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Elementary - Light my cigarette?

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Lesson Information
Hosts: Liliana,  JP
ID: 0029
Difficulty: Elementary
Published: December 20, 2007
Topics: restaurants, cigarette smoking
Functions: asking for assistance
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Lesson Introduction

Do you mind if I light up? Even if you do, there's something for everyone in today's lesson, both smokers and non-smokers alike. In this lesson, we'll learn how to ask for a light, as well as talk about a smoking area. We'll also congratulate Lili for her two years of being smoke free!

Comments (38) RSS

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fudawei says
¡Ay, caramba! Last time they brought up smoking at CPOD there was a three-week flamefest and Aric went into hiding. This oughta be good. /Grabs las palomitas.
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
True almost two years smoke free! So when you guys to a restaurant what do you answer to this question: ¿Sección de fumar o sección de no fumar?
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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jpvillanueva says
Aric is in LA now, where you can't smoke indoors anymore. Pobrecito. Yo prefiero la sección de no fumar.
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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John says
Classic quote: "And they even look at you like you're a disease!" Ha ha... OK, but I have to ask a grammar question... Is this sentence wrong?
¿Aquí es prohibido fumar?
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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jpvillanueva says
john, the answer is yes, it's wrong. : ) I will be happy to answer your follow up question, but you have to ask it first! It's a maddening teacher technique...
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
Like Liliana, I have lived on both sides of the smoking border. Cómo Liliana, he vivido en ambos lados de la frontera de fumar. entre las edades de 18 y52, yo fumé cómo un smokestack, whatever that cool word was. y ahora, estoy "smoke free" hace mÁs que 11 años. De vez en cuando, extrraño de fumar (¿se dice así?), pero por el mayor, estoy muy contento sin mis amigos falsos, los cigarros. question: Aquí está prohibido fumar. Yes. But then why do I remember seeing signs all around here in Los Angeles that say, en cambio, se prohibe y también se permite? Am I misremembering? If not, what can I learn from this variation? Thanks.
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
Yarbird and John: You can say the folowing: "Aquí está prohibido fumar." "Se prohíbe fumar" "Esta prohibido fumar" Yarbird you can say "de vez en cuando extraño fumar".
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
Thank you. So you are saying the two constructions are roughly equivalent, with no real difference in tone and meaning? Está prohibido or se prohibe? So igual, mÁs o menos? Okay. Liliana, the handle I'm using here is "Yardbird," made up of two words: Yard (sort of like, maybe, cespedes?) and bird. I just forgot the Spanish. I keep thinking words like avión, which I think means flight, or the Latin avis, and I just can't remember the Spanish for bird. Anyway, a yardbird is an old Southern black expression, a country expression, and it was the nickname of the famous jazz musician charlie Parker. Yardbird. Se escribe así. Thanks. Ahora, vamos a tomar unas margaritas y fumar unas Marlboro Lights. Just kidding. but sometimes late at night, cómo ahora mismo, my mind goes to that fantasy. Las bebidas, los cigarros. Life is so short, and those days are gone. Well, not the margaritas, but the combination.
December 19, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
Yardbird Bird is pájaro. Marlboro Lights that is what I used to smoke! memories...Yard is "jardín" or "patio", thanks for the info on your nickname. About the construction they are equivalent in meaning and tone.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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jpvillanueva says
yardbird, The difference between "Aquí está prohibido fumar" and "Se prohibe fumar" is the difference between "It's prohibited to smoke here" and "Smoking is prohibited." You're more likely to see the second one on a sign. john, you're asking a "ser vs. estar" question. "Ser" is used to describe inherent, permanent, or immutable properties; "estar" is for transient states; either they have changed or they are going to change. That's a descriptive answer. Here's the explanatory answer: Say "estar" with "prohibido fumar" because latinos universally perceive smoking bans as a state that's either changeable or the result of a change. The 'latino perception' part is key, because there are going to be some deep philosophical discussions on why "está soltero" (he's single) is changeable, but "es casado" (he's married) is a permanent state, and "está divorciado" is a result of a change... in then end you just end up asking your latino friends what they say, and go with it.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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luisita says
Hacen los ejercicios? Hoy y tambien unos otros dias me parece que hay algo que no funciona perfectamente con el tercereco ejercicio. Me equivoco o no?
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
