T(r)oy's Marbles
trojan
My name always proves a challenge to Spaniards: they've never heard of anyone called "Troy" before. So, to help them learn it, I will often explain, "Como 'Troya', pero sin la 'a'".
Translation: "My name is like 'troya' (which is the Spanish word for 'Trojan'), but without the letter 'a' on the end."
I find this helps because Spaniards know the word "troya". From there, it's easy for them to visualize the equation "'Troya' minus 'a' equals Troy".
Usually, this works. But now I'm laughing. Here's why:
In our apartment complex we have a "portero". This is a man who, among other things, keeps track of anyone who comes in and out of the door to the street. This is important to deter burglars from entering the grounds and to feed the local gossip mill on "who's doing what."
Anyway, our portero happens to be a guy named Luis. Everyone loves Luis. He's nice to everyone and you will often see him chatting with folks that live in our complex.
Well...when we first met Luis, I told him my name was "Troy". As usual, he gave me one of those glazed looks as if to say, "Uh huh. And that means what to me?"
So, I explained further by saying: "Como 'troya', pero sin la 'a'."
Yeah. Okay.
Ever since then he has been calling me "troya". Not "Troy", mind you, but "Trojan", quite literally.
This morning, he opened the gate for me as I was returning home from walking Meaghan to school and he said: "Good morning, Trojan."
I couldn't help but smile and feel a smidgeon more virile and vigorous.
Of course, I don't think it's necessary to correct him at this point, do you?
journal | Comments (1) | January 10, 2007
Comments
This always makes me laugh :)
Posted by: Mrs. Trojan at January 10, 2007 04:58 PM