What’s It Mean?

It’s amazing who you just might meet when rolling into a new town. Leaving León was tough. Last night a group of boys in their early twenties approached me in Parque Central. One of them had been hitting the cerveza pretty hard and kept repeating himself. But sans motorcycle they were interested in learning where I was from and practicing English.

“What’s most important to you to see in Nicaragua?” the youngest asked.

“You.” I said. He responded with a big smile as I further explained that I wanted to learn about their country, history and culture.

The conversation was interesting. The boys were concerned that I came to Leon to see the cathedral, and wanted to impress upon me that it was important to know the people.

“To know and see Nicaragua, is to know the people,” the other sober kid insisted.

Impressed with my Spanish that wanted to know more, but soon the conversation turned to questions about English idioms and colloquialisms.

“What means ‘let dogs dead sleep’?” They wanted to know the meaning behind “let dead dogs lie”.

“You know “Face the music” what does mean?”

I had fun trying to explain these idioms with my limited vocabulary.

Finally, they asked ” ‘Let it go?’ what does this for?”

They kept throwing the phrases they’ve heard in pop music, television and the movies. Trying not to be rude but with my growling stomach and thirst for a cold beer, I had to excuse myself. I gave them all my email address and move on to explore the night streets of León.