Liliana, ah, my poor stupid memory. Y los pajaritos cantan, la luna ya se metió. Por supuesto. Me olvidé. Is this okay grammar? I think cespedes is a Cuban word for lawn (of grass), maybe. And I always think of jardín as "garden" and patio as, well, a patio. Meaning a cement area just outside a house where you can sit. Hmm. Maybe it's because I've never been in a suburban residential area of Mexico City that Ijust don't know that there aren't any of what we call yards in front of or directly behind houses? a few square meters of grass? I was explaining the nickname only because it seemed you were having trouble spelling it, and I thought maybe it just didn't make orthographical sense to you. So everything is okay, now? Good. Pájaro. What was I thinking. I guess it's because my mind went looking for a Latin-related word beginning with av- . So I forgot. I went in the wrong direction.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
Yardbird So now you are Patiopájaro! lol
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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leoguerrero says
I just want to add that in Mexico we use more the word "cigarro" to refer to a "cigarette". I'd like to hear what you have learned on how to call a "drag" in Spanish, it has a different names in every different country and it actually it changes regionally too. In Hermosillo, where I come from, some people call it "un baiza", but normally in Mexico we call it "un toque". So, "Me das un toque?" means "Can I have a drag?". So if you know other names for a "drag" in other Spanish speaking countries, let us know.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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jamesl says
Es la seccíon no fumar para yo. In Colorado we have a statewide smoking ban. You can't smoke in a bar! I believe you can smoke in some of the casinos, but that it is about it. En mí frase, is the pronoun yo correct? I intended to say, "It is the no smoking section for me.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
James: In Spanish you say "para MI es la sección de no fumar", we never say "para yo" the rest of your phrase is correct.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
"Patiopajaro?" I don't know. How about El pÁjaro del patio? No, that doesn't work very nicely as a nickname. By the way, where did this "toque" for a drag on a cigarette come from? I think it was stolen from hippie slang of the Sixties! That is the only context in which I've ever encountered it. spelled "take," of course, and it meant only one sort of inhalation: A drag on a joint. Un cigarro flaco de manteca. How odd to see it reappear as if it were the same as the French word for the tall hat worn by a professional chef! The toque is the traditional headgear of the old style French chef, still worn in restaurant kitchens here and there, now and then. Totally weird. I mean, muy interesante... :-
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
Luisita Exercise #3 has some problems, and we're working to fix it. They will all be replaced soon. Yardbird Maybe "pajarito del patio." I am just kidding.
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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rodneyp says
I made the mistake of saying "para yo" once and I was soooooo embarrassed. First of all, I knew better. I don't even how I let that slip out of my mouth. To make matters worse, the person I was talking to gave me the "you're an idiot" look, and repeated it back to me "para yo??" That made me feel 2 feet tall! Not to mention I was with an amiga and that of course added further shame. But that wasn't nearly as bad as when I said orinar instead of ordenar
December 21, 2007 from the Web.
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jpvillanueva says
rodneyp, Making mistakes and getting embarrassed is an excellent learning tool. I bet you'll never make that mistake again! You should pat yourself on the back for making an embarrassing mistake! Entonces, ¿qué orinaste, güey? ¿una cerveza? ¿un café con leche?
December 21, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
I did not notice my bad typing above. I meant that this word is spelled phonetically as "toke" in English. But yes, it's a very 1960s-style word. And it just occurred to me that, just as we once procured a meaningful amount of a certain agricultural substance directly from Mexico back then, it could very well be that the word got imported culturally along with the product and its rituals, and reimagined with English spelling. In other words, maybe it's part of drug culture down there, or used to be. On the other hand, I still can't imagine why the French word for a chef's hat wound up being used in such a way. Will linguistic wonders never cease, one asks oneself. :-)
December 22, 2007 from the Web.
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fudawei says
yardbird ... the first recorded instance of "toke" as a NOUN in the OED is from an article in Harper's back in 1968 and (indeed) was mentioned in concert with marijuana. As a VERB, it goes back to the 50's; the first occurrence related to tobacco, but most thereafter related to marijuana again. Curiously, the OED does not make the connection to "toque"; leaving the etymology murky.
December 22, 2007 from the Web.
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estibalitz says
Leo, I'd say: drag=calada. We also use "cigarro" for cigarette, but in a more informal way you can also say: un pitillo un piti
December 23, 2007 from the Web.
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yardbird says
FuDa Wei, Well, you see? I am channeling the O.E. D. As for the connection, if any, to the French name for a Chef's hat, and tha fact that someone here said "toque" meant, well, a toke, this is enough to make the head spin, trying to figure out who borrowed what from whom, and who reborrowed and respelled it. That's enough to short-circuit my entire neuroelectrical system! Anyway, thanks for looking it up. It's good to know that my memory hasn't been completely wiped out by what I might have ingested in the late 60s. As in the joke "If you can remember the Sixties, that probably means you weren't there."
December 23, 2007 from the Web.
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nazeninb says

