Babalu Blog: Cubanisms: Only in Miami...

Babalu Blog: Cubanisms: Only in Miami...These are building contractor terms in Miami Spanglish. For your enjoyment and miseducation, a few of those terms follow:



Draibol: Dry Wall

Guedarpru: Weatherproof

Guatartai: Watertight

esto: Stud

grei: Grade

bin: Beam

pos: Post

rufeador: Roofer

tailero: Tiler

plastero: Plaster (I always thinks of the word plasta in Spanish or cowpie, so I imagine that their work is pretty bad!!!!)

estin: Steam (for heating)

chutaras: Shutters





And many others...

Plus the reckless translations from Spanish, literally:

White Carpenter: Carpinteria en Blanco (unfinished carpentry, construction carpenter who puts up wood siding or wood beams and plywood in the roof)

Cabineter: Ebanista, Cabinet maker

Final Carpenter: No, it's not the last carpenter on your list, it's somebody who delivers a finished product!!! Also Fine Carpenter, from Spanish carpinteria fina.



I simply think that this is pathetic. They should be learning English, and if that's too difficult for people of a certain age or level of education, well, they at least should use the correct terms in Spanish so they don't become the laughing stock of the world. I think that one needs to speak properly whichever language one prefers to communicate with others, but that this kind of half tongue lingo is totally unacceptable. Many people would not hire somebody with this kind of business card and that's detrimental for both the person who is trying to earn a contract and the trades of construction in general.