The Real Dictionary will give all the words that exist in use, the bad words as well

as any. The Real Grammar will be that which declares itself a nucleus of the spirit
of the laws, with liberty to all to carry out the spirit of the laws, even by violating
them, if necessary. . . . These States are rapidly supplying themselves with new
words, called for by new occasions, new facts, new politics, new combinations. Far
plentier additions will be needed, and, of course, will be supplied. . . . Many of the
slang words are our best; slang words among fighting men, gamblers, thieves, are
powerful words. . . . The appetite of the people of These States, in popular speeches
and writings, is for unhemmed latitude, coarseness, directness, live epithets,
expletives, words of opprobrium, resistance. This I understand because I have the
taste myself as large, as largely, as any one. I have pleasure in the use, on fit
occasions, of
__
traitor, coward, liar, shyster, skulk, doughface, trickster, mean cuss,
backslider, thief, impotent, lickspittle. . . . I like limber, lasting, fierce words. I like
them applied to myself
__
and I like them in newspapers, courts, debates, Congress.
Do you suppose the liberties and the brawn of These States have to do only with
delicate lady-words? with gloved gentleman words? Bad Presidents, bad judges, bad
clients, bad editors, owners of slaves, and the long ranks of Northern political
suckers (robbers, traitors, suborned), monopolists, infidels, . . . shaved persons,
supplejacks, ecclesiastics, men not fond of women, women not fond of men, cry down
the use of strong, cutting, beautiful, rude words. To the manly instincts of the people
they will be forever welcome.
Walt Whitman, American poet, c. 1852
3
TOPICS IN SPANISH LEXICAL DIALECTOLOGY: BACK TO SCHOOL / BACK AT THE
OFFICE
Andre Moskowitz
Keywords: Spanish, regionalisms, terminology, dialectology, lexicography, sociolinguistics, school
and office supplies.
Abstract: This paper contains information on the words used in different varieties of Spanish for
certain school and office supplies.
1
INTRODUCTION
This article somewhat resembles an international tourists guidebook except that instead of telling
you, the reader, what you can expect to experience in different countries with regard to mountains,
beaches, parks, cathedrals, museums, hotels, restaurants, store hours, currencies, government
authorities, local customs, weather and the like, it will tell you things about the language you will
encounter if you travel to different parts of the Spanish-speaking world. Well, this is indeed an
exaggeration. It will tell you about a very small subset of the language you will run into, namely,
some of the terminology relating to school and office supplies. This paper also has something in
common with international cookbooks that bring home exotic recipes from far-off places, except that
the platos tpicos, in this case, are not dishes but words
__
words and their meanings
__
a linguistic
smorgasbord, kaleidoscope or maelstrom of regional flavors and delights. In addition, this study can
be considered an example of investigative journalism except that what is being researched, exposed,
and debated is not the what and the wherefore of conflicts, politics, feats, disasters or other current
events, but of language use.
The primary goal is to describe early 21st century lexical usage in the Spanish-speaking world for
a series of school- and office-supply items whose names vary diatopically or by region. Secondary
objectives include addressing sociolinguistic issues, such as attitudes held by Spanish speakers from
different regions toward the relevant terms and variants, examining cases in which a lexical change
may be in progress (one term rising and another declining or dying out), and exploring a few
questions involving the history of the Spanish language, that is, the histories of its different varieties.
Lastly, I will review some of the relevant definitions of the 2001 edition of the Spanish Royal
Academys Diccionario de la lengua, also known as the Diccionario de la Real Academia
(hereinafter DRAE), and make suggestions on how these definitions can be improved.
4
Topics
The following topics, referred to by their United States English names, will be discussed:
A) Writing, erasing and related: 1) chalk, 2) chalkboard or blackboard, 3) chalkboard eraser or
blackboard eraser, 4) crayon, 5) (magic) marker, 6) pen A - ballpoint pen or regular pen, 7)
pen B - fountain pen, 8) pencil A - regular pencil, 9) pencil B - mechanical pencil, automatic
pencil or self-sharpening pencil, 10) pencil eraser and/or pen eraser, 11) pencil sharpener.
B) Fasteners and related: 1) rubber band, 2) staple (noun), 3) stapler, 4) staple remover, 5)
thumbtack, 6) paper clip.
C) Miscellaneous: 1) paper punch or hole punch, 2) ink pad or stamp pad, 3) notebook A - spiral
notebook, 4) notebook B - loose-leaf notebook or (three) ring binder, 5) pencil case, 6) file
folder, 7) briefcase.
Formatting Conventions in the Terms by Country Tables
Each section of this paper addresses one of the topics outlined above in A) Writing, erasing and
related, B) Fasteners and related, and C) Miscellaneous and contains a Terms by Country table
consisting of countries in the left-hand column and terms and fractions in the right-hand column.
The denominators in these fractions represent the total number of responses from a specific country
for a given item and the numerators indicate the number of informants or respondents from that
country who gave a particular response. Thus, part of the Terms by Country table for section A1,
CHALK, reads as follows:
SPAIN tiza (20/20).
MEXICO gis (54/56), tiza (7/56).
GUATEMALA yeso (14/15), tiza (3/15).
This is to be interpreted as, When asked to give the name or names used for chalk, 20 out of 20
Spaniards queried indicated tiza, 54 out of 56 Mexicans said gis, 7 out of 56 Mexicans gave tiza, 14
out of 15 Guatemalans said yeso, and 3 out of 15 Guatemalans offered tiza. As we see in the
preceding example, some respondents offered more than one term for a given item and therefore the
sum of the fractions corresponding to each country is often greater than one.
The section on chalk will demonstrate that tiza is the most commonly used term for this item in over
75% of the Spanish-speaking countries (see section A1 below). We can therefore consider tiza to
be General Spanish usage, the most neutral Spanish word for this item, or the so-called
international standard term. In contrast, gis and yeso are commonly used in the sense of chalk in
relatively small subsets or pockets of the Spanish-speaking world, and thus these usages can be
viewed as regional. To distinguish regionalisms such as gis and yeso (chalk) from General Spanish
terms such as tiza, the former will be written in italics and the latter in regular letters in the Terms
by Country tables.
Because gis and yeso were offered by at least 50% of the respondents from Mexico and Guatemala,
respectively, they will also be considered majority regionalisms and written in boldface and italics
5
to highlight their importance; other regionalisms presented in this study that were offered by less
than 50% of the respondents queried will appear in italics only.
In examining the data for chalk presented above, we also note that tiza was offered by 20% or less
of the respondents from Mexico and Guatemala and this usage is therefore deemed a marginal
response in these two countries. To underscore its infrequent use among respondents from Mexico
and Guatemala, tiza is written in small print in the corresponding lines of the table; tiza, however,
appears in regular-sized letters next to Spain where it is the dominant term.
Responses and Respondents
For each of the 24 items listed above in A) Writing, erasing and related, B) Fasteners and related,
and C) Miscellaneous, responses were obtained from native speakers of Spanish from Spain and the
19 countries in Latin America that have Spanish as a principal official language.
The amount of data collected from respondents from each of the 20 Spanish-speaking countries
varies considerably. The initial goal was to obtain between 10 and 20 responses for each item from
each country, but the actual numbers ended up varying because not all respondents were asked all
questions, not all those who were asked a question were able to answer it, and some of the written
responses had to be discarded because they were illegible. Sometimes I also went back and queried
additional respondents from specific countries on specific topics when I felt the data initially
collected were inconclusive and I wanted to probe specific issues. In addition, I received over 50
responses from Mexican respondents due to the fact that I happened to attend a two-day symposium
in Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Mexico in October of 2005 at which I attempted to obtain information
from about 75 mostly Mexican translators, interpreters, educators and literary critics.
I collected data from respondents by a combination of one-on-one, face-to-face interviews and
through written responses to questionnaires that were both pictorial and text-based. The same
questions were asked in both the interviews and the questionnaires by means of the same images;
the questionnaires used arrows and written cues that were similar to the oral prompts employed in
the interviews. For example, with the set of items consisting of the chalk, the chalkboard, and the
chalkboard eraser, respondents were shown a picture of a wall-mounted chalkboard with an eraser
and a piece of chalk on the chalkboards shelf; in the interviews respondents were asked the
following questions while I pointed to the corresponding item:
Question 1: Cmo se llama esto donde uno escribe en el saln de clases (or en el aula)?
Answers: Pizarra, pizarrn, tablero, encerado.
Question 2: Cmo se llama esta cosa blanca (or esta barrita blanca) con que se escribe en la
pizarra (or en el pizarrn, el tablero, el encerado)? I would use whichever term for chalkboard
the respondent had previously given in answering question 1.
Answers: Tiza, gis, yeso.
Question 3: Y cmo se llama esto para quitar lo escrito con tiza (or con gis, or con yeso)?
Answers: Borrador, almohadilla, mota.
The percentages of respondents who were questioned using each of the two methods
__
oral interview
or pictorial/text questionnaire
__
also varied somewhat by country. More data were obtained through
written responses to pictorial questionnaires from respondents from Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto
6
Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile, whereas interviews were the source of much
of the data from the Central American countries, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Bolivia,
Paraguay and Uruguay. This discrepancy was primarily due to logistical reasons and happenstance:
The native speakers of Spanish I have met over the years, both in the United States where I live and
abroad, and those I see at talks, conferences and symposiums, generally hail from the first set of
(mostly larger) countries, whereas to contact people from the second set of (mostly smaller)
countries I generally had to actively seek out potential respondents in the waiting rooms of their
respective consulates in San Francisco, California, and New York City.
Respondents who completed the pictorial questionnaires in writing were mostly translators,
interpreters, academics, and other highly educated individuals, and they were specifically asked
about their background and work experience, whether they had lived in any other Spanish-speaking
country for more than six months, and sometimes their age. People who answered questions orally,
in contrast, were selected at random from among those who happened to be available at the
consulates when I paid my visits. Because the interviewees were not specifically asked about their
backgrounds, their educational levels are not known with any certainty. However, I was able to
observe respondents speech and take a guess at the amount of schooling they had probably
received. This was aided by the fact that many respondents had a desire to provide more information
than I had requested and would frequently offer long explanations about the purpose and operation
of the items they were shown, especially when they had difficulty coming up with a name for the
object. Based on their pronunciation, morphosyntax, and vocabulary, I believe the range of
educational levels of those interviewed orally was fairly broad, everything from highly educated
individuals with graduate degrees to those who had perhaps only a middle-school diploma. I also
queried some who appeared to have even less formal education, perhaps only some primary school,
but I obtained little data from them for the simple reason that they were generally unable to answer
many of the questions.
The geographic distribution of the respondents within each country was also rather limited. In most
cases, the majority came from their countrys capital or another large city. For example, the
overwhelming majority of Argentine and Peruvian respondents came from Buenos Aires and Lima,
respectively. The reason for this is that it is a lot harder to find people from San Salvador de J ujuy,
J ujuy, Argentina or from Cerro de Pasco, Pasco, Peru outside of J ujuy and Pasco, respectively, than
it is to find Porteos and Limeos outside of Buenos Aires and Lima; Bonaerenses and Limeos can
be found scattered across the globe, almost anywhere. In the case of Mexico, more respondents came
from Monterrey and the northeast border states than from any other region, although there were also
quite a few who hailed from Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Veracruz and other large cities.
Perhaps ironically, the country from which I was able to obtain the greatest geographic diversity of
respondents was Spain, and yet little variation was encountered for school- and office-supply
terminology in the different regions of the madre patria.
How representative and valid the data are is certainly open to question. Unlike in the lexical studies
that are part of the Proyecto de estudio coordinado de la norma lingstica culta de las principales
ciudades de Iberoamrica y de la Pennsula Ibrica (the first of which was J uan Miguel Lope
Blanchs Lxico del habla culta de Mxico, published in 1978), the answers in the present study
were not all obtained from a pool of respondents who come from the same city and whose
educational levels are both known and similar. Further research will be needed to determine how
and to what extent school- and office-supply terminology varies intra-nationally, or within nations,
7
among the different sociocultural, age and gender groups of each society, and diachronically, that
is, over time.
Spelling and Variants
To some extent, the existence of written and/or spoken variantssuch as sacapuntas and
sacapuntais noted in the Terms by Country sections through the use of parentheses: In this case,
both variants are represented by sacapunta(s) whenever some respondents from a given country
offered the form with a word-final s and others gave the form without one. Throughout this article
there are also paragraphs entitled Spelling & Variants which explain in greater detail the different
written and spoken forms offered by respondents that could be considered variants of a single term.
While sacapuntas is the only spelling for this term listed in the DRAE (and in many other Spanish-
language dictionaries), large numbers of native Spanish speakers, including highly educated ones,
say and write sacapunta without a final s, and some even write the term as two words, saca punta(s),
or as a hyphenated word, saca-punta(s).
Some of you may chuckle or scoff at many or all of these unofficial variants of the word
sacapuntas, and may even be thinking to yourselves pero qu brutos que son! in reference to those
who use them, but in fact this variation can be attributed to several mitigating factors: On the one
hand, many Spanish speakers write and pronounce the word sacapunta, with no final s, that is, with
no regular s ([s]), no Castilian s (apical s or []), nor any aspiration ([h]). Secondly, there is a fair
amount of general uncertainty regarding how to spell infrequently written compound terms like
sacapunta(s) since people tend to talk about pencil sharpeners much more often than they write the
word. With regard to semantics, it is true that over the course of its lifetime a pencil sharpener may
sharpen many points (durante su vida til, un sacapuntas puede sacar muchas puntas), but at any
given moment it sharpens only one (un sacapunta saca una sola punta a la vez). Thus neither form
is semantically more precise than the other. There are even some Spanish speakers who believe that
a sacapunta is a hand-held pencil sharpener that has only one hole, like the one shown in figure A11,
and that a sacapuntas is a hand-held one with two different holes for two different sizes of pencil,
or a pencil sharpener with a crank that has multiple holes like the one shown in figure A11', though
most Spanish speakers would probably dispute any claim that sacapuntas and sacapunta refer to
different types of pencil sharpeners. Also, in defense of sacapunta, it should be noted that the DRAE
lists and accepts both sacabocados and sacabocado (hole punch), and since these devices likewise
make many holes over time but sometimes only one at a time, the argument can easily be made that
sacapunta is no less valid than sacabocado. In the case of sacahoyo(s) and abrehueco(s) (hole
punch), no form of these words appears in many dictionaries, they are written even less often than
sacapunta(s), and many speakers who use the latter terms, including highly educated ones, show an
even greater variation and uncertainty concerning the terms correct spelling.
Somewhat similar variation issues exist with many English-language compound terms. To cite just
a few examples from the school- and office-supply domain, we note that paper clip, rubber
band, thumb tack, and push pin are often written as one word
__
paperclip, rubberband,
thumbtack, and pushpin, respectively
__
and if you do an Internet search of the different forms
of these words, you will get hundreds of thousands (and in some cases millions) of hits for each.
Which spellings are preferable? On the one hand, it can be argued that a paper clip is merely one
specific type of clip, used with paper, among others in the general category of clips. This might
suggest that paper should be a simple adjective modifying the noun clip and that the compound
8
term should be written as two words. On the other hand, in the minds of many speakers a paperclip
is its own item, separate and apart from other clips. This may explain why paperclip is so often
written as one word, and perhaps even why the Spanish word clip mostly refers to paper clips rather
than to other types: In the linguistic transfer from English to Spanish the Anglicism clip tends to be
narrower in meaning and more specific, although theoretically it can refer to any type of clip. Within
the field of computers, two of the most ubiquitous examples of this type of variation are log on
and log in, both of which are frequently written as one word, perhaps even when they are verbs,
though not in the past tense (she logged on, not she *logonned), or in a progressive tense (Im
logging on, not Im *loggingon, or Im *logonning).
Comparing Other Sources
I have checked a number of regional Spanish dictionaries
__
diccionarios de guatemaltequismos, de
bolivianismos, etc.
__
to see if any of them contained information that contradicted the findings of this
study. Most lacked definitions of the respective countrys regional school- and office-supply
terminology, and others confirmed some of the assertions made by this studys respondents.
However, a few sources had definitions that contradicted, expanded upon or modified the
information obtained from respondents. I have also compared my data with those of the Lxico del
habla culta studies to see how the educated usage presented for specific cities in those works
matches up with what I encountered for the corresponding countries as a whole. However, for the
most part I only cite or reference entries from lexicographical works or sections of the Lxico del
habla culta studies that contradict or go beyond that which the data from this study suggest is
prevalent, and when published sources conflict with the results of this study, I pose basic usage
questions. In citing the Lxico del habla culta studies, I indicate the authors last name and the page
number in parentheses, but when referencing dictionaries, I do not list the page number since in all
of the lexicographical sources the words appear in alphabetical order. See endnote 12 for
information on an online source called Varilex (Hiroto Ueda et al).
Real Academia Regional Review
The Real Academias dictionary, or DRAE, currently in its 22nd edition, has played an even more
central role in the lives of Spanish speakers than the Oxford, the Websters or other important
English-language dictionaries have in the lives of English speakers, and unlike the leading British,
Australian, Canadian or American dictionaries, each of which has more of a regional following, the
DRAE is regularly consulted by Spanish speakers from all Spanish-speaking countries. This is due
in part to a dearth of high-quality general dictionaries published in Spanish America, and in part to
a tradition in Spanish America of culturally and linguistically worshiping the mother country in
general and the DRAE in particular. While some would propose simply breaking with this
tradition
__
i.e. tossing the DRAE (or relegating it to a box in the closet or the garage), and in its place
writing at least 20 national general Spanish-language dictionaries, one each from Guatemala,
Honduras, etc.
__
this is not easily done or likely to be achieved in the near future in the case of most
Spanish-speaking countries. Nevertheless, in the last decade or two, Mexico, by far the largest
Spanish-speaking country in population, has made significant strides in creating its own
lexicographical self-sufficiency with the publication of the Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxico
(Lara Ramos 1996) and its predecessors, the Diccionario bsico del espaol de Mxico (Lara Ramos
1986) and the Diccionario fundamental del espaol de Mxico (Lara Ramos 1982), as well as the
Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico (vila 2003). However, even these works are all abridged
9
dictionaries. (Los diccionarios de Lara Ramos y de vila son excelentes y representan un gran paso
adelante, pero lo que realmente necesitamos para cada pas hispanohablante son diccionarios
completos, ntegros
__
o al menos no abreviados
__
, no diccionarios bsicos, ni iniciales, aunque por
ah supongo que se ha de empezar.) And since Mexicos lexicographical autonomy is a special case,
an exception that confirms the rule, I would therefore recommend that for the time being we Spanish
speakers continue to uphold the practice of consulting the DRAE and letting it serve as our primary
guide in matters concerning the Spanish language, but that this tradition be made more functional
by proposing specific changes to the dictionary that are motivated by the following three general
desires:
a) That the DRAE describe items more precisely in its definitions;
b) That the DRAE use metalanguage in its definitions that conforms more to General Spanish
than to Peninsular Spanish usage (this may be a sueo quijotesco); and, most importantly,
c) That the DRAE paint a more accurate picture of the Spanish languages international
contours and landscape.
This articles Real Academia Regional Review sections present an evaluation of the 2001 edition
of the DRAE and grade this dictionarys definitions of specific terms using the following grading
scale:
A Corresponding definition, correct regions. This grade is given when the DRAE defines the
term as used in a particular section of this article and correctly indicates the countries and/or
regions in which the term is used in this sense.
B Corresponding definition, incorrect regions. This grade is given when the DRAE defines the
term as used in the section and specifies a region or regions but does not specify them
correctly. Its definition either fails to include regions in which the usage occurs or includes
regions where the usage does not occur. However, the grade of B is raised to an A if the
DRAEs definition is appropriate, Amr. (Amrica, that is, Spanish-speaking Latin
America) is specified in the definition, and the term is used in 10 or more (over 50%) of the
19 Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
C Corresponding definition, no regions specified. This grade is given when the DRAE defines
the item in question but does not specify any countries or regions in which the term is used
in this sense. In essence, it fails to identify a regional usage as regional. However, the grade
of C is raised to an A if the term is used in at least 10 (at least 50%) of the 20 Spanish-
speaking countries.
D No corresponding definition. This grade is given when the DRAE does not include in its
definition of the term a sense that corresponds to the item in question.
F Term not listed. This grade is given when the DRAE does not list the term at all.
The DRAEs definitions themselves are quoted in these sections so that the reader can follow the
analysis that went into their evaluations. When citing DRAE definitions of nouns, I do not include
the gender specification m. or f. unless the words gender is not transparent to most Spanish
speakers, as in the case of gis or birome, or is specifically a dialectal issue, as occurs with a word
like chinche. Terms that were offered by fewer than three respondents are generally not graded, and
definitions of some relevant words that were not given by respondents are also presented. Thus not
all terms indicated by respondents are graded and not all words whose definitions are quoted were
offered by respondents. When, in my judgement, the category under which a definition rightfully
10
falls is debatable, the grade assigned (A, B, C, D or F) is followed by a question mark, or is
presented as one or more alternatives such as C or D?
In addition to the grades assigned, an overall score or grade point average (GPA) for each topic is
calculated based on the American-style 4-point grading system in which A =4.0, A! =3.7, B+=
3.3, B =3.0, B! =2.7, C+=2.3, C =2.0, C! =1.7, D+=1.3, D =1.0, and F =0.0. As indicated
above, no plus or minus grades are assigned to the coverage of each term, but the plus/minus grading
system is used to calculate the overall GPA for each topic. Thus in the Real Academia Regional
Review section corresponding to CHALK, in which the DRAE receives the marks of gis (no region
specified =C =2.0), tiza (General Spanish term =A =4.0) and yeso (no corresponding definition
=D =1.0), the grade point average or GPA is the sum of the grades (7) divided by the number of
words graded (3). Thus, 7 3 =2.33, which is just barely above a C+, but since this figure falls in
between two grades we round it up to the next highest mark and the grade ends up being a B! (2.7).
Because we round up the GPA score if it falls between grades, and because we also calculate the
GPA on the basis of the highest grades when the grades given are in doubt (e.g. A or D?), there
is a certain amount of GPA inflation involved. On the other hand, it can be argued that the grading
system is too harsh since if the DRAE does not list a term such as lpiz de mina, it will also not list
its variant lpiz mina and therefore receives an F twice for what is essentially a single defect, which
naturally results in a lower GPA. Similarly, the DRAE gets dinged twice for not including pilot
or pilot when both are really just different forms of the same word.
As will be shown in the individual Real Academia Regional Review sections, the DRAE often
receives poor marks for its definitions, especially those which relate to Spanish American usage. In
the DRAEs defense, it can be said that attempting to describe usage in the entire Spanish-speaking
world can be a daunting task, even in the case of a domain such as school and office supplies that
on each national level appears to be fairly standardized. Many theories can be advanced regarding
the causes of the DRAEs poor performance, but I believe the following are three key factors:
a) J ust as some governments have poor cultural, diplomatic, strategic and military
intelligence in parts of the world, a lack of knowledge by DRAE authors and editors of the linguistic
situation on the ground, that is, of actual usage in the different Spanish American countries, means
that the DRAE has a poor grasp of language matters in Spanish America.
b) Despite the claim in the DRAEs Prembulo that they receive and seriously consider large
amounts of input and information from the corresponding academies, an examination of its
definitions suggests a reluctance to engage in an active, frank and open collaboration with Spanish
Americans on the Dictionary project.
c) A lack of awarenesswhich some might consider akin to eurocentrism, glossocentrism,
or perhaps just plain old-fashioned arroganceon the part of the DRAEs editors that leads them to
believe that their lack of knowledge and experience with the Spanish language, as it is used in
different parts of the New World, is not a serious impediment to their accurately describing Spanish
American usage.
Until such time as the Real Academias editorial staff recognizes these organic deficiencies and
resolves to do the necessary investigation and consultation so that it can scale the mountain with the
benefit of the multiple perspectives, analyses, knowledge bases and equipment that are needed to
accomplish this feat without suffering frostbite (or worse casualties), its dictionary is likely to be
plagued by the same basic condition and much of the information it presents on New World Spanish
11
will continue to be at variance with actual usage. Any other publishing house, whether located in
Madrid, Mexico City, Managua, Miami, Bogot or Buenos Aires, that seeks to write a pan-Hispanic
dictionary of the Spanish language should heed the same warning and be prepared to get out and do
the necessary investigation, consultation and legwork.
*
* *
Marginal Responses
Marginal responses, those offered in this study by 20% or less of the respondents from specific
countries, appear to fall into different categories and to occur for different reasons. Some may be
cases of respondents misinterpreting an image or question and offering a term that refers to a related
but different object than the one targeted. For example, some of the respondents who offered
tachuela in the sense of thumbtack may have thought the image shown to them was just a small
tack since thumbtacks and tacks look somewhat similar, and they may have been unclear on the
difference between the two objects. Yet the large number of Spanish speakers, including dozens of
educated ones, who indicated tachuela in response to the question about the thumbtack also suggests
that for many Spanish speakers tachuela is in fact the name they use for this object, and was not
offered as a result of confusion or misunderstanding.
In other cases, marginal responses may reflect speakers lack of communicative competence in
some aspect of the school- and office-supply domain, which simply means (with regard to the
lexicon) that they do not know one of their own countrys official words for a given object. If a
person being asked to identify a picture of an ink pad does not know one of the real names for this
item, he or she may not want to lose face by answering La verdad es que no s cmo se llama eso
and may instead decide to take a stab at it and try to come up with some name that sounds like a
reasonable possibility. However, based on relatively small amounts of data, it is sometimes difficult
to distinguish between cases in which speakers lack linguistic competence and those in which they
simply use a less precise term. For example, in part because tinta refers to ink, it is unlikely that
many highly educated people would accept tinta para sello(s) as a legitimate term for ink pad, but
the fact remains that this metonymic term appears to be widely used in the sense of ink pad by large
numbers of Spanish speakers who, for whatever reason, do not know one of the correct, real or
official words for this object. Other marginal responses may involve terms that some respondents
do use regularly in the sense in question but which are atypical of mainstream usage in their speech
community. Many are hapax legomena
__
words that in this study were offered in a particular sense
by only one respondent from a given country or region
__
and in the absence of other supporting
evidence these should be given little or no weight. Even terms that were offered by a handful of
respondents should be viewed with a healthy skepticism, especially if three or four times that
number indicated a different usage. On the other hand, if 4 out of 32 Colombians offered plumero
(ballpoint pen), but all 4 were Costeos (Colombians from the Atlantic Coast region) and they
were the only Costeos queried, then we have a situation in which 100% of Colombians from a
specific region have indicated a specific usage. The results of such a small sampling are not
statistically significant, but they do suggest that we may indeed be on to something and the next
logical step is to try to query as many Costeos as possible, preferably from different parts of the
Costa, to see what pattern emerges.
12
Perhaps the most frequent type of marginal response occurs when respondents offer the General
Spanish term either instead of or alongside their countrys regional word, sometimes in an effort to
suppress or reject the regional term. For example, some Mexicans and Guatemalans may opt to say
tiza instead of gis or yeso in order to use a word that enjoys international prestige and recognition
and to avoid using one that they perceive (or believe others may perceive) as regional, local or
unsophisticated. In some cases, people do this in an attempt to distinguish themselves from their
more plebeian fellow citizens and to show that they belong to las clases ilustradas.
It is also important to bear in mind that the language recorded in this study was not spontaneous, as
it was clear to respondents that a researcher was writing down their responses. And perhaps even
more so than in the case of phonetics, phonology and other aspects of pronunciation, with the
lexicon most speakers have a considerable ability to choose their words depending on what the
situation is, who their interlocutors are, and what the image and identity they are trying to project
is. For example, some Mexicans and Guatemalans who offered tiza may have felt self-conscious
about using gis or yeso and may have wanted to take on a cosmopolitan or international air in the
interview or on the questionnaire through their use of the General Spanish term. Other Mexicans and
Guatemalans, in contrast, may really say tiza in their everyday speech when speaking with
compatriots, although to use the international standard instead of the national standard would
generally entail a deliberate and conscious choice. Also, by not using the term for a given item that
is most frequently used in their own country, speakers run the risk of being labeled as odd, snobbish,
extranjerizante and perhaps even unpatriotic. This can easily happen to a Mexican who says tiza
instead of gis, or to an Argentine who says piscina instead of pileta (swimming pool).
Majority Regionalisms
Majority regionalisms, those offered by 50% or more of respondents and appearing in boldface and
italics in the Terms by Country tables, are likely to be of primary interest to readers of this article,
regardless of their attitudes toward regionalisms.
For example, if you are a regionalism enthusiast (or a dialectologist), then majority regionalisms
represent exciting and exotic manifestations of Spanish that depart from the run-of-the-mill,
international-standard or textbook terminology that students of Spanish as a second language learn
and that their teachers are instructed to teach. At the same time these regionalisms constitute
mainstream usage in the speech communities in question. In other words, usages like gis and yeso
(chalk), though regional, can not be easily dismissed as ones that are only heard in certain small
communities, or are primarily used by isolated groups of rural, uneducated and/or elderly
individuals. On the contrary, the large percentage of this studys Mexicans and Central Americans
who offered gis or yeso (chalk) suggests that millions of Spanish speakers from the countries in
question, including highly educated persons, use these terms everyday. This belief is based on
limited data and the unscientific but often reliable principle of cuando el ro suena agua lleva or
cuando el ro suena (es porque) piedras trae. However, as the variants of this refrain suggest, the
meaning of a rivers sound is open to interpretation.
Those of you who take the view that Spanish regionalisms are an impediment to uniformity, a thorn
in our languages side, and even a disease for which a prophylactic ought to be developed and
applied, will find the terms in boldface and italics useful as they will allow the culprits to be easily
identified and held up for public scorn by like-minded individuals. Vilifying regionalisms, or leading
13
a crusade against them, however, may not be successful in dislodging or eliminating them,
notwithstanding the advances of modern international media and communications that are supposed
to globalize and homogenize our societies, or at least those societies which share a common
language, in this case Spanish.
The pervasiveness of the media, though possibly decreasing and diluting regional differences within
nations, may in some cases be strengthening regional differences between and among countries:
Nationalism, as the last century has shown, is a powerful force, and language is one of its primary
manifestations. This last point is important for the study of dialectology as it poses the general
question of what the future holds for usages that are regionally marked within a given country. For
example, since words for hopscotch are not products that are bought and sold, or concepts that are
taught in federally controlled school systems or referred to in national media, regionally marked
names for this game can easily survive and co-exist within a single country. The future for most
school- and office-supply terms that are regionally weighted within a country, in contrast, is
probably not very bright.
Readers of this article who have a neutral view of Spanish regionalisms and just want to know who
says what and where will also want to focus on the majority regionalisms and contrast them with the
international standard so as to understand language usage on a pan-Hispanic level. The regionalisms
presented here, and especially the majority regionalisms, will also be of interest to those of you who
are curious to find out how your own vocabulary matches up with that of other Spanish speakers.
And you may be surprised to learn which of your own usages are regional and sound odd to other
Spanish speakers. Hopefully, you will also gain a better understanding of why some of your
Spanish-speaking friends usages seem strange or foreign to you.
A marshmallow by any other name would smell as cloyingly sweet and, unlike a rose, really does
have many names in Spanish. Yet we all have our biases when it comes to language varieties and
a sense of aesthetics regarding language use, including proper terminology: Some names smell
just right to us while others appear to give off a foul odor. However, if we can avoid getting caught
up in wanting everyone to speak the same way, we may find lexical diversity and variation to be
quite enriching. We Spanish speakers can all appreciate classic Spanish terminology, such as tiza
(chalk), sacapuntas (pencil sharpener), or perforadora (hole punch), but sometimes we may
be in the mood for more offbeat and regionally marked usages such as gis, yeso, tajador, tajalpiz,
abrehuecos or taladradora.
14
15
16
17

18
A WRITING, ERASING AND RELATED
A1 CHALK
A1.1 Summary
Tiza is the General Spanish term. Gis is used in Mexico and yeso in northern Central America.
