In my last post, you saw the word gagică (GAH-jeekah), the official definition of which can be found here (in Romanian). Coming from the gypsy language (hopa!), it originally meant a woman who was something of a mistress, concubine or “lover” as opposed to one’s wife or established partner. Over time it has evolved into something along the lines of a generic word for any … Continue reading Slang Word of the Day: Gagica
Oh mercy, to understand Romanian mentality you’ve got to understand the custom of the pițipoancă (peetsy-poe-ankah) and the role she plays in society here. The normally verbose DEX has a very short definition of the word as a tanara usuratica, which translates literally to a “young, frivolous woman” however the most accurate translation in English would be something along the lines of a “bimbo”. Without … Continue reading Slang Word of the Day: Pitipoanca
I probably heard the expression saru’ mana about 5,000 times before I finally asked my friend Mihai what in the world it meant. My friend was a rather old school guy and he used this expression a lot when greeting people, especially at stores. It comes from a contraction of sarut (lit: “kissed”) and mână (lit. “the hand”) meaning “the hand is kissed” or perhaps … Continue reading Expression of the Day: Saru’Mana
At some point in your travels in Romania you’re going to need to eat something and you’re going to hear a few phrases that would be useful to understand. Just like my post on drum bun earlier, these are phrases that are obligatory. This means they aren’t “oh hey use ’em whenever the mood strikes you”. No! You must say these at the right time … Continue reading Expression of the Day – Pofta Mare/Buna
If you speak English and see the expression drum bun your mind conjures up a musical instrument for striking out rhythms combined with some kind of light bread style pastry and it makes NO SENSE. That being said, in Romanian it DOES make sense, sort of. Drum (pronounced droom) literally means a “road” or “path” and bun (boon) just means “good”. So drum bun literally … Continue reading Expression of the Day – Drum Bun
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