The other day I heard a friend of mine use this word and I had to smile. Clearly this word looks like the American vulgar term for a coward and it is almost pronounced the same – but not quite. In fact, you’re not really bilingual in Romanian and English until you can say these two words correctly. Sometimes spelled pusi, in Romanian it is … Continue reading Word of the Day: Pusy
The other day I was talking to my mother and a phrase rose unbidden in my mind – “spor la treaba“. I didn’t actually say it though because while I know what it means I didn’t have a way to translate it. Spor la treaba (sometimes spor la lucru) is just a generic phrase Romanians say to one another when beginning to work. I think … Continue reading Word of the Day: Spor
Although I often write about the strange and mysterious aspects of the Romanian language (and its grammar), sometimes things are fairly straightforward. One example is the prefex “ne” in Romanian, which generally follows right along with the prefix “un” in English, to indicate an opposite meaning. adevarat/neadeverat – true/untrue placut/neplacut – pleasant/unpleasant However there are some words you need to know which – very importantly … Continue reading Double Plus Ungood
One of the interesting things about the Romanian language is that is has two words for “kiss” (either the noun or the verb), both of them coming from Latin, yet having two very distinct meanings. The first one – pup – comes from the Latin word for kissing someone, now only surviving in Italian (mostly in colorful phrases I won’t detail here) and Romanian. The … Continue reading When A Kiss Is Just a Kiss
Living here in Romania and speaking English, it’s natural that I’m going to run into a few religious foreigners. Outside of Bucharest, I think half the foreigners or more are here primarily for religious purposes. Anyway, the other day one of them used a Romanian expression (correctly) and I had to cover my mouth not to bust out laughing. The reason I was smiling so … Continue reading Expression of the Day: De Mama Focului
All Things Romania 