Marisela Morales 03 - Dirty Little Christmas - Julie Leto (17 page)

I doubt this way of speaking jives with “high school” Spanish. I flunked that. (Yea, I know. Should have been an easy A, but there were about six
papi chulos
in my class—that’s Puerto Rican for hot guys—so I was sort of distracted.)

I put in a pronunciation guide, too, though it’s hard to explain how to roll your
r
when there are two put together, like in
churro
or how to soften your
d
so that it sounds sort of like a “th.” But give it your best shot…especially if you live in a place where no one call tell if you’re doing it wrong. But if it doesn’t make sense, find someone who knows and ask them how to say it. Though if the word has a * next to it, I’d be careful who you ask. If it has two **, be really careful who you ask.

In the order they appear in the story…

*coño
– (CONE-yo) doesn’t exactly translate to English, but probably the closest thing is, “Damn.” If you’re really ticked off and the person you’re pissed at is standing right in front of you, you might go for the stronger:

**coño su madre
– (CONE-yo soo MAH-thray) Now you’re cussing out their mother (madre). Anytime you cuss out someone’s mother, you’re really mad.

chica
– (CHEE-ka) chick, girl, girlfriend [
Chico
is the guy version]

*comemierda
– (ko-may-mee-YAIR-da) literally, shit-eater. Metaphorically, asshole.

muchas gracias
– (MOO-chahs GRAH-see-ahs) thank you (gracias) very much (muchas). Spanish is like, backwards when it comes to adjectives and adverbs. And yea, I know what adjectives and adverbs are. There were no cute boys in Sr. Margaret’s grammar class, so I paid attention.

señor
– (SEN-yore) means “mister” or is a term of respect to an older guy. Señora is what you say to a woman. Señorita is a young, unmarried girl.

¿Estás loca?
– (
ESS-thass LO-ka?) Are you crazy?

Mija – (
MEE-ha) short for
mi hija
, which means
my daughter
. It’s not always literal. It’s what you might call one of your girls.

mami
or
papi
– (MAH-mee or PAH-pee) This is what Belinda and I call our parents.

mi hermana –
(MEE air-MAHN-nah) H’s in Spanish are mostly silent. This means “my sister.”

por favor
–
(POR fah-VOR) please. Very useful word.

*puta –
(POO-tha) okay, this is tricky word. Technically, it means slut. (A word I hate, by the way.) But it also means “bitch,” especially if it’s used with “
hijo de
”…(see below)

verdad –
(vair-DAH) technically, true. Often used as a question to mean something like, “isn’t that true?”

entiendes?
– (en-thyee-EN-dess) Do you understand?

Madre de Dios
– (MAH-dray thay DEE-ose) Mother of God. Usually used as a curse.

los niños
– (lohs NEEN-yose) Babies! I love babies.
Los niños
applies to boy babies or just babies in general. Little girl babies are
las niñas
.

*culo
– (COO-lo) Butt, ass, moneymaker. You get the idea.

*maricón
– (ma-rhee-CONE) Okay, technically, this is a derogative for gay guys. But in my neighborhood, it’s used for any jerk who’s a pain in the
culo
.

Dios mio
– (DEE-ohs MEE-oh) Dios is God. This is “my God.” This is something you say when you’re shocked or surprised or frustrated…it’s a go-to exclamation. My mother says it, so, no star.

Por favor –
(POR fa-VOR) please.

¿Es muy guapo, si?
– (ES MOO-ee GWA-po, SEE?) He’s very handsome, yes?
Guapo
is handsome.
Si
is yes.
Muy
means very. Lia and I use this phrase a lot, when we’re lucky.

*pendejos
– (PEN-day-hose) Literally, pubic hairs. In West Tampa, we use this word for stupid idiots or jerks. Less offensive than
maricón
, because you’re not challenging the manhood.

vidita
– (vi-DEE-thah) If you know your Ricky Martin, you know that “living
la vida loca
” means “living the crazy life.” “
Vida
” means life. Spanish people add “-ita” to the end of words to make it cute or personal. Frankie has always called me
vidita
. I’m not sure when he started or why he still calls me that, but he does. And just between you and me, I like it.

cállate la voca
– (KIE-ya-thay la BO-ka)
La voca
is the mouth.
Cállate
means to shut. Put them together and it’s self-explanatory, yes?

Las Reinas
–
(lahs-RAY-nahs) Literally means, “The Queens.” These are the girls I used to run with, aka, my gang.

gracias
– (GRAH-see-us) Thank you. Roll the r a little. It’s fun. Trust me. I think there’s a correlation between men who can speak Spanish and the reason why they’re such good lovers. Just sayin’.

machismo
– (mah-CHEEZ-mo) The reason for all the problems in the world. In other words, it’s an overabundance of testosterone. Men thinking they’re “all that.”

El silencio está matándome
– (el sil-LEN-see-o ess-STAH mah-THAN-doe-meh) Literal translation of, “The silence is killing me.”

hombre
– (HOME-bray) A man, a guy.

