Spanish syntax

[Michael Covarrubias]

Mark Mandel wrote

>> In parts of Florida they use another dialect of Latin: "Ici on parle=20
>>  francais."
>>
>>  I saw a bilingual sign above a   broken urinal in Orlando the other
>> day that
>>  said "OUT OF ORDER -- NO TRABAJO" -- is this pesonification or what?
>>
>
> (Oww. I missed the pun till just now.)
>
> Bad translation, since "trabajar" doesn't mean "work" in the sense of
> 'function'.
>

Sure it does. It's especially common in the progressive '(no) esta
trabajando'

mhc

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