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Wu Ting
How would you explain “No seas malo” in the context?
[passage one] The next morning when the boy walked out to the kitchen pavilion to watch breakfast cooking, Leandro said, "Picaro, you'll pay. A man has to pay for every crime." Leandro had worried all afternoon that the goggle he brought to this house had become an instrument of death. The punishment was waking up with a sun-broilt spot the size of a tortilla, hot as fire. When the criminal pulled up his nightshirt to show the seared skin on his back, Leandro laughed. He was brown as coconuts, and hadn't thought of sun burn. But for once he didn't say usted pagara, in the formal language of servants to masters. He said tu pagaras, you will pay, in the language of friends.[passage two] The criminal was unrepentant: "You gave me the goggle, so it's your fault." And went back into the sea again for most of that day, and burnt his back as crisp as fat rinds in a kettle. Leandro had to rub lard on it that night, saying "Picaro, rascal boy, why do you do such stupid things?" No seas malo, he said, the familiar "you," language of friends, or lovers, or adults to children. There is no knowing which.
[question]How would you explain “No seas malo” in the second passage? What had he said, “no seas malo” or “seas malo”?
Thanks!
Dec 4, 2013 10:08 AM
Answers · 1
1
It means "don't be naughty." In Spanish there are two forms of the pronoun "you", "tu", which is the familiar form, and "usted", which is the formal form. Leandro has switched from using only the formal form with Picaro to using the familiar form, indicating that their relationship is becoming more intimate.
December 4, 2013
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Wu Ting
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French
Learning Language
English
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