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Pigas


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01:02 Nov 18, 2011
This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Slang
Spanish term or phrase: Pigas
This is from an interview of an alleged 3-year old molestation victim:

Quien vio qué tú papa hizo eso?
INTERVIEWER
(Inaudible) (shrugs shoulders)
NIÑA
Okay.
Amy, a quien le dijistes?
INTERVIEWER
(Inaudible) (shrugs shoulders)
NIÑA
Okay.
Mira, quiero entender lo qué estas diciendo.
Cómo sé llama esto aquí?
INTERVIEWER
(Inaudible)
NIÑA
Pigas?
Okay.
Cómo sé llaman esos ahí?
INTERVIEWER
Ojos.
NIÑA
Ojos.
Qué son estos aquí?
INTERVIEWER
Dedos.
spanruss
Local time: 01:24


Summary of answers provided
2 +1frecklesCharles Davis


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
freckles


Explanation:
Low confidence: a long shot, but not a total guess. If this text comes from a Catalan-speaking area and/or the little girl is used to hearing Catalan, she could mean "freckles", which are "pigues" (singular "piga") in Catalan, equivalent to "pecas" in Castilian. So she would be using a Catalan word with Castilian morphology: in itself not an unusual phenomenon in bilingual areas.

The context seems to suggest that it refers to a part of the body that can be seen (like "ojos" and "dedos") and this is the only possibility I can think of. Perhaps the questioner has freckles and is pointing to them on his or her own face; it would be a way of "breaking the ice".

Here's an illustration of how Catalan-speakers sometimes use "pigas" instead of "pecas" when speaking (or writing) in Castilian, from a website on dermatology by a doctor in Barcelona:

"Los nevus celulares y los nevus pigmentarios o lunares (“pigas”) son defectos o alteraciones por acumulo de células de pigmentación, melanocitos, que proliferan en una zona concreta de la piel."
http://www.agustinalomar.com/glosario-enfermedades/pecas-o-l...

http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piga

One thing that might support this is "A quien le dijistes", where "dijistes" would be "dijiste" in standard Castilian. This form is very common in Catalan-speaking areas, such as Valencia, where I live (and where many people speak the local variety of Catalan, known as valenciano/valencià). It is probably due to interference from Catalan, where the equivalent second-person form of the preterite has a final -s ("digueres", from "dir", in this case).

Charles Davis
Local time: 07:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Martin Damiano Alcorta: I agree with this one, freckles seems perfect, because it's talking about the face, at first at least
14 mins
  -> Many thanks, Martin Damiano :) It depends entirely on the context.
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