I bought a bag of candy hearts yesterday. I couldn't resist! It's the first time I've seen them written in Spanish. How cool is that? Joseph (8th grade) just finished his first Spanish class in school, so he is translating them for me. It's funny, I took Spanish in 8th grade too. I can still sing "La Cucaracha" (The Cockroach Song), well, at least the first verse anyway. I just googled the translation, however, and it seems my teacher took a little liberty with it way back when. According to Wikipedia, the majority of the song known today was written during the Mexican Revolution, a period of great political upheaval. It goes like this:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| La cucaracha, la cucaracha, | The cockroach, the cockroach, |
| ya no puede caminar | can't walk anymore |
| porque le falta, porque no tiene | because it doesn't have, because it's lacking |
| marihuana pa' fumar. | marijuana to smoke. |
Now, I distinctly remember being taught the last line of that first verse as "gasolina pa' fumar". The story, as told to the class of '78 went that the cockroach couldn't walk anymore because he spilled a can of gas and it burned his leg. Now 30 years later, I find out that the poor bug just ran out of pot and couldn't get high! He stumbled on the road because he lost his buzz? I think I'm going to teach Joseph the song too. The lyrics certainly seem harmless now. What with the pop and rap lyrics that my kids hear all the time. We'll have our laugh for the day. Now that's a funny valentine! Es divertido!