A1.2 Terms by Country (3 terms)
SPAIN tiza (20/20).
MEXICO gis (54/56), tiza (7/56).
GUATEMALA yeso (14/15), tiza (3/15).
EL SALVADOR yeso (16/17), tiza (3/17).
HONDURAS tiza (14/18), yeso (11/18).
NICARAGUA tiza (13/13).
COSTA RICA tiza (12/12).
PANAMA tiza (14/14).
CUBA tiza (17/17).
DOMIN. REP. tiza (13/13).
PUERTO RICO tiza (17/17).
VENEZUELA tiza (24/24).
COLOMBIA tiza (17/17), gis (3/17).
ECUADOR tiza (14/14).
PERU tiza (16/16).
BOLIVIA tiza (16/16).
PARAGUAY tiza (10/10).
URUGUAY tiza (10/10).
ARGENTINA tiza (22/22).
CHILE tiza (15/15).
A1.3 Details
General: Why did a Nahuatl-derived word, tiza, become the term for chalk in most parts of the
Spanish-speaking world, perhaps replacing and/or displacing Latin-derived gis and yeso?
(See the etymologies of gis, tiza and yeso in section A1.4 below.) And why did tiza
ironically not take root in New Spain/Mexico, the colony/country with the strongest and
most direct Nahuatl influence? How this apparent swap took place is not adequately
explained in the DRAE or in the Diccionario crtico etimolgico castellano e hispnico
(Corominas). Is it possible that during the beginning of the colonial period the conquering
Spaniards were so intent on eliminating Aztec language and culture in New Spain that they
managed to successfully suppress the Nahuatlism tiza(tl) and impose the castizo term gis,
and that tiza was still able to be transplanted back to Spain and prosper in most parts of the
Spanish-speaking world outside of Mexico where eliminating Aztec influence was not an
issue? Could this explain why gis took root and flourished in Mexico but is used only
vestigially in Colombia, Bolivia and perhaps Spain? Although this seems unlikely, it is an
intriguing theory.
19
Spain: Tiza (chalk) is clearly the dominant usage in Spain, but what are the characteristics of those
Spaniards
__
i.e. older Spaniards, Spaniards from certain regions, etc.
__
who when speaking
Spanish currently use other words for this item such as clarin, creta, gis or yeso? In this
study, tiza was the only term offered by all 20 Spanish respondents, but a couple of those
born before 1960 indicated that their parents use or used clarin in this sense, and the
DRAEs definitions of clarin, creta, gis and yeso (see section A1.4 below) suggest that
some of these terms are, or were, synonyms or quasi-synonyms of tiza. In the three Lxico
del habla culta studies involving Spanish cities (Madrid, Granada and Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria), small numbers of respondents
__
only 1 out of 12, 1 out of 16 and 1 out of 24,
respectively
__
indicated that creta, pizarrn or yeso were used in the sense of tiza, though
none offered clarin (Torres Martnez: 586; Salvador: 747; Samper Padilla: 479). The issue
of who in Spain uses terms other than tiza for chalk
__
when speaking Spanish
__
is one that
warrants further study; the words guix and clari, I am told, are used in Cataln and/or
Valenciano.
Mexico: Gis is not only by far the most frequently used term in Mexico, it also appears to enjoy a
very high level of acceptance among educated Mexicans vis--vis General Spanish tiza.
Statements such as Tiza lo dicen en Espaa y otros pases, aqu en Mxico decimos gis
were made often and unapologetically by educated Mexicans in this study. This acceptance
of gis is also supported by the fact that both the Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxico
(Lara Ramos) and the Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico (vila) define gis in
neutral, unmarked terms and either do not list tiza (chalk) or specifically define it as a
foreign usage. The acceptance of gis in Mexico is in stark contrast to the situation in
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where another regional term, yeso, is used.
Guatemala, El Salvador & Honduras: Yeso is the dominant term in Guatemala and El Salvador and
is a serious competitor of tiza in Honduras. Educated speakers from all three countries, some
of whom prefer tiza, tend to exhibit a fair amount of linguistic insecurity concerning the use
of yeso in the sense of chalk, and remarks by Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans such
as Le decimos yeso a la tiza, pero es incorrecto: el yeso es el material de que est hecha la
tiza reflect this view. See Attitudes toward tiza vs. alternate terms below.
Colombia: Tiza was offered by all respondents in this study, but 3 of them
__
2 Bogotanos and 1
Santandereano
__
also indicated that gis is used (or was used in the past) in the sense of a thick
piece of chalk for writing on individual, hand-held chalkboards on which elementary school
children used to do their schoolwork. Two of the Colombians who offered gis stated that
they believed this usage was either dead or dying, and in the Lxico del habla culta de
Santaf de Bogot study, published in 1997, 25 out of 25 educated Bogotanos offered only
tiza (Otlora de Fernndez: 838). However, the Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos
defines gis as the standard Colombian Spanish word for chalk (Haensch and Werner 1993a).
Was gis (chalk) standard Colombian Spanish in the 1980s and early 1990s when the team
of researchers led by Haensch and Werner were researching this variety of the language? If
this had been so, it seems unlikely that this usage could have virtually disappeared without
leaving a trace among so many respondents from both the Lxico del habla culta study and
the present study in such a short period of time. Also, my own memory from having lived
in Colombia in 1984-85 was that tiza was the term used for regular classroom chalk.
2
Bolivia: Is gis used in this sense in Bolivia and, if so, how frequent is this usage? None of the 16
respondents in this study offered it, but in the Lxico del habla culta de La Paz study, 2 out
of 12 educated Paceos indicated that gis was used in the sense of chalk, albeit less often
than tiza (Mendoza: 530).
20
Attitudes toward tiza vs. alternate terms: What can explain the fact that gis is fully accepted in
Mexico but yeso is a source of concern, and often embarrassment, among educated
Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans, a linguistic insecurity that manifests itself in a
rejection and sometimes even denial of their own usage? The following are some possible
explanations:
a) Because yeso has the closely related meaning of plaster in General Spanish, some
educated Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans may be genuinely (if illogically)
troubled by the fact that this term should be applied to both the material and the bar made
of a similar material, especially since such a good word (tiza) exists for the latter;
sometimes people are uncomfortable with polysemy. In contrast, Mexicos gis can not be
objected to on these grounds as it refers only to chalk.
b) The history of northern Central America is quite different from that of Mexico. In
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, military dictatorships, protecting the interests of both
small national oligarchies and United States corporations, and generally funded and trained
by the US military, have ruled over the course of most of their histories. Also, the civil wars
in Guatemala and El Salvador, which lasted for several decades until the 1990s and pitted
the elites, backed by the army, against campesinos and the indigenous populations, backed
by the guerrillas, were concluded with few substantive concessions or structural changes
made by the winning side (the elites). It is perhaps in part for this reason that in northern
Central America many members of the upper classes feel little affinity with or connection
to their respective countrys less fortunate masses, and have a strong desire to differentiate
themselves from the general population. In Guatemala, members of Indigenous groups also
tend to feel a great resentment toward and cultural disconnect from the urban Ladino
population. (Ladinos are those who identify themselves as racially Hispanic/Mestizo and
have a Western orientation.) In Mexico, in contrast, issues of class struggle were supposedly
solved (and buried) by the Mexican Revolution (1910-1928, armed phase), and the
ongoing revolution or institutional phase that followed in the succeeding decades, and
many aspects of the pueblos traditional culture are enjoyed and appreciated by Mexicans
of all social classes. In other words, although the contrast between haves and have-nots can
be just as stark in Mexico, the cultural divide is not seen as a chasm that has no bridges.
c) Mexico is a much larger country than Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, and
sometimes people from large former colonies do not care as much how their language use
is perceived by outsiders and tend to be less interested in imitating the usage of the mother
country.
3
A1.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: gis (C), tiza (A), yeso (D). GPA = B!
DRAE definitions: tiza, (Del nahua tizatl). Arcilla terrosa blanca que se usa para escribir
en los encerados y, pulverizada, para limpiar metales; clarin, (Del fr. crayon, quiz con infl. de
claro). m. Pasta hecha de yeso mate y greda, que se usa como lpiz para dibujar en los lienzos
imprimados lo que se ha de pintar, y para escribir en los encerados de las aulas; gis, (Del lat.
gypsum, yeso). m. clarin; pizarrn, Barrita de lpiz o de pizarra no muy dura, generalmente
cilndrica, que se usa para escribir o dibujar en las pizarras de piedra.
Questions/Comments: Some Spanish-English dictionaries translate the terms tiza, clarin
and pizarrn as chalk, white crayon and slate pencil, respectively, and the DRAEs definitions
of the Spanish-language words indicate that they all refer to something that is used to write on
21
chalkboards but that they are not exact synonyms. Since the definition of gis cross-references the
reader to clarin and that of clarin does not refer the reader to tiza, a user of the DRAE is not
informed that gis and tiza are geosynonyms. The DRAE needs to add a sense of gis that corresponds
to chalk and include in it the regional specification Mx and perhaps also Col. and Bol. if
this usage is in fact common in Colombia and Bolivia; the evidence from this study and others that
is presented in sections A1.2 and A1.3 above suggests that the use of gis (chalk) is at best marginal
in these two countries.
The definition of tiza also needs to be expanded to include other uses for and types of chalk.
Compare the Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxicos definition of tiza, which in addition to
describing standard chalk used with chalkboards, also includes senses corresponding to tailors chalk
and cue chalk used in pool and billiards: 2 Especie de tableta rectangular de color blanco que usan
los sastres para trazar lneas sobre las que van a cortar una tela: Marca con tiza la tela, para cortarla
despus. 3 Polvo de color azul que se pone en la punta de los tacos que se usan para jugar billar: Si
no pones tiza al taco no le vas a pegar bien a la bola (vila). Nowhere are these two important
uses of chalk mentioned in the DRAEs definition. In fact, the DRAEs definition of tiza needs to be
made more general so that the chalk described is not limited to a particular color and so that the
entry covers various common uses. For example, chalk dust, in addition to being used for cleaning
metal, as the DRAEs definition indicates, also has another very important use in carpentry, drywall,
masonry and other trades: By means of a device called a chalk line or a chalk reel that coats a
string with (typically blue or red) chalk dust, one snaps a chalk line to mark a straight line between
two points, often for the purpose of sawing or cutting boards, plywood, sheetrock, etc. Gymnasts
and other athletes also use chalk dust to absorb sweat so that their hands will not be slippery and
they will be able to catch and hold on to bars, balls, etc.
A2 CHALKBOARD or BLACKBOARD
A2.1 Summary
When referring to a chalkboard of the type attached to a wall, pizarrn is the most commonly used
term in 6 or 7 countries, pizarra in 4 or 5, and in about 7 or 8 others the two terms enjoy a healthy
competition. Spain, Panama and Colombia have more regional usages not commonly found
elsewhere.
A2.2 Terms by Country (4 terms)
SPAIN pizarra (20/20), encerado (6/20).
MEXICO pizarrn (57/57), pizarra (4/57).
GUATEMALA pizarrn (14/14), pizarra (1/14).
EL SALVADOR pizarra (11/16), pizarrn (9/16).
HONDURAS pizarra (15/16), pizarrn (4/16).
NICARAGUA pizarrn (12/14), pizarra (9/14).
COSTA RICA pizarra (15/15), pizarrn (8/15).
PANAMA tablero (14/14), pizarra (2/14), pizarrn (2/14).
CUBA pizarra (14/17), pizarrn (7/17).
DOMIN. REP. pizarra (13/15), pizarrn (10/15).
PUERTO RICO pizarra (17/17).
22
VENEZUELA pizarrn (21/24), pizarra (13/24).
COLOMBIA tablero (17/17), pizarra (4/17), pizarrn (3/17).
ECUADOR pizarrn (12/14), pizarra (2/14).
PERU pizarra (17/17), pizarrn (2/17).
BOLIVIA pizarrn (13/19), pizarra (10/19).
PARAGUAY pizarrn (10/10), pizarra (2/10).
URUGUAY pizarrn (10/10).
ARGENTINA pizarrn (22/22), pizarra (4/22).
CHILE pizarrn (11/16), pizarra (9/16).
A2.3 Details
General: The image shown to respondents in this study was a wall-mounted chalkboard of the type
used in classrooms, not a small, hand-held portable one or slate that students in the United
States once used (with a slate pencil), and no doubt still do

in many parts of the world.
Some respondents were also asked what they would call these hand-held chalkboards. The
results of this study suggest that most Spanish speakers use a single base term (e.g. pizarra,
pizarrn or tablero) for all types of chalkboard and make distinctions through modifiers. In
other words, they say pizarra grande vs. pizarra pequea or pizarra chica to distinguish
large ones from small ones. However, more research needs to be done to determine if some
speakers use two different base terms such as pizarrn (large chalkboard) vs. pizarra (small
or medium one), or possibly a tripartite distinction such as pizarrn (large, wall-mounted),
pizarra (medium, wall-mounted), and pizarrita (small, hand-held).
Spain: Pizarra (chalkboard) is the dominant usage in Spain but the following issues need to be
researched: What are the characteristics of those Spaniards who currently use the term
encerado, and what distinctions in meaning, if any, do different Spaniards make between
pizarra and encerado? Who, if anyone, in Spain currently uses tablero (chalkboard)? In
this study, some respondents said that they believed encerado is used more in Castilla and
other regions of northern and central Spain, and most of those who offered encerado were
in fact northern and central Spaniards born prior to 1960. Quite a few respondents from
eastern Spain (i.e. Mediterranean Spain) and from southern Spain (e.g. Andaluca) stated that
the term encerado is not commonly used in their regions. Others said that encerado is used
more by teachers, regardless of region, especially in phrases such as Al encerado! when
telling students to go up to the chalkboard, and that pizarra is used more by the general
population. Still other Spaniards claimed that the distinction between encerado (large
chalkboard) and pizarra (small hand-held chalkboard) used to be important at a time,
perhaps prior to 1960, when paper, notebooks and pens were too expensive and many
students would use hand-held chalkboards and chalk (or slate pencils) to practice basic
writing or math skills. They indicated that since hand-held chalkboards are no longer
commonly used in the school system, the distinction is no longer needed, and pizarra is now
used to refer to all chalkboards, large or small, and that perhaps for this reason the use of
encerado has declined. However, the DRAE defines encerado, with no regional
specification, as a synonym of one of the senses of pizarra, and defines tablero, also with
no regional specification, as a synonym of encerado (see section A2.4 below). Perhaps
tablero (chalkboard) was once common in Spain or in some parts of Spain, but the
evidence from this study and from the Lxico del habla culta surveys suggests that this usage
has been rare in much of Spain for many years: In the Lxico del habla culta studies
23
involving Spanish cities only 1 out of 53 respondents offered tablero in response to the
chalkboard question (Torres Martnez: 586; Salvador: 747; and Samper Padilla: 479), and
this single response came from the oldest of the studies, the Encuestas lxicas del habla
culta de Madrid, published in 1981. In the present study, tablero was not given by any of the
20 respondents, and only 6 offered encerado.
Panama & Colombia: Tablero is the dominant usage in Panama and Colombia. If in the past tablero
(chalkboard) was much more common in Spain and elsewhere than it is today, can its
survival in Panama and Colombia be characterized as an archaism
__
an archaism from a
Peninsular and General Spanish perspective
__
that has survived in these two countries? How
common was the use of tablero (chalkboard) in different parts of the Spanish-speaking
world in, say, 1900, and why has it continued to flourish in Panama and Colombia? If
tablero lost the jousting match elsewhere to pizarra and/or pizarrn, what was the cause of
its downfall?
Related concept, whiteboard: In certain settings, such as workshops and trainings (as corporate
and government training sessions are now often called), whiteboards have largely replaced
chalkboards: A whiteboard is a white plastic board used with special markers called dry
erase markers which use an ink that is easily erased from the boards surface. Research
needs to be done to determine what names are used in Spanish for whiteboards, and where.
Related to this question is the issue of which Spanish speakers refer to a whiteboard with the
same name they use for a chalkboard, perhaps adding a modifier such as blanco/a or
lquido/a
__
e.g. pizarra blanca or pizarra lquida for a whiteboard
__
and which use two
different base terms such as pizarra (blackboard) vs. tablero (whiteboard), or encerado
(blackboard) vs. pizarra (whiteboard).
A2.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: encerado (C), pizarra (A), pizarrn (A), tablero (C). GPA = B
DRAE definitions: encerado, (Del part. de encerar). 4. Cuadro de hule, lienzo barnizado,
madera u otra sustancia apropiada, que se usa en las escuelas para escribir o dibujar en l con clarin
o tiza y poder borrar con facilidad; pizarra, (De or. inc.). 3. Trozo de pizarra [tipo de roca]
pulimentado, de forma rectangular, usado para escribir o dibujar en l con pizarrn, yeso o lpiz
blanco. || 4. encerado (|| para escribir o dibujar en l). || 5. Placa de plstico blanco usada para
escribir o dibujar en ella con un tipo especial de rotuladores cuya tinta se borra con facilidad;
pizarrn, Am. encerado (|| para escribir o dibujar en l); tablero, 11. encerado (|| para escribir
o dibujar en l).
Comments: The DRAE defines encerado broadly as a board that can be made of hule, lienzo
barnizado, madera u otra sustancia apropiada and since slate is certainly an appropriate substance
this definition covers and subsumes sense 3 of pizarra. It is therefore unfortunate that the DRAE
divides pizarra into two separate chalkboard senses, one made specifically of slate (sense 3), and
another (sense 4) that is synonymous with encerado. In other words, its definitions unsuccessfully
try to make technical distinctions between two types of boards and two terms, pizarra and encerado,
that in fact can be synonyms. It would make more sense to cover different boards under a single
broad definition. The main bone of contention is whether whiteboards are to be included in the
concept of pizarra, pizarrn, tablero and/or encerado. Compare the following two definitions of
pizarrn, both from Mexican dictionaries: The Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxicos definition
reads Trozo de material duro y plano, generalmente de forma rectangular y de color verde, negro
o blanco, sobre cuya superficie se pueden hacer trazos con gis o con un lpiz especial y luego
24
borrarlos con un pedazo de fieltro o de tela afelpada; se usa principalmente en los salones de clase
de las escuelas: escribir sobre el pizarrn, borrar el pizarrn, pasar al pizarrn (Lara Ramos). And
the Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico defines pizarrn as Material duro y plano en forma
de rectngulo, de color verde o negro; sirve para escribir con gis y luego borrar: El maestro me pidi
que escribiera una idea en el pizarrn (vila).
These definitions by Mexican lexicographers have much to recommend them
__
to
internationalize the metalanguage used, all we would need to do is replace gis with tiza
__
but let us
also take a look at the American Heritage Dictionarys definition of chalkboard, in which only
the objects essential properties are included, and there is no discussion of where the object is
typically used (schools) or the materials out of which it is typically made (slate or synthetic stone):
A smooth hard panel, usually green or black, for writing on with chalk; a blackboard (Pickett).
Since a chalkboard does not stop being a chalkboard if it is not located in a school, an argument can
be made that omitting the detail of where chalkboards are typically used makes sense. On the other
hand, to give a reader who has never experienced a chalkboard more context to work with, including
this information may be useful. It largely depends on the type of reader or dictionary user the
lexicographer envisages. Similarly, it can be argued that no mention need be made of a chalkboards
composition since over the past one hundred years the materials have in fact evolved
__
most are no
longer made of slate
__
and will probably continue to evolve.
Therefore, the DRAE could also define pizarra or pizarrn succinctly as Cuadro duro, liso
y plano, por lo comn de color verde o negro, el cual est diseado para escribir o dibujar en l con
tiza and then cross-reference the regional synonyms encerado and tablero to pizarra or pizarrn.
However, if the terms pizarrn and pizarra, etc., can also refer to a whiteboard, then the definition
may need to be made more general so that it reads Cuadro duro, liso y plano, por lo comn de color
verde, negro o blanco, el cual est diseado para escribir o dibujar en l con tiza o con marcadores
especiales. In fact, a more recent English-language dictionary, the Encarta Websters College
Dictionary, published in 2005, even defines blackboard as a board of either a dark color or white
that is written on with contrasting chalk or erasable markers, used especially in classrooms
(Soukhanov). In the case of English, it remains to be seen how many native speakers would actually
refer to a board that is so patently white as a blackboard. (Yo no lo hara, pero mi propio uso tal
vez no coincide con el de la mayora.)
With regard to Spanish, another lexicographical issue is which word, pizarra or pizarrn,
should be chosen as the lead term to which all others would be cross-referenced. Pizarrn is
commonly used in more countries than pizarra and the former also has the advantage that it does
not have additional meanings (such as slate). Therefore, by selecting pizarrn as the lead term,
pizarra could then be defined (in its chalkboard sense) as pizarrn, tablero as Col. y Pan.
pizarrn, and encerado as Esp. pizarrn, whereas if pizarra is selected as the lead term, then
the cross-references would need to include a gloss such as pizarra (|| para escribir o dibujar en l)
and this requires more space.
A3 CHALKBOARD ERASER or BLACKBOARD ERASER
A3.1 Summary
Borrador is the General Spanish term. Almohadilla is common in Guatemala and Bolivia, and
perhaps in some regions (or among some speakers) of several other Spanish American countries.
Peru has a unique usage not found elsewhere.
25
A3.2 Terms by Country (3 terms plus variants)
SPAIN borrador (20/20).
MEXICO borrador (56/56).
GUATEMALA almohadilla (10/14), borrador (8/14).
EL SALVADOR borrador (16/16).
HONDURAS borrador (16/17), almohadilla (3/17).
NICARAGUA borrador (14/14).
COSTA RICA borrador (12/12).
PANAMA borrador (14/14).
CUBA borrador (17/17).
DOMIN. REP. borrador (13/13).
PUERTO RICO borrador (17/17).
VENEZUELA borrador (24/24).
COLOMBIA borrador (14/16), almohadilla (3/16).
ECUADOR borrador (14/14).
PERU mota (15/17), borrador (3/17), almohadilla (2/17).
BOLIVIA almohadilla (15/18), borrador (7/18).
PARAGUAY borrador (10/10).
URUGUAY borrador (10/10).
ARGENTINA borrador (22/22).
CHILE borrador (15/15).
A3.3 Details
General: The item tested was a standard chalkboard eraser with a felt pad, not a sponge or cushion
used to erase chalkboards. However, the image I used was not particularly clear and it is
possible that some respondents interpreted my question as referring to the latter type. The
terms borrador and almohadilla are sometimes modified by phrases such as de pizarra, de
pizarrn, de tablero or de encerado whenever speakers feel a need to be more precise since,
in an office-supply context and in some regions, borrador by itself could refer to either a
chalkboard eraser or a pencil eraser (see section A10), and an almohadilla to either a
chalkboard eraser or an ink pad (see section C2). In Peru, in contrast, mota has only one
meaning in this context and therefore needs no modifier. While it would stand to reason that
longer, specific forms such as borrador de pizarra would be more common in countries
where borrador, rather than goma (de borrar), is used in the sense of pencil eraser, research
needs to be done to determine if this is actually true. Because sponges and small cushions
are sometimes used in place of standard felt chalkboard erasers, and were no doubt used for
this purpose more so in the past, it is also possible that in regions where almohadilla is used
to erase chalkboards some speakers make a distinction between an almohadilla (cushion or
sponge used to wipe the chalkboard) and a borrador (standard chalkboard eraser with a felt
pad). It would be interesting to research the terms social stratification in different regions
and, in particular, whether in some countries the word almohadilla (chalkboard eraser
and/or cushion) is used more in rural areas and by the elderly than by younger city
dwellers. As cushions, sponges and other pads that are used to erase chalkboards become
less and less common and, even in rural areas, are replaced by standard felt chalkboard
26
erasers, this distinction between almohadilla and borrador, if one currently exists, may also
become moot. See Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru & Chile below.
Spain: To what extent do the terms cepillo, cepillo de borrar, pao and pao de borrar (chalkboard
eraser) compete with borrador in Spain? Neither cepillo nor pao is defined as a chalkboard
eraser in the DRAE, nor was either term offered by the respondents in this study, but in the
Lxico del habla culta studies dealing with usage in Madrid, Granada and Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria, cepillo and/or pao (de borrar) were offered by 9 out of 16 Madrileos, 3 out
of 25 Granadinos, and 6 out of 12 Gran Canarios (Torres Martnez: 586; Salvador: 747;
Samper Padilla: 479). Given that those studies were published in 1981, 1991 and 1998,
respectively, and the fact that none of the 20 respondents in this study offered these terms,
the following question arises: Have these Peninsular Spanish regionalisms been dying
out
__
unable to withstand the force and greater precision of General Spanish borrador, and
perhaps due to the disappearance of the old-fashioned types of chalkboard erasers
__
or are
cepillo and pao (chalkboard eraser) still alive and well in Spain, perhaps still frequently
used among Spaniards, especially of the older generations? It is true that the pool of
Spaniards who participated in my study were for the most part translators, age 40 and under,
international in outlook, and sophisticated, in short, not ones who would be likely to call a
chalkboard eraser a cepillo or a pao.
Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru & Chile: How common is almohadilla
(chalkboard eraser) in these countries, and in which of them is this usage limited to certain
provinces, states, departments, or regions? The data presented in section A3.2 above suggest
that almohadilla (chalkboard eraser) is marginal in Honduras, Colombia and Peru, and no
evidence of its use in Venezuela and Chile was encountered in this study. One Nicaraguan
stated that an almohadilla is a cloth that is moistened to wipe down chalkboards and is
distinct from a borrador, a standard chalkboard eraser. However, the DRAE indicates that
almohadilla (chalkboard eraser) is used in Nicaragua (see section A3.4 below). In addition,
the Diccionario del habla actual de Venezuela states that almohadilla is used in the Andean
region of Venezuela
4
, and defines this term as 5 And[es] Instrumento que se utiliza para
borrar el pizarrn (Nez). The Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos affirms that
almohadilla is used in the sense of chalkboard eraser in so many different departments and
regions of Colombia as to suggest that this usage is not constrained to or even typical of any
particular part of the country
5
(Haensch and Werner 1993a). And the Diccionario
ejemplificado de chilenismos y de otros usos diferenciales del espaol de Chile, published
in 1984, defines almohadilla as 2. Cojincillo para borrar la pizarra but defines borrador
as Utensilio escolar provisto de una superficie blanda o esponjosa con que se borra en la
pizarra (Morales Pettorino), which perhaps implies (depending on how one interprets the
word cojincillo) that some Chileans make or used to make this distinction between
almohadillas (pads or cushions used to erase chalkboards) and borradores (standard felt
chalkboard erasers). However, in the Lxico del habla culta de Santiago de Chile study
published in 1987, 12 out of 13 respondents offered borrador and 4 out of 13 almohadilla
in response to the chalkboard eraser question (Rabanales: 527). Therefore, if we assume that
the item used by Rabanales team in its surveys was consistently a standard chalkboard
eraser and not a sponge, cushion or pad
__
the study does not specify which item was
tested
__
then the Diccionario ejemplificado de chilenismoss claim that an almohadilla is
distinct from a borrador appears to be refuted. En fin, ya les he alargado mucho el cuento,
y basta con decir que an queda mucho por investigar.
27
A3.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: almohadilla (B or D?), borrador (A), mota (D).
DRAE definitions: borrador, (De borrar). 5. Utensilio que sirve para borrar lo escrito con
tiza en una pizarra o sitio semejante; almohadilla, 10. Bol., Chile, Col., Guat. y Nic. Cojn
pequeo destinado a borrar lo escrito en las pizarras de las escuelas.
Questions/Comments: If some Spanish speakers conceive of an almohadilla as a standard
chalkboard eraser with a felt pad but others as a sponge or small cushion used for the same purpose,
then the DRAE should define almohadilla as both a borrador de pizarra (or a borrador de
pizarrn) and as an esponja o pequeo cojn destinado a borrar... with the appropriate regional
specifications in each case. On the other hand, if most Spanish speakers who use the term
almohadilla do not make such a distinction, then almohadilla can just be cross-referenced to
borrador. In any case, mota needs to be defined as Per. borrador de pizarra or Per. borrador
de pizarrn.
A4 CRAYON
A4.1 Summary
Crayola is the dominant term in 8 or 9 countries, crayn in 3 or 4, and in several more both words
compete. Together crayola and crayn can perhaps be considered co-General Spanish terms as the
remaining words are commonly used in far fewer countries. Creyn is frequently heard in Cuba and
Venezuela, and the predominant usages in Spain and Chile are considerably different from those
found in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.
A4.2 Terms by Country (c. 8 terms plus variants)
SPAIN cera (8/20), pintura (de cera) (6/20), lpiz de cera (4/20), plastidecor (3/20), color de
cera (1/20).
MEXICO crayn (33/57), crayola (32/57), color (de cera) (6/57).
GUATEMALA crayn (12/14), crayola (1/14), crayn de cera (1/14).
EL SALVADOR crayola (12/17), crayn (7/17).
HONDURAS crayola (15/20), crayn (4/20), color (2/20).
NICARAGUA crayn (10/15), crayola (6/15), lpiz de cera (1/15), lpiz de color (1/15).
COSTA RICA crayola (12/15), crayn (4/15), lpiz de color (1/15).
PANAMA crayola (6/15), crayn (6/15), lpiz de cera (5/15), creyn (3/15).
CUBA crayola (10/17), creyn (7/17), crayn (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. crayola (12/13), crayn (4/13), lpiz de cera (1/13).
PUERTO RICO crayola (17/17).
VENEZUELA creyn (16/24), creyn de cera (7/24), color (2/24).
COLOMBIA crayola (15/18), crayn (3/18), color (1/18).
ECUADOR crayola (8/15), crayn (8/15), lpiz de cera (1/15), lpiz de color (1/15).
PERU crayola (13/16), crayn (4/16).
BOLIVIA crayn (15/17), crayola (3/17), lpiz de cera (1/17), pintura (1/17).
PARAGUAY crayola (11/12), crayn (2/12), lpiz de color (1/12).
URUGUAY crayola (10/10).
28
ARGENTINA crayn (21/25), cerita (6/25), lpiz de cera (4/25), crayola (1/25), crayn de cera (1/25),
lpiz de color (1/25), lpiz de grasa (1/25).
CHILE lpiz de cera (9/15), lpiz de color (3/15), crayola (1/15), crayn (1/15), lpiz cera (1/15).
A4.3 Details
Spain: Cera and pintura (de cera) are the dominant terms, but a few Spaniards who gave plastidecor
indicated it is a brand name that is also sometimes used generically.
Uruguay: In this study, only crayola was offered (by 10 out of 10 respondents), but the Nuevo
diccionario de uruguayismos indicates that both crayola and crayn are used in Uruguay and
that the latter is generally pronounced creyn or crein (Haensch and Werner 1993b). See
Argentina below.
Argentina: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina states that crayn is generally pronounced as
if it were written creyn or crein, and that lpiz de cera and lpiz de grasa are also used in
this sense (Haensch and Werner 2000a). The pronunciation of crayn as creyn or crein
claimed by Haensch and Werner, however, was contradicted by this studys Argentine
respondents: Of the 21 out of 25 Argentines who gave crayn (which included a half dozen
or more not from Buenos Aires), 10 offered the term orally and the pronunciation was clearly
with an /a/ sound in the first syllable, and another 8 of those who had given crayn or crayon
as a written response confirmed this pronunciation (crayn) via e-mail. All Argentines who
offered crayn orally pronounced the y as Argentines typically do, that is, with rehilamiento,
either as a sound like the g in English beige, or its devoiced version, like the sh in English
wish. Thus the question remains as to who and where these Argentines are who
supposedly say creyn or crein. They may exist but, try as I might, I was unable to locate
any. Although I threw in the towel after 21 crayn responses, I am fairly confident that
crayn, and not creyn or crein, is the dominant spoken and written form of the word in
Argentina.
