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id="n184">
184
la primera vez de su vida, the first time in his life; so in Alarcón often: first tears, first smile, last time in his life, and others.
185
carne de perro: a compliment about like strong as a horse. The doctor falls into the captain's style.
186
matasanos, killer of well men: humorous here, but a common type: cf. curaperros, quitasol, parasol, sacamuelas (dentist), perdona-vidas (bully), picaporte. All like our pick-pocket, turnkey, cureall, forget-me-not.
187
Cuando salga, When I get out: there is hardly a word that occurs oftener with the present subjunctive than cuando.
188
todo un hombre, a whole man: cf. toda una obra maestra, a real masterpiece; todo un capitán, a real captain.
189
¡Cuidado si tiene hígados para remendar cuerpos rotos! It's a caution what a nerve you have for mending broken bodies: cuidado has become a disguised oath (for emphasis) with its k sound; cf. ¡Cuidado si está el chico que da gloria verlo! I'll declare the little fellow is a fine sight. Niño de la Bola, p. 174. Cf. also ¡Cuidado que aquel dichoso año hizo calor! That blessed year was plenty hot enough! Viva el Papa, p. 43. It is a year that I have been grumbling about an overcoat, y cuidado que me hace falta, and gracious how awfully I need it. Núñez. ¡Cuidado que a mí me encantan Horacio y Virgilio y los Gracos y…! I do like H. and V… though. Valera, Cartas Americanas, p. 92.
190
había oído citar, had heard some one mention.
191
al cabecilla, the leader (cabeza): grammar gender and sex go together when speaking of persons: so el cura, el corneta, unos canallas, some scamps.
192
Era de notar, It was noticeable: cf. es de ver, it is worth seeing.
193
el pícaro de D. Jorge, that rogue Don Jorge: so English, that dog of a landlord; but Spanish uses a substantivized adjective so, e.g. la necia de mi tía, my silly aunt. Common.
194
que ha: after a relative the verb could be the first person he, as in older English (e.g. who art in heaven).
195
por hacer, because it was.
196
Si fuera, If you were (but you are not) … habíamos, we should have to…. Note here and in the following two speeches the condition (si-clause) and the conclusion (with the imperfect indicative or the conditional). Angustias: Si yo fuese hombre, me reiría… seríamos. El Capitán: siendo usted hombre, yo no llegaría… le propondría… So si fuese = si fuera = si era = siendo = a ser = de ser = si es, all forms the condition might take.
197
mocosilla, snotnose: Jorge is not trying to be elegant; not an uncommon word. Spanish uses a moco tendido, tragar saliva, and many such phrases that we avoid. Moratín (père) uses the word moco freely. Victor Hugo calls the starry skies God's spittle.
198
puesta en sus puntos, very correct and proper, as though cut to a pattern.
199
hago: this is as near as Spanish comes to our do as an auxiliary. Agradecer and sonreír are infinitives in apposition with the phrase lo que yo hago, what I do: say thank you and smile. Cf. ¿Qué hizo? – Lo mismo que su merced: reírse a todo trapo. What did he do? – The same as you: laugh with all his might. Alarcón, La Buenaventura, p. 4.
200
cocodrilo, crocodile: the eager student can find abundant examples in Spanish (and English, too) where r has changed its position in the word: bergante (brigand), propósito (purpose), corbata (cravat).
201
respuesta no la: the pronoun is regularly given after a noun (object) standing before the verb; but cf. the rhetorical ¡Rubor me causa hablar…, It makes me blush to speak…, 97, 25.
202
mismísimos diablos: just a new kind of emphasis, not parlor language even in Spanish, where oaths are so common as to be largely colorless.
203
Conozco, I see, perceive: an inchoative here.
204
en mitad for en medio, and so, like medio, it has no article. We meet mitad sordo, mitad artista, half deaf, half artist.
205
Casino de mi alma, my darling Casino: a parallel English (Irish) expression is Peg o' my heart.
206
de on account of días: noun needs de before its descriptive infinitive; cf. noches de no dormir.
207
embozo, covers (at the head): cf. verb embozarse, to wrap up neck and face.
208
sobre otra (silla), on another (chair): not one leg over the other.
209
sillón-cama: the adjective element last, as in vagón-cama, bed-wagon, sleeping-car.
210
enfermos como los sanos, the sick the same as the well: the meaning and order for us is: the well the same as the sick.
211
confianza y benevolencia que ya le merecía, the confidence and goodwill which she (la señora) had already won from him: verbs that formerly governed various cases have been leveled down to the construction of dar, and take a dative and an accusative (or direct and indirect object); so pagar, comprar, agradecer, oír (oírle las razones, hear his reasons), llamar (llamarle la atención).
212
la, it: the usual feminine for our indefinite it: let it go; now you've done it.
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