And A Very Happy New Anus To You Too!

Often times in Spanish and any other foreign language you can make one tiny little mistake which totally changes the meaning of everything…

Every Christmas I receive dozens of emails from people wishing me a Happy New Year in Spanish except that the spelling is not quite right and it ends up meaning something very different indeed.




It’s the thought that counts and since I make silly mistakes in Spanish every day – even after ten years of living here – I wanted to make sure you understand some of those little differences just in case you end up standing there in front of a large group of people wishing all of your staff a very Happy New Anus instead of a Happy New Year.




You see unlike English, in the Spanish alphabet we have the ‘ñ’ letter which is pronounced ‘enyee’ and in Spanish, Happy New Year is Feliz Año Nuevo and the English word for year is año and it’s spelled with the ‘ñ’ and not the letter ‘n’.




As you’ll see, this makes a very, very big difference in the meaning of the word.




Feliz Año Nuevo is Happy New Year but, and this is a big but (no pun intended) Feliz Ano Nuevo (with an ‘n’ instead of the ‘ñ’) means Happy New Anus!




This may be wishful thinking for some people who may have overindulged with the stuffed turkey, the Christmas pudding and the booze but as far as I know it’s difficult to achieve even with Costa Rica rapidly becoming one of ‘the’ medical tourism’ meccas.




In conclusion, I do very much hope that you do have a Happy New Year and that all your body parts – no matter how you spell them – are happy too…




Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.