Chile: Lpiz de cera is the dominant usage in Chile, but one Chilean offered lpiz cera (in writing),
which appears to be a case of de-dropping. See Spelling & Variants in sections A6.3 and
A7.3, and Related concept, binder clip in section B6.3 below for other possible examples
of this phenomenon.
Related concept, pastel: Is pastel used everywhere in the sense of pastel or pastille, that is,
the lpices blandos, pastosos y de colores variados that the DRAE refers to in its definition
of pintura al pastel? If other terms exist, are they regionally distributed?
A4.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: cera (C), cerita (D), color (D), color de cera (F), crayola (B), crayn (F),
creyn (F), creyn de cera (F), lpiz de cera (F), lpiz de color (C or D?), pintura (D), pintura de
cera (D). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: cera, 6. Lpiz compuesto de una materia colorante y cera; crayola,
Cuba, Hond., Mx. y Ur. cera (|| lpiz); lpiz de color, Composicin o pasta que se hace con
varios colores dndole la forma de puntas de lpiz, y sirve para pintar al pastel; pastel, 6. Lpiz
compuesto de una materia colorante y agua de goma.
Comments: Peninsular Spanish usage cera (crayon) would be an excellent candidate to
receive the Esp. regional designation, and if the DRAE really wants to be international in its
approach, as it claims in its Prembulo, sense 6 of cera should be cross-referenced to crayola rather
29
than the other way around. The regional specifications in the definition of crayola indicate that the
DRAEs authors have only a vague notion of where this term is used, and they appear to be blissfully
unaware of the existence of crayn, a term which is not listed at all. This assumes they have not
deliberately suppressed the term crayn due to its status as an Anglicismthe English word crayon
itself comes from French crayon (pencil)but this makes little sense since the DRAE does include
crayola, a word that is arguably just as much of an Anglicism as crayn given that the former comes
from the American brand of crayons by the same name.
A5 (MAGIC) MARKER
A5.1 Summary
Marcador, commonly used in all Spanish-speaking countries with the possible exceptions of Spain,
Peru and Chile, can be considered the General Spanish term. Plumn is frequent in Mexico, El
Salvador, Cuba, Peru, and Chile, and competes with marcador in several of these countries. Spain,
Costa Rica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay (and perhaps Paraguay and Argentina) have highly
regional usages.
A5.2 Terms by Country (terms)
SPAIN rotulador (20/20), marcador (1/20).
MEXICO marcador (40/54), plumn (25/54), pinceln (5/54), plumn (2/54).
GUATEMALA marcador (14/14).
EL SALVADOR plumn (14/17), marcador (8/17), pilot/pilot (2/17).
HONDURAS marcador (15/15).
NICARAGUA marcador (14/14).
COSTA RICA pilot/pilot (15/18), marcador (7/18).
PANAMA marcador (10/13), piloto (6/13).
CUBA marcador (9/14), plumn (8/14).
DOMIN. REP. marcador (12/14), magic marker (2/14).
PUERTO RICO magic marker (11/14), marcador (8/14).
VENEZUELA marcador (23/23).
COLOMBIA marcador (17/18), plumn (3/18).
ECUADOR marcador (14/14).
PERU plumn (15/17), marcador (2/17).
BOLIVIA marcador (15/15).
PARAGUAY marcador (11/13), pincel (4/13), fibra (1/13).
URUGUAY marcador (10/12), draipn/drypen (5/12), sylvapen (2/12).
ARGENTINA marcador (18/19), fibra (2/19).
CHILE plumn (14/15), marcador (3/15).
A5.3 Details
General: This section addresses a general class of writing instruments that in United States English
are called markers, magic markers, marker pens, felt-tip pens (also spelled felt-
tipped pens) and porous-point pens, among other names. Respondents in this study were
30
specifically asked whether they used different base terms to refer to markers with a thick tip
and ones with a thin tip, but were not asked to make finer distinctions between, say, fine-
point markers (such as those manufactured by Sharpie) and even thinner porous-point pens
(such as those produced by Flair). A majority of respondents from most countries said they
just used modifiers to make the distinctions, that is, they indicated that they say marcador
de punta gruesa or marcador de punta fina, etc. However, some from Mexico, El Salvador,
Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba and Puerto Rico stated that they used one base term for thick-
tipped markers and another for thin-tipped ones. For example, some Salvadorans said that
a plumn is a thick-tipped marker whereas a marcador is a thin one, and a few Cubans said
the opposite, namely, that a marcador is a thick marker whereas a plumn is a thin one.
However, others from these same countries attributed the opposite qualities to the respective
terms. More research needs to be done on how different Spanish speakers differentiate
between marcadores and plumones, and what words they use to refer to markers of various
widths. See Related concepts, highlighter and other special types of markers at the end of
this section.
Mexico: Most Mexican respondents in this study stated that marcador and plumn are synonyms,
or indicated they only use one of the two terms for all types of markers. However, a number
of them said that a plumn is a thin marker, whereas a marcador is a thick one. Interestingly
enough, the Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico (vila) does not define marcador in
the sense of any type of magic marker but does define plumn as Especie de pluma para
escribir de tamao grande y con una punta ancha: Prstame un plumn para poner mi
nombre en esta caja de cartn. The Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxico (Lara Ramos)
does not list plumn but does define marcador as 2 lpiz o pluma de punta muy ancha, que
sirve para hacer trazos gruesos sobre alguna superficie. Although both definitions use the
words grande, ancho and/or grueso, which suggests an instrument with a broad
tip
__
but broad in relation to what, other markers or regular pens?
__
unfortunately neither
dictionary defines and contrasts both terms, or cross-references them, and therefore based
on the definitions it is hard to tell with any certainty whether vila and Lara Ramos consider
marcador and plumn to be general markers, or specifically thick ones. Thus the question
remains as to how Mexicans generally view these two terms, whether as exact synonyms or
as markers of differing thicknesses. The few Mexican respondents in this study who gave
pinceln and plumn stated that these were felt-tip pens, but the numbers were so small (5 out
of 54 and 2 out of 54, respectively) that the currency of these usages is called into question;
neither term is listed in either of the two Mexican dictionaries mentioned above.
Costa Rica & Panama: Why did Costa Ricans adopt the Anglicism/brand name pilot or pilot
whereas Panamanians have Hispanized or translated this term to piloto?
Puerto Rico: Will the use of the term magic marker dwindle in Puerto Rico due to the prestige of
General Spanish marcador? It appears that the term magic marker may be on the wane in
United States English (being pushed out by marker), and this may also contribute to its
decline in Puerto Rican Spanish. See endnote 8.
Colombia: In this study, marcador was the overwhelming choice by Colombian respondents, but
the Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos indicates that marcador, plumgrafo and rotulador
are all commonly used in Colombia in the sense of marker (Haensch and Werner 1993a).
How common are these non-marcador terms in Colombia? Is plumgrafo a synonym of
marcador, or perhaps something slightly different? See Related concepts, highlighter and
other special types of markers below.
31
Uruguay: Marcador appears to be the dominant usage and was offered by almost all Uruguayan
respondents in this study. Draipn/drypen, in contrast, was given mostly by older
Uruguayans, several of whom indicated that this usage is dying out and may soon be
obsolete or archaic usage. A couple of Uruguayans stated that sylvapen, like drypen, was a
brand name that became generic. The Nuevo diccionario de uruguayismos (Haensch and
Werner 1993b) indicates that draipn, fibra and marcador are all used in this sense in
Uruguay. If the use of draipn (marker) is on its death bed in Uruguay, will the term
perhaps be resuscitated and rise again with a slightly modified and narrower meaning, dry
erase marker? See Related concept, whiteboard in section A2.3 above.
Argentina: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina states that marcador and fibra (marker) are
General Argentine Spanish usages, and that felpa is used in this sense in northwest
Argentina
6
(Haensch and Werner 2000a).
Spelling & Variants: Most Costa Ricans pronounced their word for marker pilo(t) but spelled the
word pilot, as it is written in English, and Puerto Ricans generally spelled magic marker as
in English, but pronounced it as if it were written mayi mrke(r) or mayi mlke(l). Similarly,
the Uruguayans who orally offered draipn and silvapn indicated they would spell the terms
drypen and sylvapen, respectively.
Related concepts, highlighter and other special types of markers: Only a few respondents in this
study were asked about fluorescent markers called highlighters in United States English,
but some variation was encountered: destacador (Chile), marcador (Spain?, Costa Rica?,
Chile?), marcatextos (Mexico), resaltador (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico,
Venezuela) and subrayador (Spain?). Can resaltador be considered the General Spanish
term for highlighter? Marcador resaltador appears to be the industry name in Spanish
America. Two Colombians stated that a fine-point marker used for drafting is called a
flumster. Are there different names in different places for dry erase markers? (See
Related concept, whiteboard in section A2.3 above.)
A5.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: draipn (F), drypen (F), magic marker (F), marcador (B), pilot (F), pilot (F),
piloto (D), plumn (B), rotulador (C). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: rotulador, 2. Instrumento semejante a un bolgrafo o a una estilogrfica,
que escribe o dibuja con un trazo generalmente ms grueso que el habitual, mediante una escobilla
o pincel de fieltro; marcador, 7. Am. Cen., Arg., Ecuad., Par. y Ur. rotulador (|| instrumento para
escribir o dibujar); plumn, 3. El Salv. rotulador (|| instrumento para escribir o dibujar).
Questions/Comments: Rotulador (marker) may be used occasionally outside of Spain, but
it appears to be essentially Peninsular Spanish usage and should not be presented in the DRAE as
General Spanish. Given its status as an espaolismo, defining this term with the Esp. regional
specification would be appropriate. The DRAE authors also seem to have only a vague notion of
Spanish American usages as evidenced by the fact that both marcador and plumn are used in many
more countries than those indicated by their definitions regional specifications. Costa Ricas and
Puerto Ricos unique usages
__
pilot/pilot and magic marker, respectively
__
are not discussed at all.
Are these two lacunae due to the fact that the DRAE is allergic to Anglicisms, or due to its editors
lack of knowledge of Costa Rican and Puerto Rican usage? Or perhaps both? While it is debatable
whether or not the DRAE authors were aware of what was going on in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico
in this regard at the time the 2001 edition was being compiled, even if they had been it is unlikely
they would have reported it since they probably adhere to the New York Times motto of All the
32
News Thats Fit to Print. Of course, what is and what is not fit to print is a matter of opinion and
changes over time and regimes.
A6 PEN A - BALLPOINT PEN or REGULAR PEN
A6.1 Summary
In a sense bolgrafo can be viewed as the General Spanish word for ballpoint pen insofar as it is
recognized, understood, and to some extent used everywhere. Yet bolgrafo is the most commonly
used term in only a handful of countries, probably only Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
Lapicero is common in much of Central America, Colombia and Peru; pluma in Mexico, Honduras,
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and coastal Ecuador; lapicera and birome in the River Plate region;
and Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile have highly regional usages.
A6.2 Terms by Country (c. 15 terms plus variants)
SPAIN bolgrafo (19/20), boli (4/20), bic (1/20).
MEXICO pluma (49/54), bolgrafo (24/54), pluma atmica (11/54), lapicero (1/54).
GUATEMALA lapicero (14/14), bolgrafo (1/14), pluma (1/14).
EL SALVADOR lapicero (16/18), bolgrafo (5/18), pluma (2/18).
HONDURAS lpiz (de) tinta (11/21), pluma (9/21), bolgrafo (3/21), lapicero (2/21).
NICARAGUA lapicero (12/14), bolgrafo (2/14), lpiz de tinta (1/14).
COSTA RICA lapicero (14/15), bolgrafo (7/15).
PANAMA pluma (10/13), bolgrafo (5/13).
CUBA bolgrafo (13/17), pluma (10/17), lapicero (5/17).
DOMIN. REP. lapicero (15/15), felpa (7/15), bolgrafo (2/15).
PUERTO RICO bolgrafo (14/16), pluma (9/16), bic (1/16).
VENEZUELA bolgrafo (20/22), pluma (8/22), lapicero (6/22), boli (1/22), kilomtrico (1/22).
COLOMBIA lapicero (19/32), bolgrafo (14/32), esfero (10/32), plumero (4/32), esferogrfico
(2/32), bic (1/32), kilomtrico (1/32), papermate (1/32).
ECUADOR esfero (10/15), pluma (8/15), bolgrafo (5/15), esferogrfico (3/15).
PERU lapicero (17/17), bolgrafo (3/17).
BOLIVIA puntabola (10/20), lapicero (8/20), bolgrafo (7/20), mango (3/20), esfergrafo
(1/20), tinta seca (1/20).
PARAGUAY birome (9/12), bolgrafo (8/12), lapicera (3/12), lapicera a bolilla (1/12), pluma
(1/12).
URUGUAY birome (8/11), lapicera (6/11), bolgrafo (3/11).
ARGENTINA birome (17/22), bolgrafo (9/22), lapicera (6/22), lapicera birome (1/22), lapicera
bolilla (1/22).
CHILE lpiz (de) pasta (8/15), bolgrafo (5/15), lapicera (a pasta) (5/15), pluma (1/15).
A6.3 Details
General: Respondents in this study were shown pictures of ballpoint pens with a cap and ones with
a button (retractable pens or clicking pens), and many were specifically asked if they
used a different word for each type. Some said they did. For example, some Cubans
33
indicated that a lapicero was a ballpoint pen with a cap whereas a bolgrafo was one with
a button. However, the majority of respondents from all countries indicated that they used
the same base term for both types of ballpoint pen and distinguished them through the use
of modifiers. Some also claimed that a bolgrafo was a fancier ballpoint pen such as a Parker
or a Montblanc (a luxury item), whereas a lapicero or a pluma, etc., referred to less
expensive ballpoint pens (such as a Bic), but, again, those who made such claims were a
small minority. Most respondents indicated that they would generally use a single base term
for all types of ballpoint pens and make distinctions by means of modifiers, i.e. pluma con
tapa or pluma con botn, lapicero de lujo or lapicero corriente, bolgrafo caro or bolgrafo
barato, etc.
However, the interviews in this study also revealed that the word bolgrafo has a
certain cachet in most Spanish American countries: Perhaps because many Spanish
Americans consider bolgrafo to be a fancier word for ballpoint pen than lapicera, lapicero,
pluma, etc., they also tend to associate bolgrafo with fancier pens than the ones they
associate with the more common terms. In Spain, in contrast, bolgrafo is the standard word
for ballpoint pen and as such has a neutral value. In other words, the diglossia (and richness)
that exists in Spanish America with respect to this item is absent in Spain, although Spain
arguably has its own distinct diglossia that is weighted toward the lower end of the spectrum
with its standard bolgrafo vs. colloquial boli (see Spain below).
Among the topics relating to the ballpoint pen that need to be researched is the
question of the different imagesthat is, the different types of pensthat the different words
for this object conjure up among different Spanish speakers. There is also the issue of
technical vs. nontechnical and more precise vs. less precise usage. The terms listed in section
A6.2 above can also refer to pens that have evolved beyond the traditional ballpoint pen. In
English, these newer-technology pens have various industry names such as rollerball,
rolling ball, gel roller, liquid point, liquid roller, and gel stick, etc., but in the
minds of most English speakers, or at least in their everyday usage, there is really only a
bipartite division of pens: There are fountain pens, and then there are any and all pens that
are not fountain pens, which are frequently thought of as ballpoint pens or, more often, as
just pens. And so it is in Spanish. The terms lapicera, lapicero and pluma can refer to
either of the two basic categories of pens, but because fountain pens are less common than
ballpoint pens, rollerball pens, etc., Spanish speakers will often add some modifier, such as
fuente, to lapicera, lapicero or pluma in order to specify a fountain pen (see section A7
below), whereas many use the unmodified or base forms to refer to regular pens. Research
needs to be done to determine how the different pen manufacturers have translated or
fashioned Spanish names for rolling ball, gel stick, etc.
Spain: Boli is a shortened, colloquial form of bolgrafo that appears to be more common in Spain
than elsewhere.
7
Mexico: Pluma is currently the dominant term. The relatively few respondents (11 out of 54) who
offered pluma atmica were for the most part born prior to 1960, and many of them stated
that this usage is dying out. A comparison of the evidence from the Lexico del habla culta
de Mxico study, published in 1978, in which 22 out of 25 educated respondents from the
Distrito Federal indicated pluma atmica for the ballpoint pen (Lope Blanch: 474) suggests
that a generation ago pluma atmica was much more common in Mexico than it is today.
The notion that, in Mexico, pluma atmicas star has been waning, and that of pluma rising,
is also supported by dictionary evidence: The Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxico (Lara
Ramos 1996) defines pluma atmica and not pluma in the sense of ballpoint pen, whereas
34
the Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico (vila 2003) defines pluma as a ballpoint pen
and does not list pluma atmica. Does pluma atmica derive from a former brand name, or
from la bomba atmica and/or la era atmica given that the ballpoint pen came into
widespread use at about the same time the atomic bombs were dropped on J apan in 1945?
Dominican Republic: The respondents who offered the term felpa (7 out of 15) all stated that this
was a fancier, smoother-writing pen (such as a rollerball pen) than a lapicero, which they
said was a traditional ballpoint pen. In other words, felpas are fancier, smoother-writing, and
somewhat more expensive than lapiceros, but are not necessarily luxury ballpoint pens such
as Parkers or Montblancs.
Puerto Rico: Bolgrafo and pluma are the dominant terms according to this studys respondents, but
in the Lxico del habla culta de San Juan de Puerto Rico study, published in 1986, 5 out of
12 educated persons from San J uan indicated ball point (in quotes) as the term for
ballpoint pen (Lpez Morales: 168). Has the use of the term ball point in Puerto Rico
declined between 1986 and 2006? If so, is this due to the fact that the ballpoint pen itself has
evolved into the rollerball pen and other newer technologies, or is it because many educated
Puerto Ricans, fed up with being unfairly labeled as Spanglish speakers
8
, have made a
special effort to purge Anglicisms from their speech in an attempt to speak a more castizo
variety of Spanish?
Colombia: How are the different words for ballpoint pen distributed within Colombia? This is a key
question in the field of Colombian Spanish lexical dialectology as it relates to school- and
office-supply terminology. Let us try to partially address this issue by examining some of
the available evidence.
The Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos indicates that bolgrafo is used throughout
the country, that esfero, esferogrfico and/or esfergrafo are used in various parts of interior
Colombia (Antioquia, Boyac, Cundinamarca, Santander, el Valle) and that the truncated
form, esfero, is more common than the full form, esferogrfico (Haensch and Werner
1993a). The 32 respondents who participated in the present study do not account for all
regions of Colombia, and are not that well distributed across the ones they do represent, but
they refuted Haensch and Werners findings in some respects and confirmed them in others.
They consisted of 9 from Cundinamarca, 4 from Santander, 6 from el Valle, 4 from
Antioquia, 4 from the Atlantic Coast region or Costa (1 from Cartagena, Bolvar, 2 from
Barranquilla, Atlntico, and 1 from Santa Marta, Magdalena), 3 from Quindo, and 1 each
from Boyac and el Choc; their answers are broken down by region as follows: bolgrafo
(4 from Cundinamarca, 3 from Santander, 2 from el Valle, 3 from Antioquia, and 1 each
from Atlntico and el Choc); lapicero (4 from Santander, 6 from el Valle, 3 from
Antioquia, 3 from Quindo, and 1 each from Boyac, el Choc and Cundinamarca); esfero
(9 from Cundinamarca and 1 from Boyac); plumero (4 from the Costa); esferogrfico (2
from Cundinamarca); and bic, kilomtrico and papermate (1 each from el Valle).
We note that lapicero is not defined in the Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos
(Haensch and Werner 1993a), which is somewhat surprising given how thorough these two
dialectologist-lexicographers are, and given that the use of lapicero (ballpoint pen) is not
new in Colombia but has probably been around for many decades: Several of the older
Colombian respondents in this study indicated that lapicero has been in use for as long as
they could remember, and it was certainly used in Colombia when I lived there in the mid
1980s. The other sticking point on which Haensch and Werners assertions are called into
question is that esfergrafo did not turn up at all in the present study or in the Lxico del
habla culta de Santaf de Bogot study, whose 25 educated Bogotanos gave the following
35
answers: esfero (16), bolgrafo (11), esferogrfico (4), lapicero (2), and kilomtrico (1); one
other Bogotano in that study was apparently confused and indicated marcador (Otlora de
Fernndez: 839). While the data from all of these studies are clearly limited in scope, we
may extrapolate, make some tentative findings and pose additional questions:
a) Bolgrafo, as we would expect, is not regionally marked within Colombia but is
a parallel word that is used alongside several terms that are regionally distributed within the
country.
b) Lapicero appears to be common in many if not most regions of the country outside
of Cundinamarca and the Costa. In fact, lapicero appears to be the most widespread regional
usage in Colombia as it is found in large areas of both eastern and western interior Colombia.
c) Esfero and its longer and less common etymological variant, esferogrfico,
appears to be much more common in Cundinamarca than in many other parts of the country
such as the Costa, Santander, and much of western interior Colombia (departments such as
el Valle, Quindo and Antioquia, and probably Caldas and Risaraldas, which are located in
between Quindo and Antioquia).
d) Plumero is, in all likelihood, a Costeismo (a usage typical of Colombias Atlantic
Coast region), but the question remains as to whether it is used throughout the Costa or only
in certain departments. Is plumero also common in the western Costa, in departments such
as Crdoba, Sucre, and the Caribbean parts of Antioquia and el Choc along the Golfo de
Urab? (Some Colombians this author spoke to do not even consider the Caribbean parts of
Antioquia and el Choc to be part of La Costa: well, geographically perhaps, but
culturally, no.) What about in the extreme eastern end of the Costa, in the Guajira, or moving
inland into el Cesar?
e) Brand names such as bic, kilomtrico and papermate are probably not regionally
weighted within Colombia but are (or were) occasionally used throughout the country as
generic terms.
f) The issue of how frequently and where esfergrafo (ballpoint pen) is used in
Colombia clearly requires further research. Haensch and Werner claimed in 1993 that
esfergrafo was used in several interior departments, including Cundinamarca, but no
evidence of its use was encountered among the 25 Bogotanos in the Lxico del habla culta
de Santaf de Bogot study of 1997 or among any of the respondents in the present one.
g) Usage in many departments remains to be determined. In addition to the areas
mentioned previously, no data were collected in this study from Tolima, Huila, Norte de
Santander, Cauca, Nario, Los Llanos, San Andrs y Providencia, and the Colombian
Amazon, though usage in Leticia and other recently settled areas is probably a mixture of
different varieties of Colombian Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Indigenous terms.
h) Based on the evidence examined, we can propose the following tentative
Colombian ballpoint-pen bottom line: esfero (mostly Bogot and surrounding areas),
plumero (Costa), lapicero (most of the rest of the country), and bolgrafo (Pan-Colombian
usage, not regionally weighted).
We began this subsection by asking a key question in the field of Colombian
Spanish lexical dialectology regarding how the terms for ballpoint pen are regionally
distributed, and so we shall end it with a few more that are of a speculative nature: Will
esfero, lapicero, and plumero all continue to coexist in Colombia, each within its own sphere
of influence (like soda, pop and other regionally weighted names for soft drink do in
the United States), or will one of the regional terms for ballpoint pen eventually squeeze out
the others and gain the upper hand throughout Colombia? Or will all regional words
36
eventually fall prey to bolgrafo given that Colombia presents a fractured rather than a united
national front and the fact that bolgrafo is already a serious competitor? Regional words for
ballpoint pen have thus far proven to be quite resilient and resistant to the unifying forces
of commercialization and globalization, even in cases such as Colombia, Ecuador and
possibly Bolivia that present a regionally divided rather than a united front. If the term
lapicero survives and continues to thrive in Colombia, will one of its two commonly used
senses, ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil (see section A9), smother the other, or can this
polysemy within the same country and within the same domain of office supplies remain
stable? To the extent both esfero and lapicero (ballpoint pen) continue to coexist and
compete in Colombia, how are the two viewed by Colombians from different regions who
are familiar with both usages? Which is considered ms fino or higher-class and by whom?
Ecuador: In earlier unpublished surveys of Ecuadoran usage I conducted between 1990 and 1992,
Costeos (Ecuadorans from the Costa or Coastal Region) offered me the term pluma almost
exclusively, and Serranos (Ecuadorans from the Sierra or Highlands) gave esfero and, less
often, esferogrfico. However, this distinction between Costeo usage (pluma) and Serrano
usage (esfero) may no longer be as true as it once was: In the current study, conducted in
2005-2006, quite a few educated Costeos offered esfero and/or esferogrfico, sometimes
in addition to pluma, and sometimes alone, that is, with no mention of pluma. It is therefore
possible that today, in the year 2006, educated Guayaquileos and other Costeos use esfero
and esferogrfico much more so than they did in 1990 and earlier. Quiteos and other
Serranos, on the other hand, do not appear to have acquired Costeo usage and have
remained steadfast in their use of and preference for esfero.
9
Bolivia: There is limited evidence from this study to indicate that puntabola may be used more in
La Paz, lapicero more in Cochabamba, and mango perhaps more in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Such evidence, however, is sketchy since most respondents were Paceos, and only a
handful were Cochabambinos or Cruceos. Mango and tinta seca, offered by only a few
informants, may be shortened forms of mango de tinta seca, a term one person indicated
used to be somewhat common in Bolivia.
Argentina & Uruguay: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina defines lapicera as Se usa para
referirse genricamente a instrumentos para escribir con tinta, especialmente bolgrafos y
lapiceras fuente (Haensch and Werner 2000a). Some Argentines and Uruguayans indicated
that a birome connotes an inexpensive ballpoint pen such as a Bic, whereas a lapicera refers
more to a fancier one. See General above.
Spelling & Variants: Lpiz de tinta (Honduras) and lpiz de pasta (Chile) are often shortened to
lpiz tinta and lpiz pasta, respectively, in a process I call de-dropping. See Spelling &
Variants in section A7.3, and Related concept, binder clip in section B6.3 below for other
possible examples of this phenomenon.
Related concept, the pens cap: The terms referring to the caps used to cover ballpoint pens (or
fountain pens) were not researched in this study in any systematic way. However, tapa
appears to be the most frequently used word in everyday language in most countries,
whereas capuchn appears to be more common in some countries such as Argentina and
Spain. Is tapa the General Spanish term, and where is capuchn commonly used in this
sense? In which countries, if any, is there diglossia such as capuchn (high-register term)
vs. tapa (common term)?
37
A6.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: birome (A), boli (C), bolgrafo (A), esfero (F), esferogrfico (A), felpa (D),
lapicera (B), lapicero (B), pluma (D), pluma atmica (A), puntabola (F). GPA = B!
DRAE definitions: bolgrafo, (De bola y -grafo). Instrumento para escribir que tiene en su
interior un tubo de tinta especial y, en la punta, una bolita metlica que gira libremente; birome,
(Acrn. de L. Bir, 1899-1985, inventor hngaro-argentino, y J . J . Meyne, industrial hngaro y
socio del anterior; marca reg.). f. Arg., Par. y Ur. bolgrafo; boli, (Acort.). coloq. bolgrafo;
esferogrfica, Col. y Ecuad. bolgrafo; esferogrfico, Col. y Ecuad. bolgrafo; lapicera, (De
lapicero). 3. Ur. bolgrafo; lapicero, 3. C. Rica, Guat. y Hond. bolgrafo; pluma atmica, Mx.
bolgrafo.
Questions/Comments: With regard to this item, the DRAE depicts Peninsular Spanish usage
accurately and Rioplatense Spanish usage fairly accurately, but its coverage of the rest of the
Spanish-speaking world is spotty. The most glaring deficiency is the DRAEs failure to include a
sense of pluma that reads Cuba, Ecuad. Hond., Mx., Pan., P. Rico y Ven. bolgrafo. Also, the
regional specifications of lapiceros definition need to be considerably expanded so that they include
El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and perhaps Cuba and
Venezuela, in addition to Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras, countries that the DRAE does list.
The DRAE also indicates that esferogrfica (ballpoint pen) is used in Colombia (and Ecuador), but
no evidence of its use in Colombia is found in the Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos (Haensch
and Werner 1993a), the Lxico del habla culta de Santaf de Bogot study (Otlora de Fernndez)
or the present study. Do the DRAE authors know something in this regard that we dont, or are they
just blowin smoke?
A7 PEN B - FOUNTAIN PEN
A7.1 Summary
Pluma fuente and/or pluma are the most frequently used terms in most countries and can be
considered the General Spanish terms, though the former is clearly more precise than the latter.
Lapicera, with the modifier fuente or standing alone, is used in the Southern Cone. In Spain,
Honduras, Cuba and Colombia more regionally marked terms are common.
A7.2 Terms by Country (c. 10 terms plus variants)
SPAIN pluma (16/20), (pluma) estilogrfica (12/20), estilgrafo (1/20).
MEXICO pluma fuente (43/56), bolgrafo (4/56), pluma (3/56), pluma de tinta china (3/56), pluma
estilogrfica (2/56), estilogrfica (1/56), pluma de fuente (1/56), pluma de tinta (1/56), pluma
de tintero (1/56).
GUATEMALA pluma (8/12), pluma fuente (4/12).
EL SALVADOR pluma (13/16), pluma fuente (3/16), pluma de fuente (1/16).
HONDURAS canutero (6/12), pluma fuente (3/12), pluma (2/12), chingrafo (1/12), plumero (1/12).
NICARAGUA pluma (11/12), pluma fuente (3/12).
COSTA RICA pluma (11/15), pluma fuente (3/15), pluma de fuente (2/15), plumilla (1/15).
PANAMA pluma fuente (5/10), pluma de tinta (mojada) (3/10), pluma (2/10), estilogrfica
(1/10).
38
CUBA pluma de fuente (12/16), pluma (5/16), estilogrfica (1/16), estilgrafo (1/16).
DOMIN. REP. pluma (10/10), pluma fuente (1/10).
PUERTO RICO pluma fuente (8/17), pluma (5/17), pluma de caligrafa (3/17), estilogrfica (1/17),
pluma de fuente (1/17), pluma de tinta (1/17), pluma de tintero (1/17).
VENEZUELA pluma fuente (13/22), pluma (12/22), pluma de fuente (1/22), pluma de tinta (1/22).
COLOMBIA estilgrafo (18/18), pluma (6/18), pluma (de) fuente (2/18), estilogrfico (1/18).
ECUADOR pluma fuente (5/14), pluma (4/14), canutero (2/14), estilgrafo (2/14), pluma de tinta
(1/14), plumero (1/14).
PERU pluma (7/17), lapicero de tinta lquida (3/17), lapicero de tinta (china) (2/17), pluma de tinta
china (2/17), pluma fuente (2/17), lapicero de pluma (1/17), pluma de tinta lquida (1/17).
BOLIVIA pluma fuente (9/15), pluma (7/15), pluma de escribir (2/15), estilete (1/15).
PARAGUAY lapicera (6/12), pluma (5/12), pluma fuente (3/12), lapicera (a) fuente (2/12),
lapicero (2/12), lapicera pluma (1/12), pluma a fuente (1/12).
URUGUAY pluma fuente (7/10), lapicera fuente (5/10), pluma (3/10), lapicera (2/10),
lapicera de pluma (1/10), lapicera de tinta (1/10).
ARGENTINA lapicera fuente (9/22), lapicera (6/22), pluma (5/22), estilogrfica (4/22), pluma
fuente (4/22), lapicera de tinta (2/22), lapicera a pluma (1/22), pluma de tinta (1/22).
CHILE pluma (7/15), lapicera fuente (5/15), lapicera (3/15), lapicera a tinta (1/15), lapicera
pluma (1/15).
A7.3 Details
General: Today, in the early 21st century, fountain pens are much less common than they were in
the first half of the 20th, and they are also considerably more expensive than ballpoint pens.
As a result, many of the younger and/or less educated respondents in this study were unable
to name the fountain pen, or they offered the same term for the fountain pen that they had
previously given for the ballpoint pen. When this happened, the answer given for the former
was discarded and was not counted as part of the data that appear in section A7.2 above.