*garrote
– (gar-ROH-tay) You’ve probably heard this word to describe a weapon that’s mainly a thin wire used to choke people. No? In my neighborhood, it’s also slang for a penis. I’m not exactly sure what the connection is—and I’m not sure I want to know.

lo siento
– (lo see-EN-toe) The two most important words I’ve ever learned: I’m sorry. I probably don’t use them as often as I should.

lo siento del fondo de mi corazón
– (lo see-EN-toe dell FON-do day mee core-a-ZONE) Used for the worst offenses—I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart.

café con leche
(caf-FAY cone LEH-chay) Nectar of the gods, baby. Coffee and milk. Only not just any coffee. Cuban coffee. Strong and creamy with lots of sugar. If you put less than four sugars in your
café con leche
, you didn’t grow up in my house.

que desea
– (kay deh-SEE-yah) You wish. Can be used both literally and sarcastically. Guess which one I prefer?

Y yo tambien
– (ee yoh thahm-bee-EN) And me, too.

*una puta grande
– (OO-nah POO-thah GRAHN-day) A big bitch. Like karma,
entiendes
?

calmarse
– (CALM-ar-say) Calm down.

*tetas
– (THAY-thahs) Tits. Boobs. Mammaries. Our word sounds better.

*cabrón
– (KAH-brone) bastard, son of a bitch.

Noche Buena
– (NO-chay BWAY-nah) One of my favorite holidays! Literally means “good night” but traditionally, it’s Christmas Eve. We eat roast pork with garlic mojo (a sauce made with sour oranges and olive oil), black beans and rice,
platanos maduras
(overripe plaintains fried to crispy, yet mushy delectableness) and other Cuban staples. We end the night with flan. Doesn’t everyone?

¿Puedo sentarme?
– (poo-WAY-tho sen-THAR-may) May I sit down?

Y yo repito
– (ee yoh reh-PEE-thoe) And I repeat.

cóme se dice?
– (coe-moe say DEE-say) Very useful phrase, means “how do you say?” When you can’t come up with a word, say this. If someone knows what you mean, they’ll fill in the blank.

pero
– (PEH-roh) But. Should not be confused with
perro
, which means dog.

mujer
– (moo-HAIR) Woman.

mira
– (MEE-tah) Very useful verb in Spanish and Spanglish. It means, “Look!”

coquito
– (coh-KEY-thoh) Okay, I suppose I should feel some sort of Latina competition with my sisters from Puerto Rico, but let me tell you, when it comes to eggnog, they’ve got us beat. Homemade and with a punch.

*hijo de puta
– (EE-hoe day POO-thah) Son of a bitch.

Qué pasó?
– (KAY pah-SO) What happened? (Not to be confused with
¿qué pasa?
which is a common greeting like, “What’s up?”

Nada, por favor, mi amor
– (na-thah pour fah-VOR mee AH-moor) Nothing, please, my love.

*concha
– (CONE-cha) I didn’t know whether to star this one,
chicas
, because I don’t think there’s anything dirty about mine, but as I wouldn’t say it in front of my mother, I starred it. It means the female genitalia, figuratively. It’s comes from the conch shell.

**¡No me jodas!
– (noe may HOE-thas) Don’t fuck around with me. I probably don’t use this as often as I should.

cojones
– (coe-HONE-ace) Literally, balls. Not baseballs. Boy balls. But it’s sometimes used to mean “courage.” Personally, I think they should
concha
(see above.)

qué?
– (KAY) What?

AFTERWORD

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for purchasing a copy of
DIRTY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
. I hope you enjoyed it. It was amazing to be able to go back to these characters that I have loved for so long and give them new life! If you would like to see more books in this series, you can help by going to Amazon and leaving an honest review. It only a takes a moment and it is very helpful in spreading the word to other readers! You can click the link
here
to leave a review

This story would not have come into being if not for the readers who have written to me over the years, asking me for more Marisela and Frankie. With the advent of self-publishing, I was able to re-release the prequels,
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
and
DIRTY LITTLE LIES
and luckily for all of us, readers responded! Be sure to check them out if you missed them!

I’m currently working on the fourth installment,
TALK DIRTY TO ME
, which will be out in 2013. To make sure you’re among the first to know when the next installment is out, please visit my website
www.julieleto.com
and sign up for my newsletter.

Happy reading!

OTHER WORKS by

New York Times Bestselling Author

JULIE LETO

Dirty Little Secrets (Sexy Suspense)

Book One

Sex, lies and lethal weapons…

PRAISE FOR
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
:

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~ Mrs. Giggles

“Readers who love a great kickass heroine, propulsive action and plenty of steam shouldn’t miss
Dirty Little Secrets
.”

~ Leigh Thomas, All About Romance

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Dirty Little Secrets
will set you on fire the minute you pick up this steamy, high-speed book of love, action, and adventure.”

~ Anne Lum, Writer’s Unlimited

OVERVIEW:

— A disgraced bounty hunter pursues her sexy ex

— The secret agent on the run catapults her into his treacherous underworld

— Is her super-sexy lover her ticket out of a mundane world–or is he setting her up to crash and burn?

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Dirty Little Secrets
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Dirty Little Lies (Sexy Suspense)

Book Two