Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:1; I:26)

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Spanish Culture ----- kwaw-care!!

When I lived in Latin America, for three months of the two years I was there, I ate breakfast every morning with the Silva family. They were native Spanish speakers and lived in a small city called Vista Alegre (happy view). Every morning the mother of the house would wake up early and go to the bakery to pick up fresh rolls for us to eat. They were always very delicious.

She would often also make a breakfast drink called "kwaw-care". It seemed to be made out of cooked oatmeal, chocolate, and milk. I grew to love my frequent morning drink of "kwaw-care" and really looked forward to it. I had not heard the word "kwaw-care" before and tried to look it up in the dictionary, but I couldn't find anything even remotely close. I looked up the word for oatmeal and it was "avena" [aw-ben-aw].

I continued to drink my "kwaw-care" for the next few months and pretty soon it became a "household" word for me. I would go to breakfast at the Silva's and eagerly await my daily dose of "kwaw-care".

When I was about to move on to another city that I finally found out what "kwaw-care" really was. I was in the Silva family's kitchen and saw the mother preparing "kwaw-care" and suddenly it dawned on me! She was taking oatmeal out of a box of "Quaker Oats" and that is how they pronounced "Quaker" -- "kwaw-care"! I suddenly laughed out loud and began to tease the family a little bit about it. I asked them why they didn't just call it "avena" since that was the real name for oatmeal. They didn't have a good answer.

The more I thought about it, I realized that it must be a common language phenomenon that happen all over the world in different cultures. With certain consumer products their brand names become so familiar that people begin to use them as the actual name for the product. For example, if I get cut, I use a bandaid (which is actually a brand name).

So, the next time you are in Latin America and someone makes you "kwaw-care", you'll know exactly what it is!! As you speak Spanish, try and find other examples.

P.S. - If anybody out there working for Quaker Oats™ or the Bandaid™ company reads this, we'll gladly accept advertising money from you. We'll even send out a follow-up newsletter so everyone will for sure learn what "kwaw-care" really is!

Continue learning Spanish with free Spanish lessons.

¡Hasta luego! (Until later!)


David S. Clark -- President
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@spanishprograms.com
http://www.spanishprograms.com