¿Quién es tu gallo?

This is a gallo:

We call it a rooster, not that I needed to tell you that.  And at this point I bet you already know what a gallina is.  You guessed it, a hen.  And a pollito is a baby chicken, or chick.  Of course, once one of these tasty critters make it onto to your plate, it offiically becomes pollo - chicken.    

Now that we've got all that out of the way, I can tell you that todays phrase has nothing to do with chickens.

¿Quién es tu gallo?

Who's your rooster?

Clearly this makes no sense in English, so let me explain.

¿Quién es tu gallo?

This is an informal way of asking the question "Who do you think is going to win?  or "Who's your pick".  You get the point.

You can say things like:

¿Miami vs Pittsburgh, quién es tu gallo?‎

¿Quién es tu gallo para el partido?

This phrase is really easy to use, and will have you sounding like a native.  You can use it for any type of contest or game, not just boxing.

The only potential caveot with this is I think it's a Mexican expression.  But don't hesitate to use it even if your friends aren't Mexican.  You can explain what it means and find out their version of this expression, and then come back at share it with me.

That's it for today, ¡hasta la proxíma!

Voy a romper el chanchito

If you don't know what a chanchito is (I certainly didn't) then take a look at this photo:

Cute little devil isn't he?  A pig in Spanish is also known as cerdo, puerco, marrano, or cochino.  By the way, chancho is the proper form of chanchito, which is the diminutive form.  chanchito would translate to "little piggy" or "piglet" in English.

If you want to insult someone, you can use any of those terms except chancho.  I always use cochino, because that's what I learned from my Mexican amigos.  It all depends on who you talk to which one is most commonly used.  But rest assured they'll get the point.

Speaking of chanchos, there's also Los Tres Cerditos - The Three Little Pigs.  If you want to read this story to your kids or grandkids, or maybe even for yourself, just click on the link below.

Los Tres Cerditos

If you're like me, then you'll want to see the video.  Thank goodness for You Tube:

Un video de Los Tres Cerditos

Have fun with those.  Now it's time to get back to business.

Voy a romper el chanchito

I'm going to break the little piggy

Ouch!  Sounds a bit violent, don't you think?  Well, despite the fact it may sound like a wierd way of saying we're having bacon for breakfast, it's not.  I'm going to show you one more photo and then it will all make sense.

Chanchito is also a colloquial way of refering to a piggy bank.  The official term is alcancía.

So now we can accurately translate our sentence:

Voy a romper el chanchito
I'm going to break open the piggy bank

Yes, occassionally you have to resort to using all that loose change we've been stashing away.  And in these tough economic times, we may just have to romper el chanchito to get by.

¡Hasta pronto!