Given that the fountain pen itself is somewhat of a status and/or identity symbol (unlike any
of the other items discussed in this article), it seems likely that most Spanish speakers who
regularly use fountain pens instead of ballpoint pens are familiar with what is arguably the
high-prestige term for the former, (pluma) estilogrfica, but the extent to which this is really
true needs to be researched. See Questions/Comments in section A7.4 below.
Cuba: The Diccionario del espaol de Cuba indicates that pluma fuente and pluma de fuente are
variants (Haensch and Werner 2000b), but in this study only the form with the de was
offered by Cuban respondents. See Spelling & Variants below.
Colombia: The Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos confirms that estilgrafo is used throughout
the country and states that plumero (fountain pen) is used in the Atlantic Coast region
(Haensch and Werner 1993a). However, the small amount of data collected from Costeos
in the present study indicates that plumero refers to a ballpoint pen in the Costa (see
Colombia in section A6.3 above).
Spelling & Variants: Some respondents in this study, including educated ones, spelled pluma fuente
as a single word, plumafuente. To determine the extent to which this term is generally
considered a single unit, a compound term consisting of a noun modified by an adjective, or
a principal noun used with an appositive noun, it would be worthwhile to investigate which
plural form is most common in both speech and writing, something respondents were not
asked about in this study.
10
Pluma fuente and pluma de fuente can also be considered variants
39
of each other, and it is interesting to note that the former was given much more often than
the latter in all countries in which one or both of these terms were offered, with one glaring
exception, Cuba. This poses the following questions: Were the two variants, pluma fuente
and pluma de fuente, coined at more or less the same time, both being calques of fountain
pen and both deriving independently from English, or is pluma de fuente the older of the
two terms, and does pluma fuente derive from pluma de fuente by a process of de-
dropping? (See Spelling & Variants in section A6.3 above, and Related concept, binder
clip in section B6.3 below for other possible examples of this phenomenon.) If so, is the
prevailing usage in Cuba (pluma de fuente) an archaism that has survived in Cuba but is
dying out in most of the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, and can this be explained by
Cubas economic, cultural and linguistic isolation? Regardless of the origin of the difference
between Cubas current usage and that of countries where pluma fuente is predominant, will
Cuba eventually drop the de from its pluma de fuente and bring its usage in line with that of
most other countries, or will the Cubans stand firm in their use of pluma de fuente as well
as in their political and economic system? Further research needs to be done to try to resolve
the linguistic issues. See Presilla in section B6.3 below for information on another case in
which Cuban usage stands out from the rest.
A7.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: canutero (D), estilogrfica (C), estilgrafo (A or B?), lapicera (B), lapicera
de tinta (F), lapicera fuente (F), lapicero de tinta lquida (F), pluma de fuente (F), pluma de tinta
(F), pluma de tinta china (F), pluma de tinta mojada (F), pluma estilogrfica (C?), pluma fuente (A).
GPA = D+
DRAE definitions: pluma estilogrfica, pluma de escribir que lleva incorporado un depsito
recargable o un cartucho para la tinta; estilogrfica, 2. pluma estilogrfica; estilgrafo, Bol.,
Col. y Ecuad. pluma estilogrfica; lapicera, (De lapicero). 2. Arg. y Ur. pluma estilogrfica;
pluma fuente, Am. pluma estilogrfica.
Questions/Comments: An argument can be made that pluma fuente should be the lead term
to which all other more regional synonyms would be cross-referenced since pluma fuente appears
to be the most international and least regionally marked term.
11
Regardless of which term is selected
as the lead, pluma de fuente and lapicera fuente should be cross-referenced to it and given the
regional specification labels of Cuba and Arg., Chile, Par. y Ur., respectively. With regard to
terms such as lapicera de tinta, lapicero de tinta lquida and pluma de tinta mojada, etc. it remains
to be seen how often these are used in the sense of fountain pen, but regardless of their frequency
of use, an argument can be made that they should not be defined in dictionaries on the grounds that
they are imprecise: Ballpoint pens and other types of pens also have ink in them and, in order to
function, all inks must be wet at the time one puts pen to paper, though the ink used with fountain
pens and rollerball pens is generally more liquid, wetter, than that used with ballpoint pens. Should
the question of whether to include these terms in a dictionary be made on the basis of their frequency
of use or the accuracy of their coinage? This boils down to a more general philosophical question:
To what extent should a dictionary be prescriptive or descriptive?
40
A8 PENCIL A - REGULAR PENCIL
A8.1 Summary
Lpiz is the General Spanish term. Regionally marked usages are common in Spain, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Chile.
A8.2 Terms by Country (5 terms plus variants)
SPAIN lpiz (18/20), lapicero (6/20).
MEXICO lpiz (58/58).
GUATEMALA lpiz (13/13).
EL SALVADOR lpiz (16/16), lpiz de grafito (1/16).
HONDURAS lpiz (de) carbn (11/22), lpiz (9/22), lpiz (de) grafito (5/22).
NICARAGUA lpiz (9/14), lpiz (de) grafito (6/14), lpiz de carbn (1/14).
COSTA RICA lpiz (11/11).
PANAMA lpiz (12/12).
CUBA lpiz (17/17).
DOMIN. REP. lpiz (13/13).
PUERTO RICO lpiz (17/17).
VENEZUELA lpiz (23/23), lapicero (1/23).
COLOMBIA lpiz (17/17).
ECUADOR lpiz (14/14).
PERU lpiz (16/16).
BOLIVIA lpiz (16/16).
PARAGUAY lpiz (10/10).
URUGUAY lpiz (10/10).
ARGENTINA lpiz (21/21).
CHILE lpiz (7/15), lpiz grafito (4/15), lpiz (a) mina (3/15), lpiz de mina (3/15).
A8.3 Details
General: The word lpiz by itself has several meanings throughout the Spanish-speaking world,
where it could conceivably refer to a lpiz de labios (lipstick), a lpiz de ojos (eyebrow
pencil) and other types of lpices that are not standard lead pencils, but in most countries
context generally makes the meaning clear. In Honduras and Chile, however, the term lpiz
is quite ambiguous as it can refer to two different objects within the school- and office-
supply domain. See Honduras and Chile below.
Spain: How common is lapicero (pencil) in Spain? Sense 2 of the DRAEs definition of lapicero
indicates that it is simply a synonym of lpiz (see section A8.4 below), but how do Spaniards
tend to view this usage, i.e., neutro, raro, rebuscado? How, if at all, is its use distributed or
marked in Spain, that is, socially, regionally, by age, etc.?
Honduras: Lpiz refers to a pencil when modified by (de) carbn or (de) grafito, and to a ballpoint
pen when modified by (de) tinta (see section A6). Therefore, if you go to Honduras and ask
someone Me puede(s) prestar un lpiz?, you may get a ballpoint pen, or a pencil, or you
may be asked, De qu tipo lo quiere(s)? de carbn o de tinta?
41
Chile: Lpiz by itself has about the same level of ambiguity in Chile as it has in Honduras, and the
clarifying modifiers added to it in Chile are grafito, de mina or a mina; the latter two often
get reduced to just mina. In other words, if you ask a Chilean for a lpiz, he or she may
respond impatiently lpiz mina o lpiz pasta?
A8.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: lapicero (C), lpiz (A), lpiz carbn (F), lpiz de carbn (F), lpiz grafito (F),
lpiz de grafito (F), lpiz mina (F), lpiz a mina (F), lpiz de mina (F). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: lpiz, (Del lat. lapis, piedra). 2. Barra de grafito encerrada en un cilindro
o prisma de madera, que sirve para escribir o dibujar; lapicero, 2. lpiz (|| barra de grafito).
Comments: The DRAEs coverage is limited to General Spanish usage, lpiz, and Spains
own regional usage, lapicero. It needs to address the regional usages of Honduras, Nicaragua and
Chile. The DRAEs definition of lpiz could also stand for some slight modernizing since the
cilindro o prisma in which the lead of many pencils is now encased is not made of pure wood but
of a recycled and partially synthetic material.
A9 PENCIL B - MECHANICAL PENCIL, AUTOMATIC PENCIL or SELF-
SHARPENING PENCIL
A9.1 Summary
Portamina(s) is commonly used in about half the Spanish-speaking world and can perhaps be
considered the General Spanish term. Lpiz de mina(s), lpiz mecnico, lapicero and lapicera are
also used in a number of countries.
A9.2 Terms by Country (c. 15 terms plus variants)
SPAIN portaminas (15/20), lapicera (3/20), lpiz automtico (2/20).
MEXICO lapicero (55/57), portaminas (3/57), lpiz de puntilla (1/57), lpiz mecnico (1/57).
GUATEMALA portamina(s) (10/12), lpiz de mina (1/12), lpiz portaminas (1/12).
EL SALVADOR portamina(s) (5/14), lpiz de mina(s) (4/14), lpiz mecnico (2/14), lpiz con filmina
(1/14), portalpiz (1/14), puntamina (1/14).
HONDURAS portamina(s) (7/9), lpiz (de) grafito (2/9).
NICARAGUA lpiz de ceba (3/8), lpiz de mina (3/8), lpiz mecnico (3/8).
COSTA RICA lpiz de mina(s) (7/13), portaminas (4/13), cargaminas (1/13), lapicero (1/13), lpiz
con minas (1/13), lpiz mecnico (1/13).
PANAMA lpiz mecnico (7/9), lapicero (1/9), lpiz de mina (1/9).
CUBA lapicero (11/16), portamina(s) (5/16).
DOMIN. REP. portaminas (4/8), lpiz de punta (3/8), lpiz de mina (1/8).
PUERTO RICO lpiz mecnico (10/13), lapicero (2/13), lpiz automtico (1/13).
VENEZUELA portamina(s) (21/22), lapicero (1/22).
COLOMBIA portaminas (13/20), lapicero (8/20), lpiz mecnico (2/20).
ECUADOR lapicero (9/12), lpiz de mina(s) (2/12), portaminas (2/12), lapicero de mina (1/12).
PERU portamina(s) (11/16), lapicero de minas (1/16), lpiz de mina (1/16), lpiz mecnico (1/16).
42
BOLIVIA portamina(s) (4/16), lapicera (3/16), lapicero (3/16), lpiz con mina (2/16), lpiz de mina
(2/16), micropunta(s) (2/16), lapicera micropunta (1/16), lpiz mecnico (1/16), lpiz portamina
(1/16).
PARAGUAY portamina(s) (6/9), lpiz mecnico (2/9), lpiz a mina (1/9).
URUGUAY lpiz mecnico (7/9), lpiz de mina (1/9), portaminas (1/9).
ARGENTINA portamina(s) (9/19), lpiz mecnico (8/19), lpiz a mina (1/19), lpiz automtico
(1/19).
CHILE portamina(s) (9/15), lpiz (a) mina (3/15), lpiz mecnico (2/15), lpiz de mina (1/15).
A9.3 Details
General: Given that portaminas, lpiz de mina(s) and lpiz mecnico appear to be used in much of
the Spanish-speaking world (though not with equal frequency), perhaps all three can be
considered General Spanish terms for mechanical pencil. The use of lapicero (mechanical
pencil), in contrast, is more regional since in some countries this term generally refers to
a ballpoint pen, and in others to a pencil or pencil holder. (See the DRAEs definitions of
lapicero in sections A6.4 and A8.4 above, and A9.4 below.) In this study, many respondents
were unable to name the mechanical pencil, or offered the same term for this item that they
had previously given for the regular pencil (typically lpiz). When this occurred, the answers
for the mechanical pencil were discarded and are not included in the data presented in
section A9.2 above. Are there Spanish-speaking specialists who distinguish between a
portaminas, a lpiz mecnico, and/or other terms, that is, in technical usage do the base
terms refer to different types of mechanical pencils?
Venezuela: In this study, 21 out of 22 Venezuelan respondents, mostly Caraqueos, indicated
portaminas, and only 1 out of 22 gave lapicero. However, the Lxico del habla culta de
Caracas study, published in 1998, suggests that lapicero is the dominant usage in this city
since 10 out of 12 educated Caraqueos offered it, whereas portaminas was given by only
1 out of 12 (Sedano: 428). What factors can explain this significant difference in results in
two studies that were conducted only eight years apart? What do Caraqueos and other
Venezuelans today generally call a mechanical pencil? A lapicero, a portaminas, or are both
terms used with about equal frequency?
Colombia: In this study, most but not all of the Colombians who offered lapicero (mechanical
pencil) were from Cundinamarca. For information on the use of lapicero in the sense of
ballpoint pen, see section A6 above.
Argentina: In the Lxico del habla culta de Buenos Aires study, published in 1998, all 6 respondents
who answered the question offered lpiz automtico, and in the Lxico del habla culta de
Crdoba, Argentina study, published in 2000, portaminas was given by 7, lpiz automtico
by 4, and lpiz de mina by 2 (Academia Argentina de Letras: 325; Toniolo: 537). In contrast,
the Argentines in the present study were almost equally divided between portamina(s) and
lpiz mecnico, and only one born in 1937 offered lpiz automtico. Do Argentines who are
familiar with mechanical pencils generally prefer one term over the other, or is there serious
competition in Argentina among portamina(s), lpiz mecnico and/or lpiz automtico? Is
lpiz automtico used more by older Argentines?
Chile: In the Lxico del habla culta de Santiago de Chile study, published in 1987, 11 out of 12
educated Santiaguinos indicated lpiz automtico for a mechanical pencil (Rabanales: 528),
whereas in this study portaminas was given by a majority of Chilean respondents. Which
term is more prevalent?
43
Spelling & Variants: This studys respondents often spelled and/or pronounced portaminas as porta
minas, porta mina, porta-mina, porta-minas or portamina. Similarly, lpiz de minas was
frequently offered in the variant form of lpiz de mina. In section A9.2 above, portamina(s)
and lpiz de mina(s) are umbrella terms used to represent all of the respective variants.
A9.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: lapicera (D), lapicero (B), lpiz a mina (F), lpiz automtico (F), lpiz de
ceba (F), lpiz de mina (F), lpiz de punta (F), lpiz mecnico (F), portaminas (A). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: portaminas, Instrumento de metal, madera o plstico, que contiene minas
de recambio y se utiliza como lpiz; lapicero, 4. Mx. portaminas.
Questions/Comments: Lpiz mecnico (mechanical pencil) is quite common in Panama,
Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Argentina and should be defined in the DRAE in this sense with
appropriate regional specifications if this usage is found to be regional and without any if it is found
to be General Spanish. Does the DRAE not define lpiz mecnico because its editors are simply
unaware of its existence, or do they consider its meaning to be too easily deduced from its
component parts to warrant an explanation? Or have they suppressed lpiz mecnico because they
consider it a calque of English mechanical pencil, that is, due to a mortal fear of Anglicisms?
Whether or not lpiz mecnico actually derives from mechanical pencil is debatable as the former
could just as easily have been coined independently within the normal processes of term formation
in Spanish. Lpiz de mina(s) (mechanical pencil) is also common in a number of countries and
perhaps should be defined as well, but DRAE editors may be unaware of the terms existence or may
object to it on the grounds that it lacks specificity insofar as all pencils used for writing (not only
mechanical pencils) have a mina (lead). Finally, the regional specifications of lapicero
(mechanical pencil) need to be expanded to include, at a minimum, Cuba, Colombia and Ecuador,
in addition to Mexico, which the DRAE does list.
A10 PENCIL ERASER and/or PEN ERASER
A10.1 Summary
Borrador is dominant in about twice as many countries (13) as goma (de borrar) (6), and the former
perhaps should be viewed as the General Spanish term. On the other hand, both terms are probably
used to some extent throughout the Spanish-speaking world and can also be considered co-General
Spanish terms. In most countries there are clear preferences for one or the other term. Borra is used
in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, especially in informal language, and Bolivia
has a unique usage, jebe, albeit one that appears to be less common there than the General Spanish
terms.
A10.2 Terms by Country (4 terms plus variants)
SPAIN goma (de borrar) (19/20), borrador (2/20).
MEXICO borrador (55/58), goma (de borrar) (25/58).
GUATEMALA borrador (14/14).
EL SALVADOR borrador (14/14).
HONDURAS borrador (15/15), goma de borrar (1/15).
44
NICARAGUA borrador (14/14), goma (1/14).
COSTA RICA borrador (14/15), goma (1/15).
PANAMA borrador (14/14).
CUBA goma (de borrar) (16/17), borrador (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. borrador (10/14), borra (7/14), goma (de borrar) (4/14).
PUERTO RICO goma (de borrar) (13/16), borra (6/16), borrador (4/16).
VENEZUELA borrador (18/24), borra (11/24), goma (de borrar) (9/24).
COLOMBIA borrador (17/17).
ECUADOR borrador (14/14), goma para borrar (2/14).
PERU borrador (16/16).
BOLIVIA borrador (14/20), goma (de borrar) (11/20), jebe (6/20).
PARAGUAY borrador (10/12), goma (de borrar) (5/12).
URUGUAY goma (de borrar) (10/10).
ARGENTINA goma (de borrar) (22/22).
CHILE goma (de borrar) (14/15), borrador (2/15).
A10.3 Details
General: Goma de borrar is often shortened to goma, and borrador can be expanded to borrador
de goma, borrador de caucho, borrador de hule, borrador de lpiz, etc., depending on
whether the speaker or writer is favoring precision or efficiency; caucho and hule (rubber)
are themselves somewhat regionally weighted terms, the former being more common in parts
of South America and the latter in Mexico and most of Central America. A less common
variant of goma de borrar is goma para borrar, and one can also specify goma de lpiz,
goma de tinta, etc.
Borrador vs. goma de borrar: Goma (de borrar) is more common than borrador in Spain, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, that is, in 6 countries. Borrador is more
common than goma (de borrar) in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, the
Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Paraguay, that is, in 13 countries, but in Mexico, the
Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Paraguay goma (de borrar) competes with borrador,
though not very successfully. The only country from which respondents in this study were
almost evenly divided between the two terms was Bolivia, and more research is needed to
determine whether Bolivians are in fact split down the middle between borrador and goma
(de borrar), with many Bolivians using and accepting both terms (as was revealed in this
study), or whether preferences exist within the population as a whole or among specific
sectors of society such as educated vs. uneducated, etc. Despite borradors overall
dominance when viewing the Spanish-speaking world as a whole, goma de borrar may enjoy
a higher level of prestige or acceptability than borrador due to the following factors:
a) Goma de borrar sounds more specific, that is, it is a less polysemous term than
borrador which can refer to a chalkboard eraser, a rough draft, a sketch, a scratch pad, a
daybook, etc.
b) Goma de borrar is the term used in Spain and perhaps enjoys what we might call
the madre patria mystique.
However, the first argument, that goma de borrar is more specific, immediately falls
by the wayside when it gets shortened to its habitual form goma, in which case goma
(rubber, gum, glue, rubber band, tire, hangover, condom, etc.) is arguably less
specific than borrador. More research needs to be done to determine whether or not it is true
45
that those who use borrador (pencil/pen eraser) tend to have a neutral attitude toward goma
de borrar, whereas those who use goma de borrar tend to have a negative attitude toward
borrador.
Borra: Borra (pencil/pen eraser) is common in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and
Venezuela. The term is defined by the Diccionario de venezolanismos, published in 1983,
as jerg[a] esc[olar] Goma para borrar (Tejera), which suggests that it pertains to a very low
register, but the Diccionario del habla actual de Venezuela, published in 1994, defines borra
in neutral terms as 2 Pieza de goma que se utiliza para borrar trazos hechos con lpiz sobre
papel (Nez). It often happens that words that start out as slang manage to gain
respectability as time goes on. However, based on comments made by this studys
Dominican, Puerto Rican and Venezuelan respondents, I would split the baby and describe
borra as colloquial usage. In other words, it is probably fair to say that in these Caribbean
countries borra (pencil/pen eraser) enjoys low prestige vis--vis both borrador and goma
(de borrar), but that borra is by no means limited to student slang.
Jebe: More research needs to be done to determine how common the use of jebe (pencil/pen
eraser) is in Bolivia, and whether or not this usage is regionally marked within this country.
The very limited data collected in this study suggest that it may be more common in
Cochabamba than in La Paz as most of those who offered it were Cochabambinos.
A10.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: borra (D), borrador (A), goma (A), goma de borrar (A), jebe (D). GPA = B
DRAE definitions: goma de borrar, La [goma] elstica preparada especialmente para borrar
lo escrito con lpiz o con tinta; borrador, 6. goma de borrar; goma, 3. goma de borrar.
Comments: As illustrated in section A10.2 above, there are clear regional preferences in the
use of borrador and goma (de borrar). However, because each term is used in over half the Spanish-
speaking world and is probably well-known among educated speakers throughout the Spanish-
speaking world, I agree with the DRAEs decision not to include regional specifications in the
definitions of either term. Selecting goma de borrar as the lead term (to which all others are cross-
referenced) also makes sense since it is the more specific term, whereas choosing borrador as the
lead term could be ambiguous. However, using borrador de goma as the cross-reference would work
just as well as goma de borrar except that it occupies more space as it has two more letters. The
definitions of borra and jebe need to be expanded so that they include a sense corresponding to
pencil/pen eraser; I would define borra as 10. coloq. P. Rico, R. Dom. y Ven. goma de borrar
and jebe as 3. Bol. goma de borrar.
A11 PENCIL SHARPENER
A11.1 Summary
Sacapuntas and its twin brother sacapunta are the General Spanish terms, but tajador and/or its
cousin tarjador are common in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru and Bolivia. Spain, Costa Rica and
Colombia have highly regional usages some of which appear to be regionally marked within the
respective country.
46
A11.2 Terms by Country (c. 7 terms plus variants)
SPAIN sacapuntas (20/20), afilalpices (3/20), afilapuntas (1/20), maquineta (1/20).
MEXICO sacapunta(s) (58/58).
GUATEMALA sacapunta(s) (14/14).
EL SALVADOR sacapunta(s) (14/14).
HONDURAS sacapunta(s) (15/15).
NICARAGUA tajador (10/15), tarjador (8/15), sacapunta (2/15).
COSTA RICA tajador (11/18), sacapuntas (6/18), maquinilla (5/18).
PANAMA sacapunta(s) (14/14).
CUBA sacapunta(s) (17/17).
DOMIN. REP. sacapunta(s) (17/17).
PUERTO RICO sacapunta(s) (17/17).
VENEZUELA sacapunta(s) (24/24), afilador (1/24).
COLOMBIA sacapunta(s) (16/17), tajalpiz (9/17).
ECUADOR sacapunta(s) (14/14).
PERU tajador (15/17), tarjador (3/17), sacapuntas (2/17).
BOLIVIA tajador (17/17), sacapuntas (1/17).
PARAGUAY sacapunta(s) (10/10).
URUGUAY sacapunta(s) (10/10).
ARGENTINA sacapunta(s) (21/21).
CHILE sacapunta(s) (15/15).
A11.3 Details
General: Respondents were asked to identify both a hand-held pencil sharpener like the one depicted
in figure A11 and a desk- or wall-mounted one with a crank like the one that appears in
figure A11', but they were not asked about electric pencil sharpeners. The data presented in
section A11.2 above are those obtained for the hand-held pencil sharpener, but see Related
concept, desk- or wall-mounted pencil sharpener below for information on the type with
a crank.
Spain: All Spaniards in this study gave sacapuntas and by all accounts this is the dominant term for
this item in Spain. In addition, the DRAE defines afilalpices in this sense with no regional
specification (see section A11.4 below), and the 3 respondents in this study who gave
afilalpices were from far-flung regions of the country, Galicia, Barcelona and Granada.
This suggests that afilalpices is, or at one time was, commonly used in many if not most
regions of Spain. However, there also appear to be several regional words for pencil
sharpener that are floating around in various parts of the country. For example, the DRAE
defines tajalpices in this sense as a regionalism of Asturias (see section A11.4 below), and
in the Lxico del habla culta de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria study, half of the respondents
indicated that afilador is the word they use for pencil sharpener (Samper Padilla: 480-481).
In the present study, two respondents from Barcelona offered maquineta and of these, one
said maquineta was the Cataln term and the other that it was the term she would use even
when speaking Spanish; a respondent from Len indicated afilapuntas. As it seems likely
that some of these madre patria regionalisms will soon die out, if you are a regionalism
enthusiast, you had better enjoy them while they last as their days may be numbered.
47
Colombia: Is tajalpiz regionally marked within Colombia, and if so, in what regions of the country
is this term commonly used? The evidence reviewed in this study suggests that tajalpiz is
regional. For example, the Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos indicates that tajalpiz is
used in the departments of Boyac and Cundinamarca (Haensch and Werner 1993a), and in
the Lxico del habla culta de Santaf de Bogot study, tajalpiz was given by 22 out of 25
educated Bogotanos (Otlora de Fernndez: 840). In the present study, tajalpiz was offered
by 6 respondents from the department of Cundinamarca (all of whom were Bogotanos), but
also by 2 from Santander and by 1 from el Choc; most of these persons also offered
sacapuntas or sacapunta. Other respondents from the departments of Santander (2),
Atlntico (1), Antioquia (2), el Valle (3) and Quindo (1) gave only sacapunta(s). However,
to the extent the standard of a countrys capital frequently gets adopted by people from the
provinces, it may be hard to pin down the use of tajalpiz as being limited to any specific
regions of Colombia, even if this term is shown to be used more often in Cundinamarca,
Boyac and other eastern interior departments than elsewhere. Can the use of tajalpiz in
Colombia or parts of Colombia be linked to a large number of immigrants from Asturias or
other regions of Spain where tajalpices is or was commonly used (see Spain above), or is
the use of tajalpiz in Colombia best attributed to a process of word formation within
Colombian Spanish that is independent of settlers origins or other outside influences?
Sacapuntas vs. sacapunta: Both the form with a word-final s (sacapuntas) and the one without it
(sacapunta) appear to be common in much of the Spanish-speaking world, though
sacapuntas is probably the higher-prestige variant in most countries. Sacapuntas is the only
form listed in many dictionaries, but the Diccionario del espaol de Cuba not only defines
sacapunta but also indicates it is the standard term in Cuba, the Cuban equivalent of
Peninsular Spanish sacapuntas (Haensch and Werner 2000b). In this study, sacapuntas was
often spelled and/or pronounced sacapunta, saca puntas and saca punta, as well as
occasional instances of zacapuntas and zacapunta, etc., by uneducated respondents. In
section A11.2 above, sacapunta(s) is an umbrella term used to represent all of these variants.
The actual ratios of sacapunta and other variants without a final s to all variants of the term
were as follows: Spain (0/20), Mexico (4/58), Guatemala (3/14), El Salvador (8/14),
Honduras (11/15), Nicaragua (2/2), Costa Rica (0/6), Panama (6/14), Cuba (6/17),
Dominican Republic (12/17), Puerto Rico (7/17), Venezuela (10/24), Colombia (2/17),
Ecuador (7/14), Peru (0/2), Bolivia (0/1), Paraguay (1/10), Uruguay (2/10), Argentina (1/21)
and Chile (5/15). This means that none of the 20 Spaniards queried offered sacapunta or
other variants without a final s, and all of them gave sacapuntas or other variants with a final
s, 4 out of 58 Mexicans indicated sacapunta, and so on for the respondents from other
countries. However, I would not attach too much weight to these ratios for several reasons:
a) As explained in this articles Introduction, respondents educational levels varied
considerably;
b) Responses were obtained by two different methods, orally and in writing; and,
c) I am neither a phonetician nor a phonologist (the lexicon is my shtick
12
), and it
is possible that some of the responses I recorded orally as sacapunta were in fact sacapuntas
with a heavily aspirated word-final /s/, that is, with a barely perceptible [h] that I failed to
perceive. In other words, even though the words were often pronounced in isolation or semi-
isolation, sometimes sacapuntas may have been pronounced with a word-final [h] that I
perceived as [i] and therefore wrote down sacapunta.
However, even with these caveats, sacapunta does appear to be much more common
in some countries than in others: Compare, for example, the ratios of sacapunta responses
48
to combined sacapunta and sacapuntas responses for Honduras (11/15) and the Dominican
Republic (12/17) to those of Spain (0/20) and Argentina (1/20). More research needs to be
done to determine how common the form sacapunta is in speech and in writing among
different layers of society in different regions and whether or not, or the extent to which,
sacapunta is more frequent in areas where word-final /s/ tends to be aspirated or deleted than
in ones where it is more often retained.
Tajador vs. tarjador: Tajador and/or tarjador were found to be used in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru
and Bolivia, and a number of respondents indicated that tajador is considered the prestige
form and tarjador is viewed as incorrecto or a barbarismo. Further studies need to be
done to determine where tarjador is used and its level of acceptance or stigma vis--vis
tajador. For example, the results of this study suggest that in Nicaragua tarjador may be
used by large numbers of educated speakers but that its use may be more stigmatized in Peru.
Related concept, desk- or wall-mounted pencil sharpener: Respondents generally offered the same
base term for the desk- or wall-mounted pencil sharpener as they had for the hand-held one,
sometimes adding a modifier such as de mesa, de escritorio, de manivela, de pared or
mecnico for purposes of differentiation. In the case of Costa Rica, many respondents stated
that a tajador or a maquinilla was the hand-held device and a sacapuntas the desk- or wall-
mounted one. A few from Nicaragua, Peru and Bolivia also made this distinction between
ta(r)jador (hand-held pencil sharpener) and sacapunta(s) (desk- or wall-mounted one), but
in these 3 countries those who used a different base term for each type were a small
minority; most Nicaraguans, Peruvians and Bolivians just said ta(r)jador for both types, or
ta(r)jador modified by de mesa, de escritorio, etc., for the larger one.
A11.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: afilalpices (C), maquinilla (A), sacapunta (F), sacapuntas (A), tajador (B),
tajalpiz (F), tarjador (D). GPA = C
DRAE definitions: sacapuntas, Instrumento para afilar los lpices; afilalpices,
sacapuntas; maquinilla, 2. C. Rica. sacapuntas; tajador, 5. C. Rica. sacapuntas; tajalpices,
Ast. sacapuntas.
Comments: The regional specifications in the DRAEs definition of tajador need to be
expanded to include Nicaragua, Peru and Bolivia, in addition to Costa Rica, which the DRAE does
mention. Tajalpiz also needs to be included as an entry and defined as Col. sacapuntas as well
as tarjador, perhaps with a definition of 2. pop. Nic. y Per. sacapuntas. If afilador is as common
in the Canary Islands as Samper Padillas study suggests (see Spain in section A11.3 above), then
this term should be defined (under afilador, ra) as 6. m. Can. sacapuntas.
B FASTENERS
B1 RUBBER BAND
B1.1 Summary
There is no General Spanish term. The words with the greatest following in terms of the number of
countries where they are frequently used are liga (commonly used in about 8 countries), goma
and/or gomita (6 countries), and hule (4 countries). Colombia and Chile have highly regional usages.
49
B1.2 Terms by Country (c. 10 terms plus variants)
SPAIN goma (17/20), goma elstica (6/20), banda elstica (2/20), gomilla (2/20).
MEXICO liga (58/58), banda de hule (3/58), banda (1/58), liga de hule (1/58).
GUATEMALA hule (13/14), amarrador (1/14), cinta de hule (1/14).
EL SALVADOR hule (15/16), banda (de hule) (2/16), liga (2/16), elstico (1/16).
HONDURAS hule (14/15), banda de hule (1/15).
NICARAGUA hule (14/14).
COSTA RICA liga (13/14), hule (2/14), liga de hule (1/14).
PANAMA liga (14/15), elstico (1/15).
CUBA liga (16/17), banda elstica (1/17), elstico (1/17), goma (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. gomita (13/16), goma (9/16), banda elstica (1/16), elstico (1/16), liga (1/16).
PUERTO RICO gomita (10/17), goma (8/17), gom(it)a elstica (2/17), liguilla (2/17), rubber band (2/17),
bandita de goma (1/17), caucho (1/17).
