of the "ALTO" for the STOP sign, I can only tell you that "ALTO" means "stop" in Spanish and is the more emphatic way of saying it compared to "pare".

"ALTO" is used often in Spain and people usually yell it or say it in a raised voice to mean "stop" or "cease" what you are doing.

Saludos,
jer...

p.d. Maybe our resident investigative reporter Max can give us some history of that word which normally means "tall" or "high" (opposite of low, not the smoking type of high Big Grin ).


- madrid nut, webweaver of www.multimadrid.com and keeper of the plazaCam.
- worlds biggest outdoor internet cafe --> www.plazawifi.info - GET CONNECTED!!!
--------------------
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at Onspanishtime.com.
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at spainSIM.com.
 
Posts: 12247 | Location: ny, u.s.a. --> madrid, spain --> the plaza mayor ! | Registered: 30 June 1998Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Max
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Thank you for trusting so much in me. This time it was easy to solve, with the help of a dictionary:

-"alto", tall, comes from Latin origin ("altum"),

-"alto", stop, comes from Germanic origin ("halt").

I hope to meet your trust always, but I know this has to reach to an end. There will be a question for what I won't find an answer.
 
Posts: 399 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 05 July 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
totx
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Hi Max!

You're like an encyclopaedia!. Now, I've got a question and I would like to read your answer Big Grin

If you throw a cat from your home window, it ALWAYS will hit the ground with his feets first. If you throw a toast with butter on one side from your table, the toast ALWASY will hit the ground with the side of the butter. My question is ... Big Grin Big Grin
What would happen if you tie up on the cat's back a toast with the butter right side up and throw the cat through your window? Big Grin Big Grin

I would try it but I've not cat at home (I've got just a doggie) and I've no toast nor butter at home (I just have milk at breakfast)
 
Posts: 191 | Location: madrid | Registered: 10 December 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
jer
"the man!"
Picture of jer
Posted Hide Post
Thanks Max, you da man!

totx, good one buddy Big Grin I Just strapped buttered toast to my cat's back and threw it off my balcony onto the tourists eating at the "Terraza" in the Plaza below and what do ya know, it untied the toast, ate it on the way down and landed on its feet in a bowl of COCIDO MADRILE�O Big Grin

Saludos,
jer...


- madrid nut, webweaver of www.multimadrid.com and keeper of the plazaCam.
- worlds biggest outdoor internet cafe --> www.plazawifi.info - GET CONNECTED!!!
--------------------
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at Onspanishtime.com.
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at spainSIM.com.
 
Posts: 12247 | Location: ny, u.s.a. --> madrid, spain --> the plaza mayor ! | Registered: 30 June 1998Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Max
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Up or down, that's the question, Totx! No answer for that.
 
Posts: 399 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 05 July 2001Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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