Brazilians in V

[David Jordan]

On Sun, 30 Jun 1996, TERRY CAESAR wrote:

> 
>      Woops! Thanks, Steely. But I realized a few minutes after my post that
> I'd confused da Cunha with the character, who is in fact named Da Conho. Da
> Conho is NOT a Brazilian name. "Cono" (the "n" has a tilde) means "testicle"
> in Spanish. So, ha ha--except that Brazilians speak Portuguese. I'm perplexed
> all over again.  Terry ver againlver againdertuuesem
> 
> 

Um, since long before I learned Spanish in the university, and even last I
heard, "cono"  (yes, with a tilde over the 'n') was a vulgar word for
vagina (um, pussy or cunt).  By the way are we in mixed company?  Or the
company of the puritanically inclined or those of a polically correct
bent?  If so, I offer at least a pro forma apology. 

A possible source for confusion is that a common Spanish word for
testicle, with some common letters, is "cojon."  I have a neat reference
book entitled _An International Dictionary of Obscenities_ which confirms
this.  However, I also know the above firsthand from literature and
conversation.  I'm sure the word appears at least once in that Colombian
guy Garcia's book _Cien Anos de Soledad_ and a few times in the works of
Cortazar.  (But not in the works of Borges; sexuality is noticeably
lacking in his stories and poetry.)

I don't know Portuguese, but the Portuguese diagraph 'nh' appears to my 
inexpert eye to be cognate with the Spanish 'n' with a tilde (enye, 
as hispanophones call it, phoneticized into English), so "Da Conho" would 
appear to mean "of the ...," um, well you figure it out.  I think TRP's 
making a little joke.

A gratutitous observation here:  A slang word for testicle, in Mexico, is
"huevo" which means "egg," so delicately inclined Mexicans refer to eggs
as "blanquillos" or "little white things." 

David Jordan
littlcat at netcom.com