VENEZUELA liga (22/24), gom(it)a (2/24), banda de goma (1/24), elstica (1/24).
COLOMBIA caucho (11/17), cauchito (5/17), liga (4/17), banda de caucho (3/17), gom(it)a
(2/17), banda elstica (1/17), elstico (1/17).
ECUADOR liga (13/16), elstico (4/16), goma (1/16).
PERU liga (15/17), jebe (3/17), liga de jebe (2/17), banda (1/17), cinta elstica (1/17).
BOLIVIA liga (13/18), banda (elstica) (2/18), elstico (2/18), goma (1/18).
PARAGUAY gomita (6/12), goma (5/12), banda de goma (2/12), liga (2/12), caucho (1/12), elstico
(1/12), gomita elstica (1/12).
URUGUAY band(it)a elstica (7/10), gomita (6/10), bandita (1/10), elstico (1/10), goma (1/10).
ARGENTINA gomita (14/22), band(it)a elstica (12/22), bandita (1/22), cinta de goma (1/22),
goma (1/22), gomita elstica (1/22).
CHILE elstico (12/15), elstico de billete (4/15), goma (1/15).
B1.3 Details
General: Given the fractured nature of the international panorama with respect to this item, and the
fact that each of the big three usagesliga, gom(it)a and hulecan be easily objected to
because the terms have other meanings, it is possible that each will eventually fall prey to
more precise-sounding (if less colorful) terms such as banda de goma, banda elstica or
similar forms which are in fact used by some speakers and are probably preferable from a
marketing and corporate-model industry standpoint.
Spain: Goma is the dominant term in Spain but the 2 Spaniards who gave gomilla were both from
Andaluca.
Colombia: The Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos confirms that caucho and cauchito are the
general Colombian Spanish terms, i.e. that the diminutive does not necessarily refer to a
small rubber band. This source also indicates that resorte (rubber band) is used in Nario
(Haensch and Werner 1993a), a department in the extreme southwest part of the country
bordering Ecuador.
Argentina: In addition to General Argentine Spanish gomita, the Diccionario del espaol de
Argentina indicates that gomilla is used in northwest Argentina and elastiqun in the Cuyo
region (Haensch and Werner 2000a).
13
Diminutives: The standard diminutive forms bandita elstica, cauchito, gomita, hulito and liguita
appear to be used quite often by Spanish speakers who are not necessarily referring to a
50
small rubber band. In this study, liguita or hulito was offered by Mexicans, Central
Americans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Ecuadorans, Peruvians and Bolivians, but less frequently
than the base terms liga and hule, and in section B1.2 above the latter are umbrella terms that
represent both liga/liguita and hule/hulito, respectively. In contrast, in Argentina and
Uruguay, gomita is a diminutive form that has taken on its own separate meaning (it is a
lexicalized diminutive), and it is used much more often in the sense of rubber band than
the base form, goma. In other regions, such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and
Colombia, the diminutives and base forms
__
goma/gomita or caucho/cauchito
__
compete. In
general, much research remains to be done on the issue of when Spanish speakers from
different regions use diminutives for affective reasons, that is, for purposes other than to
refer to small versions of the base term. One common example of this is when making
requests, sometimes obsequiously, as in No tienes una liguita que me prestes? or Ay, no sea
malito, prsteme una liguita. In these cases, the requester uses the diminutive form of liga
(in addition to the phrases particular syntax, morphology and intonation, etc.) not to obtain
a small rubber band, but to try to soften and minimize the request and to curry favor with the
requestee.
B1.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: banda (D), banda de caucho (F), banda de goma (F), banda de hule (F),
banda elstica (F), caucho (D), cauchito (F), elstico (D?), goma (C), gomita (B), hule (D), jebe
(D), liga (D). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: goma, 2. Tira o banda elstica; elstico, 6. Cinta o cordn elstico;
gomita, Arg. y Ur. goma (|| tira o banda elstica).
Questions/Comments: The DRAEs definitions of goma and elstico are somewhat vague.
Compare how much more helpful and precise the American Heritage Dictionarys definition of
rubber band is to a dictionary user, whether a native or nonnative speaker of English, who did not
already know the meaning of the term: An elastic loop of natural or synthetic rubber used to hold
objects together. Also called regionally gum band (Pickett). The DRAE should define this object
as Banda elstica, de forma circular u ovalada, que se usa para sujetar objetos. Wouldnt this be
a lot clearer than Tira o banda elstica? Also, the DRAE tells us that a goma can be a tira
elstica and an elstico a cinta elstica, but because the two terms are not cross-referenced to
each other we are not told that they are (geo)synonyms. Yet from the data presented in section B1.2
above we know they are. With regard to coverage, the DRAE once again defines Peninsular Spanish
usage (goma) as if it were General Spanish usage and fails to address those found in large swaths
of the Spanish-speaking world, including Mexico, Central America, Cuba and all of South America
with the exception of the River Plate region. Even in the case of gomita, which the DRAE does
define, the regional specifications are far too restrictive as they fail to include the Dominican
Republic, Puerto Rico and Paraguay. Sera prematuro declarar acabada la poca de los lexcografos
que no se mueven de su despacho o biblioteca, pero si los autores del DRAE nunca han pisado una
escuela u oficina en un pas de habla hispana que no sea Espaa, lo cual parece ser el caso, ya es
hora de que lo hagan.
51
B2 STAPLE (noun)
B2.1 Summary
Grapa is the General Spanish term. Its variant, grampa, is commonly used in a half dozen or more
countries in popular speech and in several cases, it would appear, also in standard speech. Panama,
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile have highly regional usages.
B2.2 Terms by Country (c. 7 terms plus variants)
SPAIN grapa (20/20).
MEXICO grapa (58/58).
GUATEMALA grapa (12/14), grampa (3/14).
EL SALVADOR grapa (9/14), grampa (5/14).
HONDURAS grapa (12/18), grampa (5/18), clip/clic (2/18).
NICARAGUA grapa (14/14).
COSTA RICA grapa (13/14), grampa (6/14).
PANAMA clip/clic (7/13), grapa (7/13).
CUBA presilla (16/17), grapa (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. grapa (10/16), grampa (5/16), clip/clic (3/16).
PUERTO RICO grapa (10/16), clip/clic (9/16), staple (1/16).
VENEZUELA grapa (23/24), grampa (1/24).
COLOMBIA gancho (9/16), grapa (9/16), ganchito (1/16), presilla (1/16).
ECUADOR grapa (12/15), grampa (3/15).
PERU grapa (13/17), grampa (7/17).
BOLIVIA grampa (15/17), grapa (2/17).
PARAGUAY presilla (7/12), grampa (4/12), ganchito (1/12), grapa (1/12).
URUGUAY grampa (5/10), ganchito (4/10), grapa (2/10), gancho (1/10).
ARGENTINA ganchito (14/24), broche (12/24), gancho (6/24), grapa (2/24), grampa (1/24),
presilla (1/24).
CHILE corchete (15/15).
B2.3 Details
General: Respondents were asked to identify standard office staples used for fastening sheets of
paper together and these were shown next to a manual desk stapler. Research needs to be
done to determine whether some speakers use different base terms for other types of staples
such as industrial staples used in construction or medical staples used in surgery, but see
Agrafe and Presilla below for very limited information regarding possible ways some
Spanish speakers may differentiate. All of the sociolinguistic issues described in this section
surrounding the use of grampa and clip apply equally to the terms derived from them for
stapler and staple remover that are addressed below in sections B3 and B4, respectively.
Agrafe: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina states that in Argentina agrafe (staple) is a
synonym of General Argentine Spanish broche and gancho (Haensch and Werner 2000a),
and the Nuevo diccionario de uruguayismos indicates that agrafe was once used in this sense
in Uruguay but describes this usage as obsolete (Haensch and Werner 1993b). However,
none of the Argentine respondents in the present study offered agrafe in response to the
52
question on staples, and this usage appears to be obsolete in Argentina as well, if it was ever
common. The 1981 edition of the Pequeo Larousse Ilustrado dictionary defines agrafe as
Med. Galicismo por grapa with no regional specification.
Clip vs. clic: In Panama and Puerto Rico, clip is generally written with a p and pronounced clip in
more careful speech, but in normal speech it is more often pronounced as if it were written
clic or cli. Regardless of how it is pronounced or written, cli(p) or cli(c) is a somewhat
stigmatized usage in Panama and Puerto Rico and grapa is the high-prestige term.
Grapa vs. grampa: Grampa was offered by a nontrivial number of respondents from El Salvador,
Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, and
some respondents from almost all of these countries objected to the use of this term and
made statements such as la gente dice grampa, pero es incorrecto, lo correcto es grapa or
grampa es un barbarismo, etc. This same linguistic insecurity applies to the terms derived
from grampa such as engrampador(a) and sacagrampa(s), etc., that are addressed in sections
B3 and B4 below. We note, however, that the DRAE defines grampa as simply a synonym
of grapa (see section B2.4 below) with no indication such as familiar, colloquial,
substandard, etc. that its use is restricted to any particular style, register or group. More
research needs to be done to determine the level of acceptance or stigma grampa has in the
countries where it is used. Based on the responses and comments offered by this studys
respondents, it appears that grampa is stigmatized in Central America (grapa being the
prestige form), but may enjoy a relatively high level of acceptance in Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay
and Uruguay.
Presilla: Some Paraguayan respondents indicated they distinguish between a presilla (office staple)
and a grampa (industrial staple). In Cuba, presilla can also refer to a paper clip (see section
B6 below).
B2.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: broche (D), clip (D), corchete (D), ganchito (B), gancho (D), grampa (A or
C?), grapa (A), presilla (B). GPA = C+
DRAE definitions: grapa
1
, (Del cat. grapa, y este del franco *krppa, gancho). Pieza de
hierro u otro metal, cuyos dos extremos, doblados y aguzados, se clavan para unir o sujetar dos
tablas u otras cosas. || 2. Pieza metlica pequea que se usa para coser y sujetar papeles; ganchito,
2. Cuba y Ur. grapa (|| pieza metlica para sujetar papeles); grampa, grapa
1
; presilla, (Del
dim. de presa). 3. Cuba. grapa (|| pieza metlica pequea que se usa para sujetar papeles).
Questions/Comments: Once again the DRAE fails to address usage found in large tracts of
the Spanish-speaking world. In this case, its definitions do not accurately reflect or describe usage
in Panama, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile. The DRAE also claims that
ganchito is used in the sense of staple in Cuba, but no evidence of this was encountered in this study
(see section B2.2 above), nor is this usage listed in the Diccionario del espaol de Cuba (Haensch
and Werner 2000b). The DRAE should also make the glosses in the cross-references uniform; see
the definitions of ganchito and presilla above for inconsistencies in this regard. Should the DRAE
indicate that the use of grampa is restricted (perhaps in certain countries) by including in its
definition of this term a usage mark such as Pop. or a narrative explanation? See Grapa vs.
grampa in section B2.3 above.
53
B3 STAPLER
B3.1 Summary
Grapadora and/or engrapadora are commonly used in about 13 countries and can be considered co-
General Spanish terms. Variants of these such as engrampadora and engrapador are also frequent
in several countries. Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and
Chile have highly regional usages that in most cases involve terms that do not derive from grapa
or grampa.
B3.2 Terms by Country (c. 10 terms plus variants)
SPAIN grapadora (20/20).
MEXICO grapadora (38/58), engrapadora (27/58), engrapador (1/58).
GUATEMALA engrapadora (11/14), engrampadora (3/14), engrampador (1/14), grampadora (1/14).
EL SALVADOR engrapadora (10/21), engrampador (4/21), engrampadora (3/21), engrapador (3/21),
grampador (2/21), grapadora (1/21).
HONDURAS grapadora (12/20), engrapadora (3/20), engrampadora (2/20), grampador (2/20),
grampadora (2/20).
NICARAGUA engrapadora (14/14).
COSTA RICA engrapadora (12/15), engrampadora (6/15), grapadora (2/15).
PANAMA engrapadora (9/17), clipsadora/clicsadora (5/17), ponchadora (5/17),
grapadora (3/17), clipeadora (1/17).
CUBA presilladora (15/17), engrapadora (1/17), presillador (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. grapadora (10/16), grampadora (4/16), engrapadora (2/16), clipeadora (1/16),
engrampadora (1/16).
PUERTO RICO grapadora (15/17), clipeadora (8/17), engrapadora (1/17).
VENEZUELA engrapadora (20/23), grapadora (2/23), engrampador (1/23).
COLOMBIA cosedora (12/18), grapadora (8/18), engrapadora (3/18), engrampadora (1/18),
presilladora (1/18).
ECUADOR grapadora (8/18), engrampadora (7/18), engrapadora (4/18), engrapador (1/18).
PERU engrapador (13/17), engrampador (3/17), engrapadora (3/17), engrampadora (2/17).
BOLIVIA engrampadora (14/20), engrampador (5/20), engrapadora (2/20).
PARAGUAY presilladora (11/13), grampadora (2/13), engrampadora (1/13), abrochadora (1/13),
presillador (1/13).
URUGUAY engrampadora (7/10), engrapadora (2/10), abrochadora (1/10).
ARGENTINA abrochadora (20/22), abrochador (1/22), engrapadora (1/22).
CHILE corchetera (15/15).
B3.3 Details
General: The item shown to respondents was a manual desk stapler (see figure B3), not an electric
stapler or other non-office types such as an industrial staple gun, etc. To a large extent, the
regional distribution in Spanish of the words for stapler closely mirrors that of the words for
staple. For example, where speakers say broche, corchete or presilla for staple, they
predictably say abrochadora, corchetera or presilladora, respectively, for stapler. However,
to use a concept from mathematics, we can say that there is not a one-to-one and onto
54
dialectal mapping of the terms for the two items. First, because people from Spain,
Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia and coastal Ecuador who say
grapa or grampa for staple tend to say grapadora or grampadora for the stapler, whereas
people from most of Central America, Venezuela, Highland Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and
Uruguay, who also say grapa or grampa, tend to use engrapador(a) or engrampador(a).
Mexicans, also of the grapa persuasion, are pretty much split down the middle between
grapadora and engrapadora. And then there are the many Colombians and Argentines who
say gancho or ganchito for the staple and cosedora and abrochadora, respectively, for the
stapler.
Spain: All 20 respondents in this study offered grapadora as did the overwhelming majority of the
educated Madrileos, Granadinos and Gran Canarios queried in the corresponding Lxico
del habla culta studies (Torres Martnez: 589; Salvador: 750; and Samper Padilla: 481).
However, in two of these Lxico del habla culta studies, 1 out of 16 Madrileos and 1 out
of 12 Gran Canarios indicated cosedora. Thus it would appear that in 1981, when the Madrid
study was published, and in 1998, the year of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria study,
cosedora (stapler) was already a marginal usage at best in Madrid and in the Canary
Islands, respectively. If this usage is either dying out or dead throughout Spain, it would
make sense that it might have lasted a little longer in Spains periphery than in its capital.
The 22nd edition of the DRAE, published in 2001, makes no mention of cosedora (stapler).
Considering all of the above evidence in the aggregate, it seems likely that the use of
cosedora (stapler) in Spain, if not already kaput, will soon kick the bucket.
Colombia: In the Lxico del habla culta de Santaf de Bogot study, published in 1997, cosedora
was the overwhelming favorite among educated Bogotanos: 21 out of 25 said cosedora vs.
only 6 out of 25 who said grapadora. In this study, Colombians from different regions were
queried, though about half were from the capital or from surrounding areas in the department
of Cundinamarca; based on their responses (cosedora by 12 out of 18 and grapadora by 8
out of 18), it appears that cosedora and grapadora are the two dominant usages in Colombia
and that the former may be more common in Cundinamarca and perhaps neighboring
departments such as Boyac and the latter more frequent in much of the rest of the country.
Ecuador: The data from this study suggest that grapadora is more common in the Costa or coastal
region and engrampadora and engrapadora more frequent in the Sierra or Highlands. Is this
so?
Related concept, the verb to staple: The terms for stapler presented in section B3.2 above derive
from regionally weighted verbs for to staple, most of which in turn derive from a regional
noun for staple. In the following list of verbs, countries with a question mark next to them
indicate that in this study few respondents from that country offered the corresponding verb,
and more research needs to be done to determine how common these verbs are in the
countries in question: abrochar (Argentina, from broche), corchetear (Chile, from corchete),
coser (Colombia), clipear (Puerto Rico, from clip), clipsar/clicsar (Panama, from clip),
engrampar (Guatemala?, El Salvador?, Honduras?, Costa Rica, Ecuador?, Peru, Bolivia,
Uruguay, from grampa), engrapar (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras?, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia?, Uruguay?, from grapa),
grampar (Honduras?, Dominican Republic?, Paraguay?, from grampa), grapar (Spain,
Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, from grapa),
ponchar (Panama, from English punch), and presillar (Cuba, Paraguay, from presilla). It
should be noted that while most Spanish speakers use a word for stapler that derives from
the verb they use for to staple and which, in turn, derives from their word for the noun
55
staple (e.g. they say engrapadora, engrapar and grapa, or grapadora, grapar and grapa),
some speakers in this study mixed and matched or blended, that is, they offered
nonparallel combinations, saying grapadora was the stapler but indicating engrapar was the
verb, or saying that grapas were staples but engrampar was the verb, etc. More research
needs to be done to determine how prevalent this type of mixing and matching or
blending is among speakers from the different regions of the Spanish-speaking world.
B3.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: abrochadora (F), clipeadora (F), clipsadora (F), corchetera (F), cosedora (F)
engrampador (F), engrampadora (B), engrapador (F), engrapadora (A), grampador (F),
grampadora (F), grapadora (A), ponchadora (F), presilladora (B). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: engrapadora, Mquina que sirve para engrapar papeles; grapadora,
Utensilio que sirve para grapar; engrampadora, El Salv., Hond. y Ur. grapadora; presilladora,
Cuba. grapadora.
Comments: Engrapadora is defined differently from grapadora, neither is cross-referenced
to the other, and there is no statement in the definitions that the two terms are synonyms, which we
know to be the case. The DRAEs failure to inform us that engrapadora and grapadora are
synonyms could easily lead a dictionary user to believe that the two refer to distinct, though perhaps
related items. (Though it defines them similarly, the DRAE also does not cross-reference the verbs
engrapar, defined as Asegurar, enlazar o unir con grapas, and grapar, defined as Sujetar con
grapas.) In addition to the problems with the definitions of grapadora and engrapadora discussed
above, most of the regional terms for stapler are either not defined at all in the DRAE or are defined
with inaccurate regional specifications.
B4 STAPLE REMOVER
B4.1 Summary
Sacagrapa(s) is the dominant term in 10 countries, and is used to some extent in most of the rest.
It can therefore be considered the General Spanish term. People in Spain, Cuba, Bolivia, Paraguay,
Uruguay, Argentina and Chile tend to use terms that are more regional in nature.
B4.2 Terms by Country (c. 40 terms plus variants)
SPAIN quitagrapas (13/20), desgrapadora (2/20), sacagrapas (2/20), cerdito (1/20), escarabajo
(1/20), extraegrapas (1/20), pinza para desgrapar (1/20).
MEXICO sacagrapa(s) (29/57), quitagrapa(s) (12/57), ua(s) (8/57), desgrapador (6/57),
desgrapadora (6/57), desengrapadora (3/57), desengrapador (1/57), perro (1/57), vampirito
(1/57).
GUATEMALA sacagrapa(s) (10/13), desengrampador (1/13), desgrapador (1/13), quitagrapas (1/13).
EL SALVADOR sacagrapa(s) (7/14), desengrampador (3/14), quitagrapa(s) (3/14), uas (2/14),
desengrampadora (1/14), sacador de grapas (1/14).
HONDURAS sacagrapa(s) (10/15), ua(s) (5/15), desgrampadora (1/15), desengrampadora (1/15),
quitagrapa (1/15), sacagrampa (1/15).
NICARAGUA sacagrapa(s) (10/14), desengrapadora (2/14), desengrapador (1/14), quitagrapa (1/14).
56
COSTA RICA sacagrapa(s) (11/14), ua(s) (6/14), sacagrampas (2/14).
PANAMA sacaclip/sacaclic (5/14), sacagrapa(s) (4/14), uas (4/14), desengrapador (1/14),
uero (1/14).
CUBA sacapresilla(s) (10/15), quitapresilla (4/15), desengrapadora (1/15).
DOMIN. REP. sacagrapa(s) (8/11), desclipeador (1/11), quitagrapas (1/11), sacador de grampas (1/11).
PUERTO RICO ua(s) (6/12), sacagrapa(s) (4/12), sacaclips (2/12), desgrapadora (1/12), removedor
de clips (1/12), removedor de grapas (1/12).
VENEZUELA sacagrapa(s) (23/24), removedor de grampas (1/24).
COLOMBIA sacaganchos (6/16), sacagrapas (6/16), quitagrapas (3/16), quitaganch(it)os (2/16),
descosedora (1/16), removedor de presillas (1/16), uas (1/16).
ECUADOR sacagrapa(s) (12/15), sacagrampas (3/15).
PERU sacagrapa(s) (10/16), sacagrampas (4/16), desengrampador (2/16), desengrapador
(1/16), quitagrampas (1/16), removedor de grampas (1/16).
BOLIVIA sacagrampa(s) (10/17), desengrampador (2/17), quitagrampa(s) (2/17), sacagrapa(s)
(2/17), desengrampadora (1/17), perrito (1/17), sacador de grampas (1/17).
PARAGUAY desgrampador (2/11), desgrampadora (2/11), quitapresillas (2/11), sacapresilla(s) (2/11),
desprendedor de presillas (1/11), despresillador (1/11), despresilladora (1/11), sacaganchitos
(1/11), sacapresillas (1/11).
URUGUAY sacaganchos (4/8), desengrampadora (1/8), quitagancho (1/8), removedor de grampas
(1/8), sacagrampas (1/8).
ARGENTINA sacaganch(it)os (9/19), sacabroches (8/19), desabrochador (2/19), desengrapadora
(1/19), quita-abroches (1/19).
CHILE sacacorchete(s) (14/15), desengrapadora (1/15), quitacorchetes (1/15).
B4.3 Details
General: The item shown to respondents was a jaws type staple remover (see figure B4). The
words for staple remover generally derive from the words for staple, and as is to be expected,
the regional distributions for the former item closely mirror those of the latter. In other
words, those who say grapa for staple generally say sacagrapa(s) or quitagrapa(s) for staple
remover, and those who use corchetes or presillas to bind sheets of paper together will for
the most part use a sacacorchete(s) or a sacapresilla(s), respectively, to unstaple them.
Words such as sacagrapa(s), quitagrapa(s), sacapresilla(s) and sacacorchete(s), etc. are
standard terms, whereas ua(s) probably occupies a middle register as it sounds less formal
and official than the standard terms. A very small number of respondents offered what
appear to be slang, colloquial and/or humorous words such as cerdito and escarabajo
(Spain), perro (Bolivia, Mexico), and vampirito (Mexico), but it remains to be seen how
extensive a following such usages have and in what contexts they are used. Lastly, there are
speakers who, having no idea what these devices are called, resort to periphrasis, that is,
circumlocution, and accurately describe the object as el aparatito (que se usa) para sacar
los/las __ or other similar phrases, with the blank space being filled in with whatever term
they use for staples. Such periphrastic and non-aerodynamic expressions were offered only
occasionally in this study but were not included in the data presented in section B4.2 above.
Spelling & Variants: Sacagrapas is often spelled and/or pronounced sacagrapa, saca grapas, saca
grapa, saca-grapas, and saca-grapa, and the other compound terms quitagrapa(s),
quitagancho(s), quitapresilla(s), sacabroche(s), sacacli(ps), sacacorchete(s), sacagancho(s),
sacagrampa(s), sacapresilla(s), etc. also have the same types of variants: Sometimes they
57
are written as one word, sometimes as two, sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes without,
and most appear to occur with or without a final s. Sacaclip was also offered in the form of
sacaclic and sacaclick. (See the comment about the use of block, instead of bloc, in the entry
for notepad, pad of paper in Appendix below.) The term uas can be singular or plural or,
put another way, a single pair of staple removers can be called either ua or uas. It is the
same type of singular-plural variation that occurs with terms such as alicate(s), pinza(s) and
tijera(s).
B4.4 Real Academia Regional Review
Questions/Comments: None of the 40 plus terms for staple remover presented in section B4.2
above is defined in the DRAE, including the most frequently used term overall, sacagrapas, or the
one most often used in Spain, quitagrapas. However, perhaps we should not judge the DRAE too
harshly for these lacunae since the meanings of the Spanish-language words for staple remover can
all be deduced from the meanings of their components. In other words, if readers understand what
quitar or sacar and grapas or broches mean, they can probably deduce what sacagrapas,
quitagrapas or sacabroches mean. On the other hand, a term like sacabroches is not at all
transparent to Spanish speakers who do not know the Argentine meaning of broche in an office-
supply context. More importantly, if a dictionary is supposed to be a repository of the words in a
language, how can we justify the omission of sacagrapas, sacabroches, and the other geosynonyms?
In comparing the contents of the American Heritage Dictionary (Pickett) of more or less the same
year, 2000, we note that this source also does not define staple remover or even remover
although, again, one can argue that the meaning of remover (which we could perhaps define as
a device, substance or person that removes something) is easily deduced from the meaning of the
verb remove, and from there it is merely a matter of adding modifiers to form staple remover,
paint remover, nail polish remover, etc. There is, however, arguably a greater need to include
a term like sacagrapas in a Spanish-language dictionary than there is to include staple remover
in an English-language one due to the fact that the former is a separate word whereas the latter is
simply a two-word term.
B5 THUMBTACK
B5.1 Summary
Tachuela is common in about 15 countries, chinche in about 11, and together they can be considered
the General Spanish terms. Spain and Paraguay have regionally marked usages.
B5.2 Terms by Country (4 commonly used terms)
SPAIN chincheta (19/20), tachuela (3/20).
MEXICO tachuela (43/55), chinche (16/55), chincheta (3/55), pulga (1/55).
GUATEMALA tachuela (13/14), chinche (1/14).
EL SALVADOR tachuela (11/14), chinche (5/14).
HONDURAS tachuela (9/15), chinche (3/15), chincheta (3/15), atache de presin (1/15).
NICARAGUA chinche (13/14), tachuela (2/14).
COSTA RICA chinche (12/14), tachuela (3/14), pega (1/14).
58
PANAMA tachuela (12/14), chinche (3/14).
CUBA tachuela (10/15), chinche (3/15), chincha (2/15).
DOMIN. REP. tachuela (7/12), chinche (2/12), clavito de color (1/12), pinche (1/12).
PUERTO RICO tachuela (16/16).
VENEZUELA chinche (21/24), tachuela (7/24), chincheta (3/24), pincho (1/24).
COLOMBIA chinche (12/17), tachuela (6/17), tache (1/17).
ECUADOR tachuela (13/14), chinche (1/14).
PERU chinche (11/15), tachuela (5/15).
BOLIVIA chinche (11/16), tachuela (6/16).
PARAGUAY pinche (7/12), tachuela (4/12), chinche (3/12).
URUGUAY chinche (6/10), tachuela (4/10), chincheta (1/10), tacha (1/10).
ARGENTINA chinche (17/21), tachuela (6/21), pincho (1/21).
CHILE chinche (13/15), tachuela (2/15).
B5.3 Details
Gender of chinche: The gender of chinche is ambiguous when considering the Spanish language as
a whole and a question of dialect when looking at its different varieties. The DRAE and
many other dictionaries define chinche as a feminine noun, the Diccionario del habla actual
de Venezuela (Nez) defines it as masculine, and the Diccionario ejemplificado de
chilenismos y de otros usos diferenciales del espaol de Chile (Morales Pettorino) defines
it as of ambiguous gender. In this study, chinche (thumbtack) was offered as a masculine
noun by almost all respondents from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru,
Bolivia, and Chile, and as a feminine noun by almost all from Mexico, El Salvador, Uruguay
and Argentina. In the case of the remaining countries, I was unable to draw a conclusion
regarding the gender of chinche when it refers to a thumbtack as the term was offered by too
few respondents, no respondents, or the respondents who offered it did not indicate the
terms gender. When asked about the gender of chinche, most of those who participated in
this study told me that it was definitely masculine or definitely feminine, but there were also
many who refused to answer the question or answered it evasively, and I had quite a few
conversations like the following:
Moskowitz (pointing to a picture of a thumbtack): Cmo se llama este aparatito
para fijar, por ejemplo, avisos a un tablero o a una cartelera?
Respondent: Chinche.
Moskowitz: Chinche. Y se dice el chinche o la chinche?
Respondent: No, se dice chinche noms.
Moskowitz: S, pero, es un chinche o una chinche?
Respondent: No, chinche.
Research also needs to be done to determine whether or not speakers from some regions use
gender to distinguish meaning, i.e. whether for some individuals chinche (bedbug) is
feminine and chinche (thumbtack) is masculine, or vice versa; the gender of chinche
meaning persona chinchosa naturally depends on whether the individual referred to is male
or female.
Gender of pinche: All of the Paraguayans who offered pinche (thumbtack) indicated that it is a
masculine noun (el pinche).
Related concept, pushpin: Many respondents were also asked to identify a picture of a pushpin
(see figure B5'), and the base terms offered for it were typically the same as those given for
59
the regular thumbtack, but sometimes with modifiers added such as de plstico, de cabeza
grande, con cabeza de taco, con cabeza de plstico, and other similar descriptive qualifiers.
Several Argentines, however, offered chinche galera or chinche con galera, and respondents
from different countries offered the Anglicism pushpin or, more often, its reduced form, pin.
B5.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: chinche (A), chincheta (C), pinche (D), tachuela (D). GPA = C
DRAE definitions: chincheta, (De chinche). Clavo pequeo, metlico, de cabeza circular
y chata y punta acerada, que sirve para asegurar el papel al tablero en que se dibuja o calca, o para
otros fines parecidos; chinche, f. chincheta; tachuela
1
, (Del dim. de tacha, clavo). Clavo corto
y de cabeza grande.
Questions/Comments: A basic issue concerning the definition of this item is whether or not
it is necessary or desirable to define the thumbtack as an object that is affixed apretndolo con el
dedo. The DRAE describes chincheta as a small clavo but does not mention how the thumbtack is
crucially different from other clavos in the manner in which it is set. Indeed, some Spanish speakers
might even dispute the DRAEs point of departure, that is, its characterization of chincheta or
chinche as a type of clavo, and might very well assert that Chinches son chinches y clavos son
clavos: los primeros no se meten con un martillo, los segundos s, las formas son diferentes, nada
que ver! The reverse argument is that the two items are both similar in appearance and serve similar
purposes so that it is useful to describe a thumbtack as falling within the more general category of
nails or tacks in order to provide us with a reference or a link, something to hang our hat on, as it
were. Many Spanish speakers may also object to the use of tachuela in the sense of thumbtack by
claiming that this term really means a tack, and not a thumbtack, but willing this to be so will not
make it so. The fact of the matter is that many Spanish speakers use tachuela in the sense of
thumbtack, while others maintain the distinction between tachuela (tack used by carpenters,
cobblers, etc.) and chinche or chincheta (thumbtack). Of the three terms, only chincheta is defined
in the DRAE as having a single referent whereas tachuela and chinche are both polysemous.
Therefore, an argument can be made that chincheta should be the lead term to which all others
would be cross-referenced, as the DRAE has done. However, since chinche is much more
widespread in the Spanish-speaking world than chincheta (which appears to be essentially an
espaolismo seldom used outside of Spain), one can also argue that chinche should be the lead term
and that all other synonyms should be cross-referenced to it and defined as chinche (|| clavo
pequeo) or, dare we save some space and say chinche (|| clavito)? Se vale emplear diminutivos
en el metalenguaje lexicogrfico, o no se permiten? Parece que s son vlidos. Vase, por ejemplo,
la definicin de bolgrafo, citada arriba en la seccin A6.4, en la que el DRAE se vale de la palabra
bolita al escribir ...una bolita metlica que gira libremente.
