Fijese que...: If you ask a Guatemalan a favor or if the meeting that you were supposed to go to is still happening and they start their sentence with “fijese que...” STOP LISTENING. It's not worth it you already have your answer. The only thing that will ever follow those two words are excuses or reasons for not doing whatever it is you are asking about. This is the Guatemalan equivalent for my dog ate my homework.
Saber: Saber on the other hand is one of my favorite Guatemalan slang words. Saber is literally the verb “to know” in Spanish, but when you hear “saber” in Guatemala it means loosely “who knows” or “I have no idea.” So naturally I enjoy this word because I usually have no idea what is going on :). I also like how they stretch out the word to really put an emphasis on how sure they are that they have no idea. Saaaaaaaaber is more like it. It is also just one word that says so much. There is no: “I'm not exactly sure about ________ because _______,” just “saber.” Unless of course you are coming up with an excuse in which case it would be “fijese que...”
Interesting ;-)
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear you say these phrases. Both seem useful, but maybe indicate a high level of resignation? Saaaaaaber.
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