Thursday, April 23, 2015

Truk'i Pan -- Quirks of Language in #Curaçao (#AtoZChallenge 2015)

It's actually

truk di pan
[TROOK - dee - PAHN]

but -- go on, say that fast five times. Uh-huh, that K and D don't really jibe, do they?

So, at the speed of speech (especially Papiamentu speech--speed, I mean), it becomes

truk'i pan
[TROOK-ee-PAHN]

Ahhh... So much easier on the tongue :D

This is a quirk of language and custom, but let's start with the language part. Truk is, of course, truck. And pan is the Spanish word for bread. Thus: bread truck -- but the last thing you'll find on one is bread.


I'll let the video do the explaining...



So... yeah. After a late night, you'll find us all at the bread truck -- eating anything but bread. It's good stuff, though. Except for the pinda saus (peanut sauce). I'm so not a fan. Which means I need to be fast and furious about reminding them -- several times -- to not slosh it over mine. 

(And I always get weird looks. Like, you don't like pinda saus? Is that even possible?)


Today's bonus word:

tiki
[TEE-KEE]
(Hint: it's nothing to do with tiki lamps)

Fine, hint #2: At a truk'i pan, when I ask for no pinda saus, the guy's jaw will drop and he'll most probably ask me, "Not even a tiki?" 

6 comments :

  1. Go figure. The only word I could figure out in the phrase (pan) doesn't even really mean what it says. :) That's what make languages fun, I guess. And now you've got me hungry for a bread truck meal...

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    1. Hahahaha... That does make languages fun--and Papiamentu, with its borrow-and-transform system, plays really nasty tricks on us all, whether our native language is English or Spanish or Dutch :) Thanks for the visit! Wish I could FedEx you a truk'i pan meal ;)

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  2. I am so enjoying the new phrases I am learning in your blog!

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  3. Hi there - came here via the A to Z Challenge and am now thinking about bread!! Does tiki mean a little or a drop? Lovely little word :) Have a super weekend - bye for now! Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace

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    1. YEEEEEES! "Tiki" is indeed "little"--as in "a little more". Woot-woot! You're in the drawing for a short-story collection about Curaçao... Though the book won't be out until the summer, I'll announce three winners the first week of May. Thanks for leaving the link to your blog; I'll hop over to visit now, and if you do win it'll make it so much easier to contact you :)

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