hi. instead of me enciendo el cigarrillo can we say puedo encender el cigarrillo or enciendo el cigarillo?

 

me enciende is really diffucult to understand. thanks.

July 30, 2008 from the Web.
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donperigo says

nazeninb

as i understand it...

with "me enciende" the woman is asking the waiter to light her cigarette.  me (for me) enciende (you light). the alternatives you propose are simply looking for permission to light the cigarette.

the whole to me/for me coming before the verb is confusing if you're not used to it but there really is no way to avoid getting to grips with the concept because you will hear it a lot.

as a wise jedi master once said:

in there you hang  and  to you it will come

July 30, 2008 from the Web.
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evandar says

Así qué...Liliana, ¿todavia no fumas? If so, you've been smokefree for about 4 years now! :)

Yo prefiero la sección de no fumar, estoy un poco alérgico a humo. I was at a party a couple of weeks ago, and everyone smoked INDOORS! I even lighted a cigarette myself, but eventually I just had to poke my head out the door to stop my eyes from crying. We were going to a "latino night concert" at a café as well, so I had to go home and change my clothes because they stank... My, what dubious habits humans develop.

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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lilianamata says

evandar

No estoy muy orgullosa de mi, pero comencé a fumar de nuevo. Fumo solo cuando tomo, pero ya voy a dejar! lo prometo!

Pero lo bueno es que no fumo durante el día. Es un habito muy malo que ya lo dejare! me lo prometo!

 

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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russhuntley says

Liliana! Tú fumes de nuevo? Yo se es dificil para parar. Hace 12 años para mi. Intentaba tantos tiempos antes de que paré. Buena suerte

November 4, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says
No fumo mas desde hace poco años. En España fumaba Fortuna. Mis mejores recuerdos en la vida son (y perdon a los non fumadores convencidos) los en lo cuales estaba fumando despues de ir al mar, con amigos, mirando las olas en silencio.
November 4, 2009 from the Web.
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russhuntley says

Siempre me gustaba para fumar cuando trabajara en el bosque en invierno. La fuma huele dulce en un día soleado y frio. Pero, me alegro que parara. Intento hacer selecciones saludables ahora.

November 4, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

Aw, qué lástima, Liliana. I know how hard it is for people to quit. My mother has tried to quit at least thirty times, I'm sure, but she never quite succeeds. Knowing how weak my own will is, I'm very glad I never started smoking. Though, all that chocolate and cake I'm so fond of ain't that healthy either, haha. It's good to hear that you can avoid smoking during the day, at least. I actually get pissed off at the tobacco industry when I hear how people struggle with their smoking habits. >:(

November 5, 2009 from the Web.
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cobre says

For the puro smoker, there is always the radical neck proceedure where they cut away the cancerous mouth and jaw  leaving a chinless face with a tiny mouth, kind of a guppy look. l took care of several of them back when I worked on surgical intensive care.

November 5, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

Sounds horrible, cobre.

November 8, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says

pffFfFfFfFFF si, muy malo parece tener esta enfermedad, pobre chicos. Hola, Cobre ¿ eres medico ?

November 8, 2009 from the Web.
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cobre says

No, marco-b,  soy solo un vagabundo
rebotando por la vida.

November 8, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says
;(. Habra mejores dias como decimos aqui ;)
November 8, 2009 from the Web.

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