B6 PAPER CLIP
B6.1 Summary
Clip is the most commonly used term in all countries except Cuba and can be considered the General
Spanish term. However, some Spanish speakers prefer avoiding this Anglicism and opt for more
castizo words, such as sujetapapel(es), that have been built out of traditionally Spanish stock using
standard Spanish-language word-formation processes.
60
B6.2 Terms by Country (c. 10 terms plus variants)
SPAIN clip (19/19), sujetapapeles (1/19).
MEXICO clip (58/58), sujetador de papel (1/58), sujetapapel (1/58).
GUATEMALA clip (9/13), gancho (1/13), paperclip (1/13), prensapapel (1/13), sostenedor de papel (1/13).
EL SALVADOR clip (15/15).
HONDURAS clip (12/13), prensapapel (1/13).
NICARAGUA clip (12/14), clper (1/14), prensapapel (1/14).
COSTA RICA clip (11/11).
PANAMA clip (10/14), ganchito (1/14), gancho de papel (1/14), sujetador de papeles (1/14),
sujetapapeles (1/14).
CUBA presilla (16/16), ganchito (1/16).
DOMIN. REP. clip (12/13), pisapapel (1/13).
PUERTO RICO clip (12/17), presilla (5/17), paperclip (3/17), prensilla de papel (1/17), sujetador de
papeles (1/17).
VENEZUELA clip (23/24), sujetapapeles (2/24).
COLOMBIA clip (15/16), ganch(it)o (de/para papeles) (7/16), sujetapapeles (1/16).
ECUADOR clip (12/13), sujetador (1/13), sujetapapeles (1/13).
PERU clip (16/17), gancho para papel (1/17), sujetador (1/17).
BOLIVIA clip (14/15), sujetador (1/15).
PARAGUAY clip (10/10), ganchito (1/10).
URUGUAY clip (6/8), ganchito (4/8), sujetador (1/8).
ARGENTINA clip (16/20), ganchito (sujetapapeles/para papeles) (8/20), sujetapapeles (1/20).
CHILE clip (14/14).
B6.3 Details
Clip vs. alternate terms: The term clip is often pronounced clic or cli. Despite its status as an
Anglicism, clip (paper clip) appears to be fully accepted as standard Spanish-language
usage as evidenced by the fact that it was offered by the vast majority of respondents in this
study from almost all countries. The only other terms that appear to have some significant
regional following are ganchito in Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina, and presilla in Cuba
and Puerto Rico. However, even in the latter countries clip generally outpaced ganchito or
presilla by at least two-to-one, with Cuba the sole exception (see presilla below). The results
from the Lxico del habla culta studies also confirm that clip was the most commonly used
term in all of the Spanish-speaking cities that were surveyed at the times the studies were
conducted with the exception of Madrid; Havana, however, was not one of the cities tested.
In the Madrid study, published in 1981, 9 out of 16 respondents offered sujetapapeles and
8 out of 16 gave clip (Torres Martnez: 588-589). Assuming sujetapapeles (paper clip) was
as frequent among educated Madrileos of the late 1970s and early 1980s as the Torres
Martnez study results suggest
__
well, at least in their careful speech
__
in the intervening 25
or 30 years since then, it appears that sujetapapeles, in terms of its frequency of use in
Madrid, has become but a shadow of its former self.
Sujetapapel(es) and prensapapel: In this study, these compound terms were often spelled as two
words, sujeta papel(es) and prensa papel, respectively. The one-word forms presented in
section B6.2 above are umbrella terms used to represent both the one- and two-word
variants.
61
Presilla: What can explain the fact that Cuba is the only country in which a word for paper clip
other than clip dominates the landscape? Is this due to Cubas isolation, and perhaps frequent
shortages of paper clips? It seems unlikely that it could be the result of a campaign by the
Cuban government to root out Anglicisms as such attempts generally prove futile. See
Spelling & Variants in section A7.3 above for information on another case in which Cuban
usage stands out from the rest.
Related concept, binder clip: Respondents from diverse regions offered clip in the sense of binder
clip (see figure B6'), though often with a modifier added, thereby resulting in terms such as
clip de agarradera, clip (de) mariposa, clip de pinza, clip de presin, clip de resorte, clip
grande, clip gordo, clip grueso, clip mordaza, clip negro, clip sujetador, super clip and clip
de los negros. Dropping the de in clip de mariposa to form clip mariposa appears to be
especially common, and clip (de) mariposa also gets further reduced to mariposa. More
research needs to be done to determine how frequent de-dropping is in other compound
terms such as clip de agarradera clip agarradera, etc. Other terms for binder clip offered
by respondents from diverse regions are gancho de presin, gancho de mariposa, gancho
para papel, gancho prensa, gancho sujetador, prensapapel(es) and sujetapapel(es). Lastly,
there are terms for this item that were given by respondents from far fewer countries, such
as agarrapapeles (Dominican Republic), aguantapapeles (Puerto Rico), apretador
(Paraguay, Chile), apr(i)etapapel(es) (Cuba, Argentina), broche (para sujetar papeles)
(Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina), caimancito (Colombia, humorous), cogepapeles (Ecuador),
manito(s) (Uruguay, Argentina, colloquial), perro negro (Chile), pinche (de papel) (Puerto
Rico), pinza (sujetapapeles) (Spain, Ecuador), portapapeles (Mexico, Dominican Republic),
prendedor de papel (Ecuador), prensa (de papel) (Peru, Bolivia), prensador (de papel)
(Nicaragua, Colombia, Paraguay), presilla mordedora and presilla de mariposa (Panama,
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bolivia), sujetador (de papel) (Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru,
Paraguay), and vincha (Ecuador). We note that in Chile perro can refer to a clothespin, and
in Ecuador vincha is a ladys hair clip, and that both of these objects, like binder clips, grab
things.
B6.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: clip (A), ganchito (D), gancho (D), paperclip (F), prensapapel (F), presilla
(D), sujetador de papel(es) (F), sujetapapeles (D). GPA = D
DRAE definitions: clip
1
, (Del ingl. clip). m. Utensilio hecho con un trozo de alambre, u otro
material, doblado sobre s mismo, que sirve para sujetar papeles. || 2. Sistema de pinza para fijar
mediante presin broches, horquillas, etc. Pendientes de clip; sujetapapeles, Pinza para sujetar
papeles. || 2. Instrumento de otra forma destinado al mismo objeto.
Comments: While the DRAEs editors realize that it would be futile to try suppress the use
of clip (paper clip), or even attempt to promote one or several of the castizo alternatives by
cross-referencing clip to sujetapapeles or prensapapel, it is somewhat surprising that an institution
as conservative as the Real Academia would not at least offer dictionary users the option of using
a castizo term or terms instead of clip. No such alternative is provided. Gancho, presilla,
sujetapapeles and all other commonly used synonyms should be cross-referenced to clip and their
definitions should include regional specifications, if applicable.
62
C MISCELLANEOUS
C1 PAPER PUNCH or HOLE PUNCH
C1.1 Summary
Perforadora and/or perforador are used everywhere and sacabocado(s) is used in at least half the
Spanish-speaking world in the sense of paper punch. Other terms, such as abrehoyo(s), abrehueco(s)
and ponchador(a), appear to be more regionally weighted, and Spain and Puerto Rico have unique
usages not commonly found elsewhere.
C1.2 Terms by Country (c. 18 terms plus variants)
SPAIN taladradora (6/17), perforador (5/17), perforadora (5/17), agujereador(a) (2/17),
taladro (2/17), sacabocados (1/17), troqueladora (1/17).
MEXICO perforadora (51/56), perforador (8/56), sacabocados (1/56).
GUATEMALA abrehoyo(s) (10/16), sacabocados (7/16), perforador (1/16), perforadora (1/16).
EL SALVADOR sacabocado(s) (7/13), abrehoyo(s) (4/13), perforador (2/13), sacahoyo(s) (2/13),
abridor de hoyos (1/13), perforadora (1/13).
HONDURAS perforadora (10/16), sacabocado(s) (4/16), abrehoyos (3/16), abrehuecos (1/16).
NICARAGUA perforadora (7/15), sacahoyo(s) (4/15), abrehoyo(s) (3/15), perforador (2/15),
ponchadora (2/15), ponchador (1/15), sacabocados (1/15).
COSTA RICA perforadora (5/14), ponchadora (3/14), huequeadora (2/14), sacabocados (2/14),
abrehuecos (1/14), hacehuecos (1/14), perforador (1/14), sacahuecos (1/14).
PANAMA abrehueco(s) (13/15), perforadora (3/15), abrehoyos (1/15), ponchador (1/15).
CUBA ponchadora (9/15), abrehueco(s) (5/15), ponchador (5/15), perforador(a) (2/15).
DOMIN. REP. perforadora (7/10), perforador (3/10).
PUERTO RICO perforadora (9/15), rotera (5/15), ponchador(a) (2/15), agujereador (1/15), perforador
(1/15).
VENEZUELA abrehueco(s) (16/23), perforador (5/23), perforadora (4/23), sacahuecos (1/23).
COLOMBIA perforadora (11/16), sacabocados (4/16), abrehueco(s) (4/16), perforador (1/16).
ECUADOR perforadora (10/13), perforador (3/13), ponchador (1/13).
PERU perforador (13/15), perforadora (2/15), hacehuecos (1/15).
BOLIVIA perforadora (11/16), perforador (4/16), agujereador (1/16).
PARAGUAY perforadora (8/12), perforador (4/12), agujereadora (1/12).
URUGUAY perforadora (9/10), sacabocados (2/10), agujereador (1/10).
ARGENTINA perforadora (14/21), agujereadora (12/21), sacabocados (5/21).
CHILE perforador (8/15), perforadora (8/15), sacabocados (2/15).
C1.3 Details
General: Respondents were shown a two-hole paper punch, like the one depicted in figure C1, and
a one-hole paper punch, like the one in figure C1', but were not specifically asked to
differentiate between them. Some did anyway and offered separate terms for the two items
(see Sacabocado(s) below). Respondents were not shown a three-hole paper punch.
Perforadora vs. perforador: For the two types of paper punch that were tested (see General above),
perforadora, the feminine form, appears to be the preferred term in most countries, to wit,
63
Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. In this study, perforador
was offered by a majority of respondents from only one country, Peru, and both perforador
and perforadora were offered by an equal number of respondents from Spain and Chile,
countries in which the masculine and feminine forms appear to be in stiff competition. In the
case of the remaining countries
__
Guatemala, Panama, Cuba and Venezuela
__
both perforadora
and perforador were offered by too small a percentage of the respondents to draw any
conclusions regarding which term is more frequent or is preferred, and in these 4 countries
other terms, such as abrehoyo(s), abrehueco(s), and ponchador(a), appear to be used much
more often than either perforadora or perforador. Research needs to be done to determine
whether the same or different preferences for perforadora or perforador hold when Spanish
speakers from different regions refer to larger hole punches such as three-hole paper
punches, or industrial perforators, items that were not tested in this study.
Sacabocado(s): Many respondents from different countries indicated that a sacabocados (often
pronounced and spelled sacabocado) only refers to a one-hole paper punch, but not to a two-
hole paper punch. Others, however, stated that a sacabocado(s) can refer to any paper punch,
and still others said that a sacabocado(s) does not refer to any type of paper punch, but only
to a leather punch of the type used by cobblers and other artisans.
Spelling & Variants: In this study, sacahoyos was often spelled and/or pronounced sacahoyo, saca
hoyos, saca hoyo, saca-hoyos and saca-hoyo; abrehoyo(s) and abrehueco(s) had similar
variants. Agujereadora and agujereador were sometimes pronounced as if written
aujereador(a) or aujeriador(a), especially in less educated and/or relaxed speech.
C1.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: abrehoyos (F), abrehuecos (F), agujereador (F), agujereadora (F), perforador
(A), perforadora (A), ponchador (F), ponchadora (F), rotera (F), sacabocado (A), sacabocados (A),
sacahoyos (F), taladradora (A, C or D?). GPA = C!
DRAE definitions: perforador, ra, adj. Que perfora u horada. U. t. c. s. [Usado tambin
como sustantivo]; sacabocados, Instrumento de hierro, calzado de acero, con boca hueca y cortes
afilados, que sirve para taladrar. Los hay en forma de punzn, de tenaza, etc.; sacabocado,
sacabocados; taladrador, ra, adj. Que taladra. U. t. c. s.
Comments: A number of important regional usages need to be incorporated into the DRAE,
including abrehoyo(s), abrehueco(s), agujereadora, ponchadora and rotera. Also, the DRAEs
minimalist definition of the noun sense of perforador and perforadora (U. t. c. s.) is not
particularly helpful to dictionary users who do not already know what these devices are, and it fails
to tell readers whether the noun is masculine, feminine or both. Therefore, the definition of the noun
sense of perforador, ra needs to be considerably beefed up so that it contains a full description such
as m. o f. Aparato o mquina que se usa para hacer hoyos, huecos o agujeros: perforadora o
perforador de papel, de cuero, hidrulica/o.
64
C2 INK PAD or STAMP PAD
C2.1 Summary
Almohadilla is the General Spanish term; tampn is commonly used in Spain, Peru and Chile; and
Mexico and Bolivia have unique usages not common elsewhere.
C2.2 Terms by Country (c. 15 terms plus variants)
SPAIN tampn (7/20), tinta (5/20), almohadilla (4/20), cojn de tinta (3/20), esponja de tinta
(1/20).
MEXICO cojn (de tinta) (35/54), esponja (de tinta) (7/54), almohadilla (6/54), tinta (4/54), cojinete
(3/54), colchn para tinta (1/54).
GUATEMALA almohadilla (12/14), esponja para sellos (1/14), tintero (1/14).
EL SALVADOR almohadilla (7/16), tinta (5/16), esponja (de tinta) (2/16), tintero (2/16).
HONDURAS almohadilla (13/15), tinta (2/15), tintero (1/15).
NICARAGUA almohadilla (10/15), tinta (3/15), cojn de sello (1/15), cojn para sellos (1/15), tintero
(1/15).
COSTA RICA almohadilla (11/13), tintero (2/13), tinta (1/13).
PANAMA almohadilla (8/16), pad (3/16), tintero (3/16), stamp (1/16), stamp pad (1/16), tinta (1/16).
CUBA almohadilla (6/11), estampa (1/11), estampilla de tinta (1/11), gomgrafo (1/11), tinta
(1/11), tintero seco (1/11).
DOMIN. REP. almohadilla (11/13), esponja (1/13), tinta (1/13), tintero (1/13).
PUERTO RICO tinta (7/14), almohadilla (5/14), pad (de tinta) (2/14), almohada de tinta (1/14),
esponjita de tinta (1/14), parcho de tinta (1/14).
VENEZUELA almohadilla (21/24), cojn (de tinta) (2/24), almohada de tinta (1/24), esponja para sello
(1/24).
COLOMBIA almohadilla (16/17), tinta (1/17), tintero (1/17).
ECUADOR almohadilla (9/12), tinta (3/12).
PERU tampn (11/13), almohadilla (1/13), tinta (1/13).
BOLIVIA tampo (11/16), estampador (2/16), tampn (2/16), almohadilla (1/16), portatinta (1/16).
PARAGUAY almohadilla (8/11), tinta (3/11).
URUGUAY almohadilla (10/10).
ARGENTINA almohadilla (20/21), tintero (1/21).
CHILE tampn (10/15), tinta (3/15), almohadilla (2/15), tintero (2/15).
C2.3 Details
Almohadilla: Some respondents from all Spanish-speaking countries offered almohadilla and
variants of this term such as almohadilla de tinta, almohadilla con tinta, almohadilla
entintada, almohadilla para sello(s), almohadilla para huellas, etc., but for the sake of
brevity and compactness all of these variants are represented in section C2.2 above as simply
almohadilla, an umbrella term. To the extent the word for rubber stamp varies regionally,
other combinations are also possible such as almohadilla de or para cuo (Cuba) and
almohadilla para matasello(s) (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico).
Tinta, tintero: Tinta, with the modifiers para sello(s), para huellas, etc., added for clarification, was
also offered by at least a few respondents from most countries, arguably by those who do not
65
know one of the real names for ink pad. These variants are represented in section C2.2
above by tinta, the short-form umbrella term. Tintero, given by a few respondents from a
number of countries, has a similar knock against it insofar as this term refers to an inkwell
or an inkstand, not an ink pad.
C2.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: almohadilla (B), cojn (de tinta) (D), cojinete (D), esponja (D), pad (F), tampo
(F), tampn (C), tinta (para sello) (D), tintero (D). GPA = D+
DRAE definitions: tampn, (Del fr. tampon). Almohadilla empapada en tinta que se emplea
para entintar sellos, estampillas, etc.; almohadilla, 12. Hond. y Ven. tampn (|| almohadilla
empapada en tinta).
Comments: As we see from the data in section C2.2 above, the DRAEs claim that
almohadilla (ink pad) is a regionalism of Honduras and Venezuela alone is absurd. Not only is
almohadilla used in most if not all of Spanish America, but it was also offered by 4 out of 20
Spaniards in this study. Tampn, in contrast, is presented as General Spanish usage when in fact its
reach is rather limited as it appears to be the most frequently used term for ink pad in only three
countries, Spain, Peru and Chile. The predominant usages in Mexico (cojn de tinta) and Bolivia
(tampo) have been left out in the cold entirely.
C3 NOTEBOOK A - SPIRAL NOTEBOOK
C3.1 Summary
Cuaderno, with the modifiers de espiral, con espiral, en espiral or just espiral added for
clarification, is the most commonly used base term everywhere with the exception of Mexico, Cuba,
Puerto Rico and perhaps parts of Spain, where libreta appears to be more frequent. Therefore,
cuaderno can be considered the General Spanish base term. The Dominican Republic has a unique
usage not found elsewhere.
Note: In section C3.2 below, terms other than cuaderno, and cuaderno with various espiral-type
modifiers, appear in italics, and majority regionalisms in boldface and italics; when cuaderno is
modified by a non-espiral qualifier, only the qualifier appears in italics.
C3.2 Terms by Country (4 commonly used base terms and c. 10 modifiers plus variants)
SPAIN cuaderno (12/20), bloc (de notas) (6/20), libreta (6/20), cuaderno de espiral (1/20),
libreta de espiral (1/20).
MEXICO libreta (35/58), cuaderno (22/58), cuaderno de espiral (4/58), cuaderno con espiral
(3/58), cuaderno espiral (2/58), cuaderno de argollas (1/58), cuaderno professional (1/58),
libreta de espiral (1/58).
GUATEMALA cuaderno (5/12), cuaderno de espiral (3/12), cuaderno espiral (3/12), cuaderno
con espiral (1/12), cuaderno universitario (1/12).
EL SALVADOR cuaderno (5/14), cuaderno de espiral (3/14), cuaderno espiral (4/14), cuaderno
de anillos (1/14), libreta (1/14).
66
HONDURAS cuaderno (8/16), cuaderno de espiral (3/16), cuaderno espiral (3/16), libreta (2/16), cuaderno
con resortes (1/16).
NICARAGUA cuaderno (10/13), cuaderno universitario (4/13), cuaderno con espiral (1/13),
cuaderno de espiral (1/13).
COSTA RICA cuaderno de resorte(s) (7/13), cuaderno (3/13), cuaderno (de) espiral (2/13), agenda
(1/13).
PANAMA cuaderno (7/16), libreta (6/16), cuaderno de espiral (4/16), agenda (1/16),
cuaderno de anillos (1/16), cuaderno en espiral (1/16).
CUBA libreta (12/13), libreta de notas (1/13).
DOMIN. REP. cuaderno (10/16), mascota (9/16), libreta (5/16), mascota de alambre (2/16),
mascota espiral (2/16), ctedra (1/16), mascota de espiral (1/16).
PUERTO RICO libreta (12/16), libreta de alambre (1/16), cuaderno (1/16), libreta de argollas (1/16), libreta
de espiral (1/16).
VENEZUELA cuaderno (12/24), cuaderno de espiral (10/24), cuaderno con espiral (1/24), cuaderno
de resortes (1/24).
COLOMBIA cuaderno (10/18), cuaderno de espiral (5/18), cuaderno anillado (1/18), cuaderno de
argollas (1/18), cuaderno de ganchos (1/18).
ECUADOR cuaderno espiral (9/15), cuaderno (3/15), cuaderno de espiral (1/15), cuaderno
universitario (1/15), libreta (1/15).
PERU cuaderno (8/17), cuaderno espiral (6/17), cuaderno con espiral (2/17), cuaderno
anillado (1/17), cuaderno de anillos (1/17), cuaderno de espiral (1/17), cuaderno espiralado
(1/17).
BOLIVIA cuaderno (6/16), cuaderno con espiral (5/16), cuaderno espiral (2/16), cuaderno
anillado (1/16), cuaderno de espiral (1/16), cuaderno en espiral (1/16).
PARAGUAY cuaderno (10/12), anotador (1/12), cuaderno con espiral (1/12).
URUGUAY cuaderno espiral (5/12), cuaderno (3/12), cuaderno de espiral (3/12),
cuaderneta (2/12), cuadernola (2/12).
ARGENTINA cuaderno (10/20), cuaderno con espiral (5/20), cuaderno de espiral (4/20), anotador
con lomo en espiral (1/20), cuaderno avon (1/20), cuaderno espiralado (1/20), libreta (1/20).
CHILE cuaderno (7/16), cuaderno con espiral (5/16), cuaderno universitario (4/16),
agenda (1/16), libreta (1/16).
C3.3 Details
General: Respondents were asked to identify a picture of a 5-subject, 180-page spiral-bound
notebook, and a majority offered cuaderno, libreta or mascota with no qualifier, but a
minority gave a base term, usually cuaderno, modified by de espiral, con espiral, espiral,
de resortes, or universitario. This raises the following questions: Is it the case that because
spiral notebooks are now the most common type of notebook in much of the Spanish-
speaking world, the base term (cuaderno, libreta or mascota) by default tends to refer to this
type and therefore specification is generally superfluous? Or is it that those who offered an
unmodified term were being less precise (or are generally less precise in their use of
language) than those who offered one with an espiral-type qualifier? Given the large number
of respondents who gave unmodified base terms, I believe the former explanation has more
merit, but research needs to be done to determine how people call notebooks other than
spiral notebooks and loose-leaf notebooks, especially the traditional type of notebook, not
tested in this study, in which the pages are sewn into the binding. The notebook was also one
67
of the items surveyed in the Lxico del habla culta studies (the corresponding sections were
entitled CUADERNO), but it is not clear what type of notebook respondents in those
studies were asked to identify. It was most likely a sewn notebook, rather than a spiral
notebook, as none of the respondents in the Lxico del habla culta studies offered a term
with an espiral-type modifier. The DRAEs definition of libreta indicates it is a small
cuaderno, and a number of respondents in the present study who offered cuaderno for the
large spiral notebook they were shown stated that they would call smaller spiral notebooks
libretas, regardless of whether the spiral was on the top or on the side. O sea, que dijeron que
una libreta es un cuaderno pequeo con el espiral arriba o en el costado.
Spain: The three Lxico del habla culta studies conducted on respondents from Spanish cities
suggest important regional preferences within Spain for the terms used to refer to notebooks,
with the slight caveat again being that we do not know for certain what type of notebook or
notebooks the respondents in those studies were shown. I will therefore summarize the actual
Lxico del habla culta results:
a) From Madrid, the most common term was cuaderno, offered by 15 out of 16
respondents, and bloc(k) was a distant second, given by 3 out of 16 (Torres Martnez 1981:
558).
b) From Granada, cuaderno was also the most common term, indicated by 17 out of
25 respondents, libreta was second, offered by 10 out of 25, and bloc was a distant third,
given by 4 out of 25 (Salvador 1991: 750).
c) And from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, libreta was offered by 12 out of 16, bloc
was given by 9 out of 16 but most of these said bloc was their second choice, and cuaderno
was proposed by 7 out of 16 and most of these indicated that cuaderno was their second or
third choice (Samper Padilla 1998: 481).
In other words, if we extrapolate a bit, libreta (notebook) appears to be more
common in southern Spain than in northern and central Spain, and much more common in
the Canary Islands than in any part of Peninsular Spain, or at least this appears to have been
the case at the times the respective studies were published and perhaps for many decades
prior to the 1980s and 1990s. This information is important not only for the study of
Peninsular Spanish dialects, but also for the field of Spanish dialectology as a whole as it
may explain why libreta (notebook) is also frequently used in Cuba and Puerto Rico,
countries which over the last two centuries have received large amounts of immigration from
the Canary Islands (Lipski: 56-61).
Mexico: The Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico defines libreta as a Cuaderno pequeo,
casi siempre con tapas o cubiertas duras... (vila), and Lara Ramos Diccionario del
espaol usual en Mxico has no entry for libreta; both dictionaries define cuaderno as a
regular, standard notebook. In the present study, in which Northeasterners made up the
majority of Mexican respondents, over three times as many from the state of Nuevo Len
(capital Monterrey) offered libreta in response to the image they were shown as those who
gave cuaderno, while respondents from Mexico City all offered cuaderno or cuaderno (de)
espiral. Is libreta used more in the sense of a general notebook in some parts of (northern)
Mexico, but is a small notebook elsewhere?
Dominican Repubic: Mascota is commonly used in the sense of notebook, and many Dominicans
use this term as simply a regional synonym of cuaderno. For other Dominicans, however,
mascotas are specifically thick spiral notebooks, generally having separate sections for
different subjects, whereas cuadernos are thinner ones which usually have just a single
section. Perhaps for these Dominicans, a mascota is equivalent to what Spanish speakers
68
from some countries would call a cuaderno universitario (see separate paragraph below).
One Dominican interviewed even indicated a three-way distinction among the terms ctedra
(thickest notebook), mascota (somewhat thick notebook) and cuaderno (thin notebook), but
she was the only one queried to offer ctedra. Was mascota originally a brand name?
Uruguay: A couple of respondents indicated that a cuaderneta is a small notebook and a cuadernola
is a large one, but two others said a cuaderneta was larger than a cuaderno and cuadernola
was not common. Which, if any, of these terms/usages is common in Uruguay and
elsewhere?
Cuaderno universitario: The Diccionario ejemplificado de chilenismos y de otros usos diferenciales
del espaol de Chile (Morales Pettorino
14
) defines cuaderno universitario as Cuaderno ms
grande que el ordinario, armado en un espiral metlico o plstico, que usan los estudiantes
para obtener apuntes en determinados cursos, especialmente en la Universidad... In this
study, cuaderno universitario was offered by between 1 and 3 respondents from Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Ecuador and Chile. Where else is the term cuaderno universitario commonly
used, and where does it refer to a large spiral notebook, a thick spiral notebook, a multi-
subject spiral notebook, any spiral notebook or any large notebook, spiral or otherwise?
C3.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: bloc (D), cuaderno (A or D?), libreta (A or D?), mascota (D). GPA = B!
DRAE definitions: cuaderno, (Del lat. quaterni). Conjunto o agregado de algunos pliegos
de papel, doblados y cosidos en forma de libro; libreta
2
, (De libro). Cuaderno o libro pequeo
destinado a escribir en l anotaciones o cuentas.
Questions/Comments: The DRAEs definition of cuaderno works well for a notebook whose
pages are sewn together, but when one adds the qualifier de espiral (or con espiral, espiral, etc.),
one quickly discovers that the base term has been defined too narrowly to describe or accommodate
a notebook with a spiral binding since spiral notebooks do not consist of pliegos de papel, doblados
y cosidos en forma de libro. Compare the DRAEs overly narrow definition of cuaderno to the
American Heritage Dictionarys open-ended definition of notebook: 1. A book of blank pages
for notes. The DRAEs definition of libreta suffers from the same defect as that of cuaderno since
it refers the reader back to cuaderno and also to libro. Because spiral notebooks are currently the
most popular kind of notebooks in use, any definition of cuaderno or libreta needs to be broad
enough to cover this type. Al igual que hemos visto en otros casos, los lexicgrafos del DRAE a
veces parecen estar anclados en el pasado y da pena ver cmo dejan que sus definiciones caduquen.
Tampoco se trata aqu de un aparato de ltima tecnologa que se fabrique en el Valle de Silicio, pues
los cuadernos de espiral estn con nosotros desde hace muchos aos, o ms bien, decenios.
C4 NOTEBOOK B - LOOSE-LEAF NOTEBOOK or (THREE) RING BINDER
C4.1 Summary
Carpeta, with different (regionally weighted) modifiers such as de anillas, de anillos or de argollas
added for clarification, is commonly used in over half the Spanish-speaking world and can be
considered the General Spanish base term. Other usages, such as flder, archivador, cartapacio,
piner and portafolio, are more regional in nature.
69
C4.2 Terms by Country (10 commonly used terms plus variants)
SPAIN carpeta (8/20), archivador (6/20), cuaderno de anillas (4/20), bloc (de anillas) (2/20),
archivadora (1/20), carpesaro (1/20), clasificador (1/20).
MEXICO carpeta (37/55), cartapacio (15/55), binder/binder (2/55), cuaderno con argollas
(2/55), flder (2/55), recopilador (2/55), trper/trapper (2/55).
GUATEMALA cartapacio (12/13), carpeta (2/13), flder (1/13), leitz (1/13), portapapeles (1/13),
portafotos (1/13).
EL SALVADOR cartapacio (9/14), flder (5/14), portafolio (3/14), carpeta (1/14), trper/trapper
(1/14).
HONDURAS flder (8/16), cartapacio (2/16), albun/lbum (1/16), archivador manual (1/16),
binder/binder (1/16), carpeta (1/16), libreta (1/16), portafolio (1/16).
NICARAGUA binder/binder (8/13), flder (5/13), portafolio (1/13).
COSTA RICA portafolio (10/14), cartapacio (5/14), flder (3/14), ampo (1/14).
PANAMA portafolio (10/13), archivador (1/13), carpeta de anillos (1/13), cartapacio (1/13).
CUBA carpeta (13/15), albun/lbum (1/15), flder (1/15), portahojas (1/15), portapapel (1/15).
DOMIN. REP. carpeta (8/11), flder (2/11), binder/binder (1/11).
PUERTO RICO carpeta (11/15), binder/binder (3/15), cartapacio (2/15), libreta de argollas (2/15),
portafolio (1/15).
VENEZUELA carpeta (23/23).
COLOMBIA flder (16/18), pasta de argollas (3/18), carpeta (de anillos/de argollas) (2/18), A-Z (1/18).
ECUADOR carpeta (11/16), flder (5/16), archivador (2/16), albun/lbum (1/16).
PERU piner (9/15), flder (5/15), archivador (1/15), binder/binder (1/15), portafolio (1/15).
BOLIVIA carpeta (7/16), archivador (4/16), cartapacio (4/16), cuaderno carpeta (1/16),
flder (1/16), portafolio (1/16), trper/trapper (1/16).
PARAGUAY carpeta (7/12), bibliorato (4/12), almacenador de carpeta (1/12).
URUGUAY bibliorato (7/10), carpeta (6/10), albun/lbum (1/10).
ARGENTINA carpeta (21/21), bibliorato (3/21), cartapacio (1/21).
CHILE archivador (14/16), carpeta (2/16).
C4.3 Details
General: Respondents were shown a picture of a three-ring loose-leaf notebook or three-ring binder
with fairly large rings in proportion to the binder (perhaps three-inch rings). Many of the
terms listed in section C4.2 above are actually the base or umbrella terms to which modifiers
such as de (tres) aros, de (tres) anillas, de (tres) anillos, de (tres) argollas, etc. are often
added for clarification. Some discussion of how these modifiers may vary by region is
addressed in the paragraphs that follow.
Spain: The modifier most often added to the base terms was de anillas, and in this study only
respondents from Spain used this qualifier. Thus the terms most commonly offered by
Spaniards were carpeta de anillas, cuaderno de anillas and archivador de anillas, in
addition to the three base terms standing alone.
