It is a verifiable reality that the canarian speaking It is different from that of other Spanish speakers. Starting from a common base, Spanish has many variants, many more than the countries or regions that speak it. Generally, we canaries find surprised faces in the Peninsula when we released some of our typical Canarian words, like the ones you can find in this text. Also we have expressions that can cause confusion. But it is not necessary to leave the Archipelago for these reactions to occur. without going too far, in the Canary Islands we have different words to designate the same thing depending on which island we are on.
Thus, many times when we travel between islands, we would need a special dictionary to understand each other. Here we present a chicharrero-canarión basic dictionaryto facilitate communication between Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
This basic dictionary contains 15 concepts that have two different words, one commonly used in Tenerife and the other in Gran Canaria. Here are the 30 words.
Zucchini – bubango
If you ask for bubangos in the market in Gran Canaria, the shopkeeper will correct you by saying: “it means courgettes”. However, the Canarian Academy of Language ensures that the bubango is something else. Cylindrical zucchini with green rind and white flesh, similar to zucchini, but more appreciated than zucchini. Bubango is distinguished from zucchini by its shape and size.
Threads – popcorn
The popcorns are from Tenerife and the threads from Gran Canaria. Even Canarias Radio uses this double designation on popcorn as the name of one of its programs. ‘Roscas y poptufas’.
Chorizo de Teror – dog sausage
Some argue that it is not the same thing, but it is difficult to find the seven differences.
Cake – biscuit
If we talk about pastries, whether homemade or industrial, in Tenerife we will ask for sponge cake and cake in Gran Canaria. In the Peninsula they would say cake, but since in Gran Canaria the cake is something else, they preferred to use the anglicism Cake.
Biscuit – biscuit bread
The sponge cake is more from Tenerife and the sponge cake from Gran Canaria. What in the Peninsula they would call toasted bread.
Sliced bread – tin bread
In the two islands it is clear that it is about bread and bread with a shape, whether it is a square can or a square mold.
prickly pear – pico fig
The fruit of the prickly pears or prickly pears is for the people of Tenerife the pico fig and for the people of Gran Canaria the prickly pear.
bochinche – guachinche
Everyone knows that in Tenerife you can eat fantastically and for little money in guachinches, accompanying the meal with wine from our own cellar or water. In Gran Canaria, bochinches also offer food for little money. We are not talking about quality. What you can’t find is your own wine, even if they offer you house wine.
Pisco – treasury
A bit is called a treasury in Tenerife and it is a pisco in Gran Canaria. And with this word we close the chapter on food, although the treasury or pisco are not necessarily linked to what enters our mouths.
Blower – balloon
In this case it does not enter through the mouth, but results from the air that comes out of it. According to the basic dictionary of Canarianisms, the Gran Canaria blowpipe is a round, oval or fusiform bag made of a flexible and waterproof material, which is filled with air and serves as a toy. Come on, what comes to be a balloon in Tenerife and in the rest of Spain.
Pullover – sweater
The influence and borrowing from another language comes in this case from the same side, but in Tenerife they stayed with the sweater and in Gran Canaria they preferred the pullover to refer to what they would call a sweater on the Peninsula.
T-shirts – tennis
The sports shoes are tennis in Tenerife and t-shirts in Gran Canaria.
Drawer -Drawer
If we want to store our sweater or our shirts well, we will do it in a drawer in Gran Canaria and in a drawer in Tenerife.
Closet
Of course, the drawer can only be from our wardrobe in Tenerife, while in Gran Canaria the drawer is from the wardrobe.
Rack – trunk
And we come to the end of this journey. If you store your luggage in the car rack in Gran Canaria and get on the Armas or the Fred. Olsen to go to Tenerife, you will take it out of the trunk when you arrive at the destination.
