Twisted Tongues

Journal of my adventures in foreign language acquisition. And maybe some entries written in those languages for practice.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Cheering players on

So, yesterday at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, there were a LOT of Chilean fans in the stands. Flags waving, chanting Chi-Chi-Chi-Le-Le-Le etc.

More specifically, they were cheering for Fernando González. Every so often, someone would yell out what sounded like, Vamos, Fenya. I couldn't figure out it at first. Were they saying, Vamos, Fe[r]n, ya? Turns out I was trying too hard. It's a nickname: Feña.

And today there was a fellow wearing cap and soccer jersey in Argentina's colors, cheering for Juan Martín del Potro (called del Porto at least twice by the umpire, I'd swear). His favorite cheer? Vamos, carajo! Uh, okay. My experience of this word is mostly via friends of Mexican descent, who use carajo as a curse word or epithet, not to cheer a favored player. Different usage in Argentina, perhaps?

The crowd in the stands could have been a virtual UN. Heard French, Italian, German, Russian, varieties of Spanish and English spoken.

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