Mexico & Puerto Rico: The modifier most often added to the base terms was de argollas (e.g.
carpeta de argollas).
El Salvador: Most respondents did not add a modifier to the base terms listed above, but the few
who did offered cartapacio de (tres) anillos.
70
Venezuela: Carpeta, with no qualifier, was the most commonly used term, but it was also offered
with a variety of modifiers: carpeta de (tres) hueco(s), carpeta de (tres) anillos, carpeta con
argollas, carpeta de aros, carpeta dura, carpeta de gancho and carpeta negra. The
respondent who offered carpeta negra when shown a black-and-white picture of a three-ring
binder stated, carpeta negra porque en Venezuela son todas negras. Ser cierto que en
Venezuela no las hay de otro color, o era nada ms idea de ese seor? Bueno, si ayer no
existan de otros colores, tal vez maana s.
Peru: Piner, I am told, comes from Pioneer, a popular brand of notebooks.
Uruguay & Argentina: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina and the Nuevo diccionario de
uruguayismos both define bibliorato as Carpeta de cartn de lomo ancho, provista de
anillos metlicos, en la que se archivan cartas, facturas, legajos y otros documentos and
indicate that archivador, the Peninsular Spanish equivalent, is also used in this sense in
Uruguay and Argentina (Haensch and Werner 2000a and 1993b). In this study several
respondents from both countries stated that a bibliorato was a thick ring binder, but others
said it could refer to any loose-leaf notebook, regardless of the width of its spine.
Spelling & Variants: The Anglicisms binder and folder are often written as they are in English, but
are generally pronounced as if they were written binder and flder, respectively. In other
words, while the terms pronunciations have been fully Hispanized or domesticated, their
written forms are often taken from English unaltered. Spanish speakers also vacilate when
writing albun/lbum and trper/trapper.
C4.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: archivador (D), bibliorato (F), binder (F), binder (F), carpeta (D),
cartapacio (D), cuaderno de anillas (F), flder (D), pasta de argollas (F), piner (F), portafolio (D).
GPA = D
Questions/Comments: Alas, there appears to be nothing in the DRAE that describes a loose-
leaf notebook or ring binder. Compare the DRAEs failure to address this item with the American
Heritage Dictionarys helpful definitions of the relevant terms pertaining to United States English,
a source in which binder is defined as 3. A notebook cover with rings or clamps for holding
sheets of paper and loose-leaf as Relating to, having, or being leaves that can be easily removed,
rearranged, or replaced: a loose-leaf notebook; loose-leaf paper. How did the DRAE guys and gals
(mostly guys) miss this one? Were they sleeping on the job? Surely, they do not lead such cloistered
lives as to never have seen or used a loose-leaf notebook.
C5 PENCIL CASE
C5.1 Summary
Cartuchera is commonly used in most of South America, Cuba, Puerto Rico and parts of Central
America (in at least 12 countries). In most of the other countries, speakers tend to use a more general
term, such as bolsa, cartera or estuche, that is made specific by adding a modifier such as de/para
lpices, de/para plumas, etc. Portalpiz and/or portalpices are also heard practically everywhere
but appear to be less common than cartuchera, bolsa, cartera and estuche. In Spain, Mexico and
Honduras, usages that are more regional in nature are somewhat common.
71
C5.2 Terms by Country (c. 14 terms plus variants)
SPAIN estuche (17/20), plumier (7/20), (bolsa) portatodo (2/20), cartuchera (1/20), lapicera
(1/20), portalpices (1/20), portalpiz (1/20).
MEXICO lapicera (21/55), bols(it)a (16/55), portalpices (13/55), estuche (12/55),
caj(it)a (2/55), guardalpices (1/55).
GUATEMALA estuche (8/13), bols(it)a (6/13), portalpices (1/13), portalapiceros (1/13).
EL SALVADOR bols(it)a (6/15), estuche (5/15), portalpiz (3/15), portalpices (1/15).
HONDURAS lapicera (4/17), lapicero (4/17), bols(it)a (3/17), cartuchera (3/17), portalpiz (3/17),
carter(it)a (2/17), estuche (1/17), portalpices (1/17).
NICARAGUA cartuchera (5/13), bols(it)a (3/13), portalpiz (2/13), bolsito (1/13), bulto (1/13), cartera
(1/13), estuchera (1/13), portalapicero (1/13).
COSTA RICA cartuchera (9/13), carter(it)a (3/13), bolsa (1/13), portalpiz (1/13).
PANAMA bolsa (4/13), lapicero (3/13), cartuchera (2/13), lapicera (2/13), cartera (1/13), estuche
(1/13), portalpiz (1/13).
CUBA cartuchera (8/17), carter(it)a (3/17), caja (2/17), estuche (2/17), portalpices (2/17),
portalpiz (1/13).
DOMIN. REP. portalpiz (4/11), estuche (3/11), bultito/bultico (2/11), carter(it)a (2/11), bolsa (1/11),
portalpices (1/11), portalapiceros (1/11).
PUERTO RICO cartuchera (12/14), carterita (1/14), lapicera (1/14).
VENEZUELA cartuchera (22/24), estuche (1/24), portalpices (1/24).
COLOMBIA cartuchera (11/18), estuche (2/18), portalpices (2/18), bolsa (1/18), bolso (1/18), bolsa
portalpices (1/18), cartera (1/18), guardalpices (1/18).
ECUADOR cartuchera (7/16), portalpices (3/16), estuche (2/16), portalpiz (2/16), cartera (1/16), funda
(1/16), lapicero (1/16), portaplumas (1/16).
PERU cartuchera (15/16), estuche (1/16).
BOLIVIA estuche (13/16), portalpices (2/16), bolsa (1/16), portalapiceros (1/16).
PARAGUAY cartuchera (10/13), portalpices (2/13), bolsa (1/13).
URUGUAY cartuchera (10/10).
ARGENTINA cartuchera (19/21), canopla (1/21), portalpices (1/21), portatiles (1/21).
CHILE estuche (12/15), cartuchera (1/15), lapicero (1/15), portalpices (1/15).
C5.3 Details
General: The item tested was a soft-case pencil case with a zipper. In a majority of countries a
specific term such as cartuchera, lapicera or lapicero is common, whereas in others no
specific word appears to be dominant, and more general terms are used such as estuche with
clarifying modifiers added if necessary: estuche de lpices, estuche para lpices, etc. Terms
that require modifiers to make them specific are the most commonly used ones in Spain,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Bolivia and Chile. Compound terms such as portalpiz,
portalpices and others that begin with porta are also used to some extent everywhere.
Spain: Some Spaniards indicated that a plumier refers to a hard case for storing pens or pencils, not
a soft case. If this is true, then plumier (pencil box) would not be an exact Peninsular
Spanish equivalent of Spanish American cartuchera (soft-case pencil case). Other
Spaniards said the term plumier is used less often now than previously. Would this be
because the words frequency of use is in decline, because hard-case pencil cases are less
common now than soft-case ones, or both?
72
Uruguay & Argentina: The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina defines cartuchera as Pequea
cartera, generalmente de plstico o tela, donde los alumnos guardan los tiles escolares,
como por ejemplo los lpices, la goma de borrar, etc. and the Nuevo diccionario de
uruguayismos has a similar definition. According to these two sources, portatiles is also
used in this same sense in both countries (Haensch and Werner 2000a and 1993b).
C5.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: cartuchera (B), lapicera (D), lapicero (D), plumier (C), portalapicero (F),
portalpices (F), portalpiz (D). GPA = D+
DRAE definitions: plumero, 2. Vaso o caja donde se ponen las plumas; plumier, (Del fr.
plumier). m. Caja o estuche que sirve para guardar plumas, lpices, etc.; cartuchera, 3. Arg. y Ven.
plumier.
Questions/Comments: By defining plumier as a case for pens and pencils and by defining
estuche in a general sense, the DRAE has covered Peninsular Spanish usage with regard to this item
fairly well, but its coverage of the rest of the Spanish-speaking world needs shoring up. For example,
the DRAE seems to be unaware of the terms used in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico and most of South America. Which is preferable, the DRAEs more
concise definition of plumier, or the Diccionario del espaol de Argentinas more descriptive and
expansive definition of cartuchera? (See Uruguay & Argentina in section C5.3 above.)
C6 FILE FOLDER
C6.1 Summary
Carpeta can be considered the General Spanish term in that it is probably used to some extent in the
entire Spanish-speaking world, especially in writing by educated speakers. For the populations at
large, however, carpeta appears to be the dominant term (or a dominant term) in only about half of
the countries, namely Spain and much of South America. Flder is the dominant term in Central
America, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru and Bolivia, and is co-dominant (with another
term) or a serious contender in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador. Flder actually appears to be used
more often in more countries (11 or 12) than is carpeta (7 or 8). Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and
Colombia have usages that are more regional in nature.
C6.2 Terms by Country (c. 15 terms plus variants)
SPAIN carpeta (14/20), archivador (5/20), portafolios (3/20), clasificador (2/20).
MEXICO legajo (31/58), flder (29/58), carpeta (19/58), separador (1/58).
GUATEMALA flder (12/14), carpeta (1/14), porta-archivos (1/14).
EL SALVADOR flder (11/13), carpeta (1/13), cartapacio (1/13).
HONDURAS flder (12/15), archivador (2/15), carpeta (2/15).
NICARAGUA flder (13/14), portafolio (2/14), folio (1/14).
COSTA RICA flder (11/15), carpeta (3/15), archivador (2/15).
PANAMA flder (10/14), carpeta (2/14), cartapacio (1/14), portafolio (1/14).
CUBA fail/file (8/17), carpeta (6/17), flder (2/17), folio (2/17), separador (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. flder (13/16), archivo (1/16), carpeta (1/16), folio (1/16).
73
PUERTO RICO flder (10/15), cartapacio (8/15), carpeta (1/15).
VENEZUELA carpeta (23/24), folio (1/24), portafolio (1/24).
COLOMBIA carpeta (14/16), flder (8/16), legajador (2/16), archivador (1/16).
ECUADOR carpeta (8/16), flder (8/16), papelero (1/16).
PERU flder (10/17), archivador (2/17), cartapacio (2/17), portapapel(es) (2/17), carpeta (1/17),
portafolio (1/17).
BOLIVIA flder (11/16), portapapeles (3/16), archivador (2/16), portadocumentos (2/16), carpeta
(1/16), portafolio (1/16).
PARAGUAY carpeta (8/10), archivador (2/10).
URUGUAY carpeta (9/11), carpetn (1/11), flder (1/11).
ARGENTINA carpeta (16/18), archivador (1/18), clasificador (1/18), legajo (1/18), portafolios (1/18).
CHILE carpeta (11/15), archivador (2/15), ordenador (1/15), portadocumentos (1/15), portafolio
(1/15).
C6.3 Details
General: Respondents were shown an ordinary tabbed file folder, not a hanging folder (carpeta
colgante, flder colgante, etc.) or an accordion folder (archivador acorden?), etc., and they
were specifically asked Cmo se llama esta cubierta de cartulina que contiene los
documentos, no el conjunto de la cubierta ms los documentos? I included this question or
specification in the hopes that respondents would not give me words for the entire file such
as expediente and archivo, but some did anyway and, with the exception of Cubas fail/file
(offered by a substantial percentage of Cubans), such responses are not included in the data
appearing in section C6.2 above. See Related concept, file below.
Dominican Republic: Some of the respondents who offered flder pronounced the word as if it were
written fider, and some frder. This corresponds generally to Dominican Spanish
phonetics/phonology in which the liquid consonants /l/ and /r/ tend to be exchanged,
neutralized or vocalized (Lipski: 231-232, 239).
Colombia: The Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos indicates that legajador and carpeta are used
in the sense of file folder and does not define or mention flder (Haensch and Werner
1993a), whereas in this study carpeta was offered by 14 out of 16, flder by 8 out of 16, and
legajador by only 2 of the 16 Colombian respondents. Has the use of legajador (file folder)
decreased in Colombia, losing ground to flder, since the time Haensch and Werner did their
research on this topic (perhaps in the 1980s and early 1990s) and the time I did mine in
2005-2006, or do educated Colombians still regularly use legajador, especially in writing?
Has flder gained ground in Colombia since the 1980s, or has it been in common use for
many decades? In the Lxico del habla culta de Santaf de Bogot study, published in 1997,
15 out of 25 respondents said carpeta, 9 out of 25 flder and 4 out of 25 legajador (Otlora
de Fernndez: 313), which suggests that by the end of the 20th century legajador was
already on the decline and flder was, if not a rising star, certainly an important player.
Related concept, file: Some of the respondents in this study were also asked to identify the file
itself. While this could refer to just what is contained in the file folder (the file contents
without the jacket), I generally asked them Cmo se llama la carpeta (or whatever word
they had used for the file folder) ms los documentos que sta contiene, el conjunto, todo?
The information collected for the file, however, was limited and inconclusive, and more
research needs to be done to determine to what extent the different words for this item, such
as archivo, carpeta, expediente, dossier, ficha, file/fail, flder, folio, legajo, legajador and
74
rcord, are regionally weighted, and to what extent they refer to different types of files such
as legal files vs. medical files, etc. J ust as the term folder in English can refer to either a
file folder or a file, it appears that in Spanish many speakers also blend or combine these two
closely related items by using one or more terms in both senses. There is also the issue of
how Spanish speakers refer to a computer file (archivo... y qu ms?), as well as folders,
directories, drives, etc., and the action of saving files (almacenar, guardar, salvar, etc.).
This discussion of files also leads us to another question that was not researched: What are
the different names in Spanish for file cabinet or filing cabinet (such as archivo,
archivador, archivero, fichero, gabinete, etc.), and how, if at all, are these terms/usages
regionally weighted?
C6.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: archivador (A or C?), carpeta (A), cartapacio (D), file (F), flder (A), folio
(D), legajador (F), legajo (D), portadocumentos (F), portafolio (D), portapapeles (F). GPA = C!
DRAE definitions: carpeta, (Del fr. carpette, tapete, y este del ingl. carpet). til de
escritorio que consiste en una pieza rectangular, generalmente de cartn o plstico, que, doblada por
la mitad y atada con cintas, gomas o cualquier otro medio, sirve para guardar o clasificar papeles,
dibujos o documentos; archivador, 3. Carpeta convenientemente dispuesta para tales fines [para
archivar documentos, fichas u otros papeles]; flder, (Del ingl. folder). Am. carpeta (|| cubierta
con que se resguardan los legajos).
Comments: The definitions of cartapacio and legajo include a sense corresponding to file
contents but not to file folder, and the latter sense with regional specifications needs to be added
to the definitions of these terms.
C7 BRIEFCASE
C7.1 Summary
Maletn and portafolio(s) can be considered the General Spanish terms as both are commonly used
in this sense in most of Spanish America. Regional usages are common in Spain and Nicaragua, and
possibly in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Chile as well.
C7.2 Terms by Country (c. 8 terms plus variants)
SPAIN cartera (14/20), maletn (9/20), portafolios (1/20).
MEXICO portafolio(s) (48/58), maletn (25/58).
GUATEMALA portafolio(s) (6/11), maletn (5/11).
EL SALVADOR portafolio(s) (11/16), maletn (5/16), cartapacio (1/16), cartern (1/16).
HONDURAS portafolio(s) (11/17), maletn (8/17), portapapeles (1/17).
NICARAGUA cartapacio (9/16), maletn (7/16), portafolio(s) (5/16).
COSTA RICA maletn (ejecutivo) (8/16), bulto (4/16), portafolio(s) (2/16), valija (ejecutiva) (2/16),
maleta (1/16).
PANAMA maletn (11/13), bulto (1/13), maleta (1/13), portapapeles (1/13).
CUBA maletn (11/17), portafolio(s) (9/17), maleta (2/17), maletica (1/17).
DOMIN. REP. maletn (14/16), bulto (5/16), portafolio(s) (2/16).
75
PUERTO RICO maletn (12/16), bulto (7/16), portafolio(s) (1/16).
VENEZUELA maletn (21/24), portafolio(s) (5/24), bulto (4/24).
COLOMBIA maletn (14/18), portafolio(s) (7/18), portapapeles (1/18).
ECUADOR maletn (10/16), portafolio(s) (7/16), ejecutivo (1/16).
PERU maletn (17/17), cartapacio (1/17).
BOLIVIA maletn (13/17), portafolio(s) (6/17), portapapeles (1/17).
PARAGUAY portafolio(s) (11/12), cartapacio (1/12), cartera (1/12), maleta de oficina (1/12), maletn
(1/12).
URUGUAY portafolio(s) (10/10), maletn (3/10).
ARGENTINA portafolio(s) (11/18), maletn (9/18), valija (3/18), cartera (2/18).
CHILE maletn (10/16), portadocumento(s) (5/16), portafolio(s) (3/16), bolsn (1/16).
C7.3 Details
General: Respondents were asked to identify two pictures, one of a soft-case briefcase made out of
leather (see figure C7), and another of an attach case or hard-case briefcase (see figure C7').
The data presented in section C7.2 above are those corresponding to the soft-case briefcase,
but see Related concepts, attach case and large portfolio below for information on
attach cases and large portfolios. Many respondents were also asked questions such as
Cul es la diferencia entre un(a) __ y un(a) __? with some of the different terms for
briefcase placed in the blank spaces. More research needs to be done to determine what
different Spanish speakers understand are the differences between maletines, portafolios,
carteras, etc. Because the terms cover a range of different objects, a simple show-and-tell
or onomastic approach will not suffice to determine usage. In fact, not using photographs at
all and simply asking Spanish speakers to describe and contrast the terms might have been
a better approach. One important research topic is to determine in which countries maletn
is mostly associated with a briefcase, in which it generally refers to a small suitcase, and in
which it can just as easily refer to a briefcase or a small suitcase to the point that the word,
out of context, is highly ambiguous.
15
Spelling & Variants: The vast majority of respondents in this study indicated that portafolio, and
not portafolios, is the singular form of the word
__
un portafolio, varios portafolios
__
and this
was true in the case of all countries from which respondents offered this term. Only a very
small minority of respondents from any country stated that they used portafolios as both the
singular and the plural form of the word (un portafolios, dos portafolios). The DRAE accepts
both portafolio and portafolios as singular forms but indicates its preference for the former
by listing it first in the same entry, portafolio o portafolios.
16
Related concepts, attach case and large portfolio: Respondents from many countries indicated
that a maletn and/or portafolio could refer to any type of briefcase whereas an atach was
an attach case, and many also identified the attach case with the same name they had
offered for the soft-case briefcase but with the modifier ejecutivo added, i.e. maletn
ejecutivo or portafolio ejecutivo. Spaniards, however, more often identified the soft-case
briefcase as a cartera and called the attach case a maletn. Several Bolivians and Chileans
offered maletn James Bond and/or just James Bond (pronounced as if written yein(s) bon)
for an attach case, and one Chilean indicated that a maletn was a soft-case briefcase, a
portadocumentos was an attach case, and a portaplanos was a large portfolio, that is, one
of those extra-large rigid or semi-rigid briefcases that artists and architects use to transport
drawings, designs, blueprints, etc.
76
C7.4 Real Academia Regional Review
DRAE grades: bulto ( D?), cartapacio (D), cartera (C or D?), maletn (F), portadocumentos
(F), portafolio(s) (A or D?). GPA = C!
DRAE definitions: bulto, 7. C. Rica. y Ven. Bolso empleado por los nios para llevar los
tiles escolares; cartera, 3. Objeto de forma cuadrangular hecho de cuero u otra materia
generalmente flexible, que se usa para llevar en su interior documentos, papeles, libros, etc.;
maleta, (Del dim. de mala
1
). Especie de caja o cofre pequeo de cuero, lona u otras materias, que
sirve para guardar en viajes o traslados ropa u otras cosas y se puede llevar a mano. || 4. Cuba.
Cartera que usan los nios para llevar los libros a la escuela; portafolio o portafolios, (Del fr.
portefeuille). Cartera de mano para llevar libros, papeles, etc.
Questions/Comments: Imagine you were a dictionary user who did not already know that the
terms maletn, portafolio and cartera can refer to objects that in English are called briefcases. Would
the DRAEs definitions of these terms lead you to that conclusion? Unfortunately, they would not,
at least not by clear, convincing and unequivocal descriptions. Maletn, the most commonly used
term for briefcase, is not even an entry in the DRAE, though it does define maletn de grupa as a
special type of small suitcase used by people on horseback. The DRAEs decision not to include a
definition of maletn may be on the grounds that it is a diminutive form of maleta, a small suitcase
as it were, and that a definition of the diminutive would therefore be superfluous, but such reasoning
would be specious: In most varieties of the Spanish language, a maletita or maletica could be a
maleta pequea, a small suitcase, and the meaning of these diminutives flows naturally from that
of maleta, thus eliminating the need to define maletita and maletica separately. But a maletn is a
classic example of a diminutive that in most varieties of Spanish has become lexicalized, that is, it
no longer merely refers to a small maleta but has taken on the specific meaning of briefcase (this
probably occurred at least a century ago). And if we try to force the briefcase sense of maletn into
or onto the definition of (a small) maleta, we find that it fits poorly, as a maletn, for most Spanish
speakers, is not a smaller version of a caja o cofre... para guardar en viajes o traslados ropa u otras
cosas. With regard to the DRAEs definition of cartera, sense 3 describes a case used to hold books
and documents, but does not include a description that would specifically tell a reader that it can
refer to a briefcase. A separate definition of a case that includes the key element of a handle is
needed; ironically, handle is another important topic in Spanish lexical dialectology. The
definition of portafolio(s) has as its fulcrum the term cartera and thus suffers from the same defect
as that of the latter term. The DRAE describes the term bulto in sense 7 as a bolso that school
children use to carry their books, etc., but several Costa Ricans indicated that it can also be a
briefcase that adults use. In short, none of the commonly used terms for briefcase is satisfactorily
defined with a clear description of this item. Compare the American Heritage Dictionarys definition
of briefcase: A portable, often flat case with a handle, used for carrying papers or books. What
could be simpler?
APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL TOPICS
The following is a small selection of additional topics relating to school- and office-supply
terminology which are presented merely to call attention to their existence as possible dialectal
and/or lexicographical issues that await in-depth investigation.
77
Note: A country followed by a question mark means that in this study only 1 or 2 respondents from
that country gave a particular response.
computer. This item was not tested and perhaps is no longer as much of a dialectal issue as it was
previously insofar as a high percentage of Spanish-speaking computer users (or at least
programmers and vendors) are probably familiar with all three words for
computer
__
computador, computadora and ordenador
__
though no doubt the frequency of use
of these terms varies considerably in different countries. However, until not very long ago,
the traditional view held that ordenador (influenced by French ordenateur) was Peninsular
Spanish usage, and computadora and computador (influenced by English computer)
pertained to Spanish American usage. To what extent is this still true? The DRAE defines
ordenador with the regional specification Esp. (Aleluya!), but defines computador, ra
(computer) with no regional mark, thus implying they are General Spanish terms.
Surprisingly, computador(a) and ordenador are not cross-referenced to each other.
correction fluid (white-out, liquid paper). The most widespread and region-neutral terms are
corrector, corrector lquido and lquido corrector, all of which can be considered variants
of each other. Respondents from diverse regions also offered other descriptive terms such
as borrador de tinta, borrador lquido, corrector de pluma, corrector de tinta, lquido
blanco, lquido borrador, lquido de borrar, lquido para borrar (tinta), and tinta blanca
(para borrar). The brand name liquid paper (along with alternate spellings, pronunciations
and/or variants such as of licuid piper, liqui piper, licuid and lqui(d)) was offered as a
generic word by respondents from most Spanish American countries. In addition, the
following terms, some of which are brand names that have become generics, and others of
which are colloquial, were offered by respondents from smaller sets of countries:
blanqueador (lquido) (Venezuela?, Colombia?); blanquillo and blanquito (El Salvador,
colloquial); chelito (El Salvador; colloquial, from chele, white, blond); liquidito (Cuba?,
colloquial), rdex/radex (Nicaragua? Ecuador?, Bolivia?; is this brand still popular?); tipex
(Spain; Venezuela, Bolivia; also spelled typex, tippex, tpex and occasionally tipest; where
else is this brand popular?); and white-out (Puerto Rico; also spelled whiteout, wite out).
Some said rdex/radex is not correction fluid but those small correction papers people once
used (and in some countries still do!) to correct mistakes made with a typewriter by typing
over the letters and whiting them out.
glue (Elmers glue, white glue). Pegamento and goma (de pegar), modified by blanco/a, escolar
and/or other qualifiers, can be considered General Spanish terms for this type of glue. Other
more regionally marked terms for this item include a number of brand names that have
become more or less generic words in certain regions of the Spanish-speaking world:
carpicola (Bolivia; Bolivian brand?); cascola (Uruguay; Brazilian brand); cola (blanca)
(Spain, Peru?, Argentina?); cola fra (Chile); colbn (Colombia; Colombian brand); ega, ega
pega, goma ega or pega ega (Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and
elsewhere?; ega is the Elmers brand name in Spanish America); gomero (Ecuador); pega
(blanca) (Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela); pegante (Colombia, Ecuador); plasticola
(Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina; Argentine brand); and resistol (blanco) (Mexico,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua). Although resistol has become a generic
word for glue in these 5 countries (and perhaps elsewhere), I am told the original Resistol
(from English resist all?) was a Mexican brand of yellowish glue.
labels (self-adhesive labels). Etiqueta adhesiva, etiqueta autoadhesiva, etiqueta autoadherible,
etiqueta engomada, etc., are General Spanish terms for self-adhesive labels, but in this
78
survey other terms were also offered, some of which appear to have related meanings in
General Spanish: calcomana (given by respondents from almost everywhere, but purists
contend that a calcomana is not a label or a sticker but a decal or transfer); label
(Puerto Rico, pronounced libel); marbete (Colombia?; defined as a manufacturing label or
luggage tag in the DRAE, among other meanings); membrete (Nicaragua?, Ecuador?,
Bolivia? Argentina?); rotulador (Honduras?); rtulo (offered by Paraguayans in this study
but it is a General Spanish term); sticker or estquer (again, almost everywhere, but this time
purists also object to it because it is an Anglicism); and vieta (El Salvador, Honduras?).
letter opener. This item was not researched in this project but apparently has various names such
as abrecartas, plegadera, abridor (de cartas) and cortapapel(es) some of which may be
regionally distributed. The Lxico del habla culta studies provide some information on this
object and suggest that abrecartas and/or plegadera may be more common in some countries
(perhaps Spain, Mexico, Peru), while cortapapel(es) may be more frequent in others
(Colombia and perhaps Bolivia), but the data is generally inconclusive. Respondents from
Argentina and Chile were about equally divided between cortapapel(es) and abrecartas.
notepad, pad of paper. Bloc (de papel) appears to be the General Spanish term, though many
Spanish speakers write it block, as it is written in English. Its variant bloque (de papel)
seems to be less common than bloc(k). Libreta also appears to be somewhat common,
especially in Spain and Puerto Rico, though some Spanish speakers claim that a libreta is
a spiral notebook in which the spiral is at the top of the pages, whereas a bloc is a pad of
paper (with the pages glued together). Many others, however, said a bloc was a spiral
notebook with the spiral on top (see section C3). Is the term taco (de apuntes) still
commonly used in Spain? The DRAE defines taco with no regional specification as, 9.
Conjunto de hojas de papel sujetas en un solo bloque but this usage does not appear to be
common in most of the Spanish-speaking world.
post-it note (sticky note, sticky). The term post-it is the most commonly used term for this item,
although it is often spelled and/or pronounced post it, postit, posti, posit, and due to
confusion (i.e. a little knowledge is dangerous) posted, etc. Other terms offered in this study
include (nota de) quita y pon (Spain, Costa Rica, Uruguay), and sticky or estiqui (Puerto
Rico).
protractor. Transportador is the General Spanish term but in Ecuador the word graduador is used.
Semicrculo (graduado) was also offered by a few from Spain, Paraguay and Argentina, and
by a majority from Cuba and Uruguay. The DRAE defines transportador as Crculo
graduado... que sirve para medir o trazar los ngulos... while the Diccionario inicial del
espaol de Mxico defines it as Instrumento para medir ngulos... tiene la forma de un
semicrculo (vila); many English-language dictionaries also define it as a semicircular
instrument... Since there are both half-circle and full-circle protractors, any definition that
says it is circular or semicircular is too restrictive and needs to be made more general.
reinforcements (reinforcement rings, gummed reinforcements). Refuerzos (para hojas),
refuerzos engomados, etiquetas circulares para hojas or protectores, may be, if not General
Spanish terms, at least neutral descriptive ones. Other terms, such as arandelas (adhesivas)
(Spain), ojalillos (Peru?, Paraguay?, Argentina), ojetes (Cuba?, Venezuela) and ojetillos
(Chile), appear to be more regional in nature.
tape A - scotch tape (transparent tape). Cinta adhesiva transparente and cinta de pegar
transparente may be the official terms that professors of Spanish teach their students to
use when seeking an equivalent of English scotch tape, and who can deny that these or
similar neutral Spanish terms do not have some merit? They are not, however, what Spanish
79
speakers typically use in their everyday language. The following are more common and
regional names for this item: celo (Spain); celofn (Spain); celotape or celotei(p)
(Venezuela); cinta escoch, cinta scotch or scotch/escoch (probably used almost everywhere
but in this study it was found to be particularly common in Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile); cinta pegante (transparente)
(Colombia); diurex (Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina; also sometimes spelled and pronounced
direx, durex, drex, yurex and yrex; regardless of spelling the stress is always on the first
syllable); fixo (Spain; also pronounced and occasionally spelled fiso); papel celo (Spain);
tape, tei(p) or teipe (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
Venezuela; although in theory this Anglicism could refer to any type of tape, in practice
the term often refers specifically to scotch tape in the above countries); and teipa
(Nicaragua? and elsewhere?). There is also the issue of how Spanish speakers distinguish
between regular clear scotch tape and matte-finish magic scotch tape.
tape B - masking tape. The following terms were offered for this item: cinta de embalar or cinta
de embalaje (Spain, Peru?, Paraguay?, Argentina, Chile?; perhaps this is really shipping
tape which is a lot heftier than masking tape); cinta de enmascarar (Colombia,
Argentina?); cinta de papel (Ecuador, Argentina); masking tape or masquin teip (Mexico,
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile); papel precinta and precinta (Cuba); and tirro (El Salvador,
Venezuela). The term masking tape often gets reduced to masking/masquin, and the variant
cinta masquin sometimes gets expanded to cinta masquin teip (lo cual es llover sobre
mojado, overkill as it were, but who cares!). The s of masquin also sometimes gets
reduced or eliminated, leaving maquin tei(p), which in turn can get reconfigured to marquin
tei(p), maquent and other variants that members of the Real Academia would probably find
tawdry, scandalous, base, contemptible, corrupt and a stinging insult to honorable and decent
Spanish speakers everywhere.
typewriter. Mquina de escribir is the General Spanish term but the DRAE indicates that
maquinilla is used in this sense in Puerto Rico. Is maquinilla commonly used in the sense
of typewriter elsewhere? How much longer will typewriters be with us?
NOTES
1. From Abstract. An excerpt of this article is published in the printed edition of the Proceedings
of the 47th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association, and the complete version
in the CD ROM edition of the same publication. I would like to express my appreciation to Sharlee
Merner Bradley, Lucrecia Hug and Ketty Wong for reviewing earlier drafts and making valuable
suggestions, and to Teresa Kelly and Roshan Pokharel of the ATA for their support and technical
assistance. I would also like to thank the following people for going out of their way to put me in
contact with informants/respondents for this study: Mara Barros, Eric Bye, Mnica Cicchetti, Susan
Cole, Camille Cook, Mara Fernndez, Soledad J udge, Rachael Keast, J avier Labrador, Ilana Locker,
Germn Eduardo Messidoro, Nancy Nash, Virginia Navarro, Kristen Nickel, David Pharies, Margot
Revera, Rolando Roig, Rafael Saavedra, Leandro Wolfson, Leland Wright and Phyllis Zatlin.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to all those who generously gave of their time to answer questions
on usage. In addition to the works that appear in References below, information on items in other
domains or semantic fields whose names in Spanish vary by region can be found in the following
works by Andre Moskowitz:
80
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: time to retool. Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference
of the American Translators Association, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., November 9-12,
2005. Marian S. Greenfield, comp. American Translators Association, 2005. 295-417.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: wild kingdom. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference
of the American Translators Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 13-16, 2004.
