CARA DE FUNERAL, SOURPUSS, AND OTHER LEXICAL MISFORTUNES
I am so immersed in intellectual endeavors -writing, lexicography, scholarship- that I have been obliged to hire an assistant, a sort of secretary, a boy Friday. This morning, he appeared before me wearing a most solemn expression. No need for words; his face conveyed an encyclopedia of states of mind. As we are in Madrid, the following came instantly to mind: cara de acelga, de perros, de perro apaleado, de vinagre, de palo, de malos amigos, de pocos amigos, de Pascua, de funeral, de velorio, de juez. To give him a hint, I asked for English equivalents. After a few minutes, he returned with this list: surly (long, grim, cross, dour, glum, sullen, grumpy, hatchet) face, sourpuss. Then I asked for citations, and he obediently produced these: — “… donde a pesar de la cara de malos amigos del panzón de Hindenburg, las alemanas se toman algunas libertades.” Miguel Ángel Asturias, Bananas Slide , 1928, Guatemala. — “Permanecía impávida y con cara de pocos amigos.” Manuel López, Un go...