Marian S. Greenfield, comp. American Translators Association, 2004. 169-228.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: back to basics. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference
of the American Translators Association, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., November 5-8, 2003.
Scott Brennan, comp. American Translators Association, 2003. 287-343.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: la ciudad y los fueros. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual
Conference of the American Translators Association, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., November
6-9, 2002. Scott Brennan, comp. American Translators Association, 2002. 353-399.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: folks. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the
American Translators Association, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., October 31-November
3, 2001. Thomas L. West III, comp. American Translators Association, 2001. 268-301.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: kids stuff. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of
the American Translators Association, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., September 20-23, 2000.
Thomas L. West III, comp. American Translators Association, 2000. 328-366.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: food and drink. Proceedings of the 40th Annual
Conference of the American Translators Association, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., November
3-6, 1999. Ann G. Macfarlane, comp. American Translators Association, 1999. 275-308.
Topics in Spanish lexical dialectology: the home. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of
the American Translators Association, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, U.S.A.,
November 4-8, 1998. Ann G. Macfarlane, comp. American Translators Association, 1998.
221-253.
Fruit and vegetable terminology in the Spanish-speaking world: regional variation. Proceedings
of the 38th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association, San Francisco,
California, U.S.A., November 5-9, 1997. Muriel M. J rme-OKeeffe, comp. American
Translators Association, 1997. 233-261.
Clothing terminology in the Spanish-speaking world: regional variation. Proceedings of the 37th
Annual Conference of the American Translators Association, Colorado Springs, Colorado,
U.S.A., October 30-November 3, 1996. Muriel M. J rme-OKeeffe, comp. American
Translators Association, 1996. 287-308.
Car terminology in the Spanish-speaking world. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of
the American Translators Association, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A., November 8-12, 1995.
Peter W. Krawutschke, comp. American Translators Association, 1995. 331-340.
Contribucin al estudio del espaol ecuatoriano. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Department of
Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Florida. Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.
1995.
A box of office supplies: dialectological fun. The Georgetown Journal of Languages &
Linguistics. Vol. 1.3. Ed. Richard J . OBrien, S.J . 1990. 315-344.
2. From section A1.3, Colombia. Andre Moskowitz taught middle-school and high-school English
at the Colegio Panamericano, a bilingual semi-American-style school in Bucaramanga, Santander
in 1984, and English as a Second Language at the Centro Colombo Americano in Cali, el Valle,
Colombia in 1985; he also taught ESL in Guayaquil, Ecuador from 1990-1992.
81
3. From section A1.3, Attitudes toward tiza vs. alternate terms. Not only is Mexico the largest
Spanish-speaking country in population, but it is also what we might call a pop culture-exporting
country. This can be defined in a narrow way as a country that ships large quantities of pop culture
abroad such as popular music, film, advertising, and especially television programs. And there may
be a general tendency among educated people from large pop culture-exporting countries to be more
insular and inward-looking as compared to their counterparts from smaller countries who are often
more cosmopolitan and outward-looking. Brazilians, and especially individuals from the United
States, would be prime examples of people who, because their national cultures are so big and
powerful and constitute leaders within the Portuguese- and English-speaking worlds, respectively,
are less likely on average to feel much of a need to look beyond their own borders for culture, or for
guidance on language use. In the Spanish-speaking world, there is fortunately more of a balance of
cultural power and no country is as dominant as the United States, Brazil, France, Germany or Egypt
are in their respective language groups. Nevertheless, there is still a high degree of asymmetry
within the Spanish-speaking world. For example, no Spanish-speaking country, including Spain,
exports more popular culture, especially television novelas, than Mexico. It is possible that educated
people from Mexico, and probably to a lesser extent those of Colombia and Argentina, insofar as
they are aware of foreign models of language use, especially Peninsular Spanish usage, more often
take the position that As hablamos, y punto than do people from smaller countries such as
Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc. In all countries, the educated often look down on and attempt to
distance themselves from the ways in which the uneducated masses speak the language, but in
smaller nations in which the educated are only a tiny minority, those who have had the benefit of
higher learning tend to be very uncomfortable with features of their own language that mirror those
of the uneducated masses. While linguistic insecurity can be found everywhere, due to the vastly
different shapes of the different Latin American societies social pyramids, this phenomenon would
be very characteristic of small countries such as El Salvador and Honduras, in which a large
percentage of the population receives little or no schooling, but not of one like Uruguay that has a
high literacy rate and a (relatively) solid middle class. Other small Spanish-speaking countries
probably fall somewhere in between these two extremes.
4. From section A3.3, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru & Chile. The Diccionario
del habla actual de Venezuela (Nez) describes the Andean region of Venezuela, where it indicates
that almohadilla is used in the sense of chalkboard eraser, as consisting of the states of Trujillo,
Mrida, Tchira, Barinas, Apure, the extreme western part of Portuguesa, and the extreme southern
part of Lara that borders Trujillo.
5. From section A3.3, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru & Chile. The Nuevo
diccionario de colombianismos (Haensch and Werner 1993a) indicates that almohadilla
(chalkboard eraser) is used in the departments of Boyac, Caldas, Cauca, Cesar, Crdoba,
Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Quindo, Risaraldas, Santander and el Valle, as well
as in the Llanos Orientales or eastern plains that drain to the Orinoco (the region of Colombia that
lies between the Venezuelan border and the Amazon jungle). However, these areas are spread out
over disparate parts of Colombia that include the eastern interior, the western interior, the Costa or
Atlantic Coast region, and the Llanos, which would suggest that the use of almohadilla (chalkboard
eraser) is not regionally marked within Colombia. Is its use socially marked?
6. From section A5.3, Argentina. The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina (Haensch and Werner
2000a) defines the northwest region of Argentina (el Noroeste), where it says felpa (marker) is
82
used, as that consisting of the provinces of J ujuy, Salta, Tucumn, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero,
most of La Rioja, the northwest part of San J uan, the northwest corner of Chaco and the extreme
western part of Formosa.
7. From section A6.3, Spain. Boli, a shortened, colloquial form of bolgrafo, appears to be more
common in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking countries. It would therefore be interesting to do
a comparative study to determine how frequent forms such as la uni (la universidad), la bici (la
bicicleta), la pati (la patineta), and la tele (la televisin), etc., are in the different varieties of the
language, and to see if Spaniards generally have a greater penchant for lopping off the final syllables
of certain nouns to create colloquial forms of the same word than do Spanish speakers from other
countries. Or perhaps this phenomenon is equally common in all varieties of Spanish but different
words are selected in each to undergo this process. An interesting example heard in Mexico,
especially among Mexico City youth (perhaps in other countries and groups as well), and that occurs
not with a noun but with an adjective-interjection-command is tranquis (tranquilo), often with the
meaning of relax, chill out and sometimes in the adjectival sense. Examples include tranquis,
tranquis, ya viene; qudate tranquis, no va a pasar nada; and estbamos muy tranquis, escuchando
msica. I was told that tranquis is not used to describe an inherent characteristic as in es un hombre
muy *tranquis. Does this process generally occur with words that have at least four syllables and
mostly when at least two syllables at the end of the word are eliminated? Many of the shortened
forms such as bici have only two syllables, but others have three such as esfero (from esferogrfico),
and revol or revul (relajo, situacin catica; se arm un revul; perhaps from revolucin or,
according to the DRAE, from ttum revoltum). Are three syllables the short forms upper limit? A
common example from English is paci (pronounced as if written passee, from babys pacifier). In
the United States, paci now appears to be used in spoken language much more often than pacifier,
and the short form is by no means limited to baby talk.
8. From section A6.3, Puerto Rico. For all the abuse Puerto Ricans have been subject to over the
years on account of their Spanish, my experience is that educated Puerto Ricans generally speak an
elegant, classic and, in many respects, neutral variety of the language that often puts the Spanish of
their critics to shame. In addition to a great many standard middle-of-the-road lexical preferences
(as well as a large number of intriguing, enriching and colorful regionalisms), Puerto Rican Spanish
includes the following features:
a) The velar word-final or phrase-final n whereby the final consonant in a word like cancin
is generally pronounced the way an English speaker would pronounce the final sound of song or
sing. This feature is currently found in about half the Spanish-speaking world, or perhaps slightly
more than half, and appears to be gaining ground at the expense of the alveolar n (i.e. when the final
n in cancin is pronounced like those in English son or sin).
b) No rehilamiento of ll and y nor phonological distinction between them. When ll and y
correspond to separate phonemes, rallo is pronounced differently from rayo, and pollo from poyo.
For a brief, nontechnical description of rehilamiento of ll and y, see Argentina in section A4.3
above. Both of these features, which are lacking in Puerto Rican Spanish, are regional in nature and
not part of General Spanish.
c) No shortening, weakening, or devoicing of unstressed vowels typical of highland
Spanish such as that found in the Andes and in interior Mexico.
d) Not pronouncing words ending in -illo or -illa as if they ended in -o or a (such that pillo
and po are homophones, as well as la silla and la CIA), or doing the opposite due to
hypercorrection, features that are common in many Central American varieties.
83
e) Pronouncing the jota sound as a simple aspiration ([h]). This feature is found in many
areas of the Spanish-speaking world, but is admittedly at one of the far ends of the spectrum of jotas:
It is not as middle-of-the-road as the jota heard in the Spanish of Mexico City, Lima or Buenos
Aires, but (according to my own highly subjective sense of aesthetics) is much more pleasing to the
ear than the Castilian clearing-of-the-throat jota.
f) Pronouncing the /rr/ sound (carro, reto, Israel) with aspiration which causes it to be
voiceless. There is also the velarized or uvular r used by many Puerto Ricans such that Ramn
sounds similar to jamn (Lipski: 333). Both are aspects of Puerto Rican pronunciation that lie
outside of the Spanish languages mainstream.
g) The exclusive use of t and usted as singular and plural familiar second-person pronouns,
along with their corresponding verb forms, that is, no voseo or vosotroseo, both of which are
regionally marked features outside the confines of standard General Spanish (although voseo is
found in a majority of Spanish-speaking countries).
h) The non-inversion of WH questions accompanied by subject pronouns such as Qu t
quiere(s)? and Pa nde t va? (Para dnde/Adnde vas?). This phenomenon occurs with a very
high frequency throughout the Spanish-speaking Antilles, but is also not uncommon in other
Caribbean nations such as Panama and Venezuela (Lipski: 233, 242, 300, 335, 351).
Al hacer este breve recuento mayormente encomistico del espaol puertorriqueo, en el cual
se han sacado a relucir algunas caractersticas presentes y otras ausentes, debo confesar mi propio
prejuicio en el asunto ya que, por lo general, soy de la barra del espaol antillano y partidario de sus
sonidos, cadencias y giros lingsticos. Pero sobre los gustos no hay nada escrito, o
__
ponindole
enmienda al refrn
__
, sobre ellos no hay nada escrito en forma objetiva. La aspiracin de las eses que
se da en el habla de los puertorriqueos cultos no me molesta. Es ms, la prefiero a esas eses
arrastradas que se oyen en algunas zonas de Amrica (generalmente en las tierras altas donde las
vocales tonas se reducen y se ensordecen), y a las eses apicales o espesas del centro y norte de
Eshpaa. Dos aspectos que le tachara al espaol puertorriqueo, y que s me sacan de quicio, son
la pronunciacin uvular de la erre (suena algo similar a una jota castellana), y la neutralizacin de
las eles y las eres en posicin final de palabra (mujel por mujer, caminal por caminar) y
preconsonntica (alma por arma), rasgos que se dan mucho menos en el habla culta de Puerto Rico
que en el habla popular, y menos todava en su habla culta cuidadosa o esmerada. Partiendo de esta
ltima caracterstica fontica puertorriquea (que hasta cierto punto la comparten las hablas cubana
y dominicana tambin), han salido numerosos chistes como el siguiente: En diciembre de 1989 los
Estados Unidos invade Panam en una operacin militar denominada Causa J usta, cuyo objeto
inmediato es derrocar al general Manuel Antonio Noriega, antiguo colaborador de la CIA, y en esta
operacin participan soldados puertorriqueos. Al gritar stos a sus adversarios panameos ya
derrotados Entreguen las armas!, las tropas panameas renegaban y refunfuaban, Qu
desgraciados que son estos soldados americanos, si quieren que entreguemos hasta nuestras almas!
9. From section A6.3, Ecuador. Unfortunately, no Esmeraldeos were queried in this study and
comments regarding Costeo usage made in this article may not apply to the predominant usage
in Esmeraldas. Until fairly recently the only paved roads connecting Esmeraldas with the rest of the
Costa, or coastal region, passed through Santo Domingo de los Colorados, which is in the Sierra or
highland region. Thus Esmeraldas has been physically connected more to the Sierra than to the rest
of the Costa and may share a number of lexical features with the Sierra. J ust so you have a lay of
the land, the Costa is generally considered to consist of the provinces of Esmeraldas and Manab (the
Costa Norte), and Guayas, Los Ros and El Oro (the Costa Sur). The Sierra is made up of a series
of provinces which El gran libro de la cocina ecuatoriana (Rojas) subdivides into Carchi and
84
Imbabura (the Sierra Norte), Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Chimborazo and Bolvar (the Sierra
Central), Caar and Azuay (the Austro), and Loja (the Sierra Sur), though others probably combine
these last two regions into a single area, Sierra Sur. Some from the Pennsula de Santa Helena are
currently involved in a bid to break away from el Guayas and create a new province (Peninsulares
por la Provincia 23), but whether or not this campaign will be successful remains to be seen; in the
past, a similar initiative by Santo Domingo de los Colorados to secede from el Pichincha failed. In
addition to longstanding border disputes with Peru, within Ecuador some of the provincial borders
are also in dispute as indicated by shaded areas on national maps. It should be noted that the definite
articles in the Ecuadoran provinces of El Oro and Los Ros are spelled with initial uppercase
letters because they are considered inseparable from and part of the names, whereas those of el
Carchi, el Guayas and el Pichincha, etc., can be spelled with a lowercase e since the article is
often optional and is not considered part of the provinces names, although it is obligatory in some
contexts such as La Direccin Provincial del Guayas.
Cmo explicar el hecho de que en el Ecuador algunos costeos parecen haber cedido ante
el uso serrano al adoptar esfero mientras que los serranos no han adquirido pluma? Esto puede
resultarnos ms sorprendente an si consideramos que entre los dos trminos, esfero y pluma, es ste
el de mayor difusin a nivel internacional. Mientras que Guayaquil es la ciudad ms grande del pas,
Quito es la capital, y cabe preguntar si el uso capitalino en este caso se est imponiendo en toda la
nacin. Tambin hay quienes sostienen que el carcter serrano suele ser ms terco y menos flexible
que el del costeo. Sern los serranos menos propensos a ceder ante el uso costeo que vice versa?
Otra explicacin ms sencilla es que, por razones comprensibles, a los ecuatorianos de ambas zonas
les suena ms fino (y ms chvere) el trmino esfero, en tanto que la voz pluma les suena ms
chapada a la antigua.
10. From section A7.3, Spelling & Variants. Although respondents were not asked about the plural
form of pluma fuente or plumafuente, an Internet search on Google conducted in mid 2006 generated
4 different written plural forms, to wit, plumas fuente (2,240 hits), plumas fuentes (1,410 hits),
plumafuentes (122 hits) and plumasfuentes (3 hits). A search of the corresponding plural forms of
lapicera fuente produced lapiceras fuente (86 hits), lapiceras fuentes (14 hits), lapicerafuentes (0
hits), and lapicerasfuentes (0 hits). In the phrases plumas fuente and lapiceras fuente the modifier
fuente appears to function as an invariable adjective that does not exhibit grammatical number or
gender agreement. However, many prefer to view this fuente as an appositive noun that is used to
explain another noun. Another somewhat prescriptive analysis is that fuente is an appositive noun
and therefore is not governed by the other noun, but is sometimes incorrectly interpreted as an
adjective and then is subject to (or is subjected to) agreement. The issue perhaps boils down to how
broadly one defines the word adjective. In either case, fuente operates the same way that clave
works when it modifies a noun, as in the phrases dos palabras clave, un factor clave, cases in which
there is also an absence of number or gender agreement. Nevertheless, phrases such as factores
claves and razones claves are also widely used. Other possible examples of this phenomenon are
lmite (fecha lmite, velocidad lmite), ambiente (temperatura ambiente) and base (lnea base). We
note that all of these words have two things in common: They all end in e and, if considered
adjectives (in the broad sense of words that modify nouns), they are all derived without modification
from a noun. What other examples are there in Spanish of adjectives that do not show number
agreement? Do many of them end in e, and are they generally nonproductive adjectives, that is,
do they only modify a very small set of nouns? Two examples of adjectives that also frequently lack
number and gender agreement, may be somewhat productive, and do not end in an e are estndar,
85
as in the phrase variedades estndar (though some also write and say variedades estndares), and
porno, as in the phrase pelculas porno (pelculas *pornas would be considered ungrammatical).
11. From section A7.4, Questions/Comments: The issue of whether or not pluma estilogrfica and
estilogrfica are primarily Peninsular Spanish usages
__
and therefore whether or not these terms
should be defined in Spanish dictionaries with a regional specification indicating Spain (Esp.)
__
is
debatable. In its Advertencias para el uso de este diccionario, the DRAE informs the reader that
Todas aquellas entradas de uso general en Espaa cuyo empleo en otros pases ha sido
expresamente negado por las Academias correspondientes, llevan la marca Esp (DRAE: xxxiv).
However, this seems to be an overly restrictive criterion as it is unlikely that many members of the
sister Academies would abjure most typically Peninsular Spanish usages. (Siendo miembros
correspondientes de la Real Academia acaso van a renunciar a los espaolismos ante sus colegas
de Madrid? Por algo son buenos acadmicos!) In this study, few respondents from countries other
than Spain offered pluma estilogrfica and estilogrfica. On the other hand, an Internet search on
Google conducted in mid 2006 produced 52,300 hits for pluma estilogrfica, 26,700 hits for
estilogrfica (without the word pluma), but only 18,800 hits for pluma fuente, which suggests that
in writing (pluma) estilogrfica is the most frequently used term, and perhaps should be considered
the General Spanish term and the lead term in Spanish-language dictionaries. Nevertheless, a cursory
perusal of the sites on which (pluma) estilogrfica was found indicated that many were from Spain.
If you take the position that primarily Peninsular Spanish usages that are part of the standard
language should not be considered espaolismos since practically all are known to some Spanish
Americans, then there would be hardly any espaolismos in existence, and hence exceedingly few
would be defined with an Esp. regional specification. This is essentially what has happened in the
DRAE and partially explains why the Esp. designation is used so sparingly. And if we extend this
argument a bit further, we can say that almost all regionalisms are known by some outsiders, and
therefore there is no need for a dictionary to have any regional specifications. This approach,
however, would clearly be detrimental to dictionary users who are interested in knowing where
regionally weighted usages are primarily used.
12. From section A11.3, Sacapuntas vs. sacapunta: Alas, for most academic linguists the regional
variation of the lexicon is an area of study that is entirely lacking in sex appeal. The vast majority
of Spanish dialectologists or Hispanic dialectologists, that is, dialectologists who study the Spanish
language (not ones who are necessarily Spanish or Hispanic) are interested in phonetics, phonology,
morphosyntax or some aspect of sociolinguistics, but precious few are specifically interested in the
lexicon and its variation. Notable exceptions include the German dialectologist-lexicographers
Gnther Haensch and Reinhold Werner (who are terrific all-around Hispanist-linguists), and the
eminent J apanese scholar Hiroto Ueda. The latter has published extensively on Spanish lexical
dialectology and, along with Toshihiro Takagaki and Antonio Ruiz Tinoco, is in charge of an
important project called Varilex, which in mid 2006 was available online at http://gamp.c.u-tokyo-
.ac.jp/~ueda-/vari-lex/in-dex.php (some of the dashes will need to be eliminated). However, when
I checked this website, I was unable to compare results to those of the present study and others cited
in this article due to the fact that the Varilex site did not appear to indicate how many respondents
from each location had offered each term. The black and gray dots on the maps, indicating that either
a hit or no hit had been recorded for a given usage in a given city, were also hard to read. Through
the San Francisco Public Librarys interlibrary loan program I tried to order printed versions of
various Varilex works and others that are listed on Hiroto Uedas website at http://gamp.c.u-tok-
yo.ac.jp/~ueda/ken-kyu/gyoseki_s.pdf such as Distribucin de las palabras variables en Espaa y
86
en Amrica. Lxico del transporte in Estudios de Lingstica Hispnica. Homenaje a Mara
Vaquero (2000, pp. 637-655), but was informed that my requests had been cancelled because there
were no US libraries that carried these works, or because they were available online; my online
searches also did not produce full versions of the articles I was seeking. As que me qued con las
ganas. Si usted intenta obtener las obras de Hiroto Ueda, ojal tenga ms suerte, o ms destreza en
la bsqueda, y logre recibirlas para analizar y cotejar los resultados.
13. From section B1.3, Argentina. The Diccionario del espaol de Argentina (Haensch and Werner
2000a) indicates that the Cuyo region of Argentina, where it says elastiqun (rubber band) is used,
consists of the province of Mendoza and most of the province of San J uan, except for its northwest
corner, which Haensch and Werner consider part of the northwest region.
14. From section C3.3, Cuaderno universitario. Al definir cuaderno universitario, Morales Pettorino
et al precisan que es un cuaderno... armado en un espiral metlico o plstico... con lo cual dan a
entender que ellos consideran que espiral es voz de gnero masculino, mientras que el DRAE y los
diccionarios mexicanos de Lara Ramos y vila (entre otros) indican que espiral es un sustantivo
exclusivamente femenino. Nos encontramos ante otro tema dialectolgico que aguarde nuestra
atencin? Adelante, caro lector! Nos har el favor de investigarlo entrevistando a personas de
diferentes partes y luego de avisarnos? Una bsqueda por internet, realizada a mediados de 2006,
arroj los siguientes resultados generales (las cifras entre parntesis representan el nmero de
sucesos de cada frase): la espiral (505.000), las espirales (53.500), una espiral (459.000), unas
espirales (812), el espiral (39.500), los espirales (13.100), un espiral (59.000), y unos espirales
(992). Si bien es cierto que en esta bsqueda limitada espiral aparece como sustantivo femenino un
nmero de ocasiones (1.018.312) que es casi diez veces mayor que el nmero de veces en que
aparece como masculino (112.592), la cantidad de sucesos masculinos no es despreciable y
difcilmente puede atribuirse a simples errores de parte de los escritores. As que el interrogante
planteado arriba
__
quines dicen la espiral y quines el espiral
__
queda por resolverse, y no creo que
la respuesta ms acertada o iluminadora sea Bueno, los que hablan correctamente dicen la espiral
y los que no pueden decir el espiral o lo que les d la gana.
15. From section C7.3, General. With regard to the question of where the term maletn mostly refers
to a briefcase and where it often conjures up a small suitcase, the distinction between the two items
is often hazy. After all, where does a small suitcase end and a large briefcase begin? The briefcases
people in some professions tote around certainly appear suitcase-ish or suitcasesque, while other
briefcases made of canvas are essentially bags with zippers. Another classic topic in Spanish lexical
dialectology that is not strictly within the school- and office-supply domain but that needs to be
researched is the names for wallet: In which countries is this generally called a billetera, in which
a cartera, and in which a billetero? Although the DRAE defines all three in this sense without
regional specifications, any attentive traveler in the Spanish-speaking world can tell you that there
are regional preferences. Is billetera more common in South America and cartera more prevalent
in Mexico, Central America, the Antilles and Spain? An in-depth comparative study is needed.
16. From section C7.3, Spelling & Variants. In addition to portafolio(s), the DRAE lists
portaequipaje(s), portalmpara(s), portaobjeto(s) and portarretrato(s) with both a final s and
without one, and in each case the s-less form is preferred. With other compound words in which the
first element is porta, however, the DRAE lists only a form with a final s, to wit, portaaviones,
portabebs, portabrocas, portacartas, portacomidas, portaherramientas, portalibros, portaligas,
87
portamaletas, portamantas, portamonedas, portapliegos, portaplumas, portarrollos and
portaviandas; and in a few cases it lists only s-less forms such as portaalmizcle, portabandera,
portacaja, portacarabina, portafusil and portalpiz. It is true that what is being transported in some
of these examples is necessarily plural (e.g. portaaviones), whereas in others it is singular (e.g.
portacarabina), but in other cases whether the object carried is generally singular or plural is less
clear and more open to interpretation. Examples include portabeb(s), portacomida(s), portamina(s)
and portarrollo(s) all of which over the lifetime of the device may hold many of the objects in
question but at any given time often hold only one. Regardless of semantic correctness, it would be
interesting to research usage to determine the frequency of forms with and without a final s, and it
seems likely that in the case of some of the more common and popular ones, such as portacomida,
portamaleta, portavianda, the singular form without a final s is heard more often. For example, the
Diccionario del espaol de Cuba (Haensch and Werner 2000b) lists the following compound terms
with no final s: portabala, portacartucho, portachernero, portafuente (glossed as Peninsular Spanish
salvamanteles) and portavaso (Peninsular Spanish posavaso). See the section on Spelling and
Variants in this articles Introduction.
REFERENCES
Academia Argentina de Letras. 1998. Lxico del habla culta de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires,
Argentina: Academia Argentina de Letras.
vila, Ral. 2003. Diccionario inicial del espaol de Mxico. 1st edition. Mexico City, Mexico:
Editorial Trillas.
Corominas, J oan and J os A. Pascual. 1980. Diccionario crtico etimolgico castellano e hispnico.
6 volumes. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Gredos.
Garca-Pelayo y Gross, Ramn, ed. 1981. Pequeo Larousse Ilustrado. Buenos Aires, Mexico City,
Paris: Ediciones Larousse.
Haensch, Gnther and Reinhold Werner. 1993. Nuevo diccionario de americanismos. Tomo I.
Nuevo diccionario de colombianismos. Bogot, Colombia: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
Haensch, Gnther, Reinhold Werner and rsula Khl de Mones. 1993. Nuevo diccionario de
americanismos. Tomo III. Nuevo diccionario de uruguayismos. Bogot, Colombia: Instituto
Caro y Cuervo.
Haensch, Gnther and Reinhold Werner. 2000. Diccionario del espaol de Argentina / Espaol de
Argentina-Espaol de Espaa. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Gredos, S.A.
Haensch, Gnther and Reinhold Werner. 2000. Diccionario del espaol de Cuba / Espaol de Cuba-
Espaol de Espaa. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Gredos, S.A.
Lara Ramos, Luis Fernando. 1982. Diccionario fundamental del espaol usual de Mxico. Mexico
City, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica.
88
Lara Ramos, Luis Fernando. 1986. Diccionario bsico del espaol de Mxico. Mexico City,
Mexico: El Colegio de Mxico.
Lara Ramos, Luis Fernando. 1996. Diccionario del espaol usual en Mxico. 1st edition. Mexico
City, Mexico: El Colegio de Mxico.
Lipski, J ohn M. 1994. Latin American Spanish. London and New York: Longman Group Limited.
Lope Blanch, J uan Miguel. 1978. Lxico del habla culta de Mxico. Mexico City, Mexico:
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico.
Lpez Morales, Humberto et al. 1986. Lxico del habla culta de San Juan de Puerto Rico. San J uan,
Puerto Rico: Academia Puertorriquea de la Lengua Espaola.
Mencken, H. L. 1938. The American Language / An Inquiry into the Development of English in the
United States. 4th ed. New York, U.S.A.: Alfred A. Knopf.
Mendoza, J os G. and Roxana Latorre Hidalgo. 1996. Lxico del habla culta de La Paz. La Paz,
Bolivia: Universidad Mayor de San Andrs. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la
Educacin. Archivo Lingstico, Carrera de Lingstica e Idiomas. Stampa Grfica Digital.
Morales Pettorino, Flix, scar Quiroz Mejas and J uan J os Pea lvarez. 1984. Diccionario
ejemplificado de chilenismos y de otros usos diferenciales del espaol de Chile. 4 volumes.
Santiago, Chile: Academia Superior de Ciencias Pedaggicas de Valparaso. Editorial
Universitaria.
Nez, Roco and Francisco J avier Prez. 1994. Diccionario del habla actual de Venezuela.
Caracas, Venezuela: Publicaciones Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello. Centro de
Investigaciones Lingsticas y Literarias.
Otlora de Fernndez, Hilda. 1997. Lxico del habla culta de Santaf de Bogot. Bogot, Colombia:
Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
Pickett, J oseph P., ed. 2000. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th
edition. Boston and New York, U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Rabanales, Ambrosio and Lidia Contreras. 1987. Lxico del habla culta de Santiago de Chile.
Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico.
Real Academia Espaola. 2001. Diccionario de la Lengua Espaola (DRAE). 22nd edition. Madrid,
Spain: Editorial Espasa-Calpe, S.A.
Rojas, Luis Eduardo. n.d. El gran libro de la cocina ecuatoriana. Quito, Ecuador: Crculo de
Lectores, Ediciones Lerner Ltda.
Salvador, Francisco Salvador. 1991. Lxico del habla culta de Granada. Granada, Spain:
Universidad de Granada.
89
Samper Padilla, J os Antonio et al. 1998. Lxico del habla culta de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Servicio de
Publicaciones, Ediciones del Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria.
Seaman, H. W. September 1933. The Awful English of England in American Mercury. [The end-
epigraph is as quoted on pp. 328-29 of H. L. Menckens The American Language.]
Sedano, Mercedes and Zaida Prez Gonzlez. 1998. Lxico del habla culta de Caracas. Caracas,
Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela, Consejo de Desarrollo Cientfico y
Humanstico.
Soukhanov, Anne H., ed. 2005. Encarta Websters College Dictionary. New York: Bloomsbury
Publishing Plc.
Tejera, Mara J osefina. 1983-1993. Diccionario de venezolanismos. 3 volumes. Caracas, Venezuela:
Academia Venezolana de la Lengua. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de
Humanidades y Educacin. Instituto de Filologa Andrs Bello.
Toniolo, Mara Teresa et al. 2000. Lxico del habla culta de Crdoba, Argentina. Crdoba,
Argentina: Universidad Nacional de Crdoba.
Torres Martnez, J os C. de. 1981. Encuestas lxicas del habla culta de Madrid. Madrid, Spain:
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas. Instituto Miguel de Cervantes.
Whitman, Walt. An American Primer. [Written in the early 1850s and published posthumously
in 1904 in The Atlantic Monthly, the epigraph is as quoted on p. 74 of H. L. Menckens The
American Language.]
90
91
I speak for millions of Englishmen when I say that we are as sick and tired of this so-
called English accent as you Americans are. It has far less right to be called
Standard English than Yorkshire or any other country dialect has or than any
American dialect. It is as alien to us as it is to you. True, some of my neighbors have
acquired it for social and other reasons , but then some of the Saxon peasants
took pains to acquire Norman French, which was also imposed on them from above.
The advantages to be gained from its acquisition, if not wholly imaginary, are of
specious value. Boys from the great public schools, the cradles of snobbery, find that
their speech is a passport to jobs in motor showrooms in Great Portland street and
the Euston road, but even there its function is mainly decorative. As soon as the
customer has been well slavered and purred over, he is passed on to a salesman who,
whether he speaks broad Cockney or broad Northumbrian, knows something about
cars.
H. W. Seaman, British journalist and social critic, 1933.