Será una pregunta estúpida ¡pero esa es mi especialidad! En esos momentos de solaz entre trabajo y trabajo, me planteé por qué por ejemplo a Pablo Iglesias (mira tú que en la Wikipedia precisamente no lleva coleta) le llaman también «el Coletas» además del más usado «el Coleta». Creo que el singular tendría más sentido porque este político tiene una sola coleta. ¿Qué pensais vosotros? ¿Hay alguna regla para los apodos en singular y en plural? ¡Gracias!
«El Coletas» is in English an «alias»,or it has another name? And how do you translate «el Coleta» o «el Coletas»? Thank you!
Hi monic!
I would say this is a «nickname».
A nickname can be a real name, for example: Jerry is a nickname for Gerardo. Or it can be a title/descriptive term (as in your case). An example is: the American actor, John Wayne. He was often called: the Duke.
An «alias» is an assumed name which most often is used by people who are trying to hide from someone — usually the police or some type of authority or group.
Authors often go by a «pen name» or less often, much more formally, a «pseudonym».
Un abrazo desde Chicago.
In terms of a translation, I’ll offer: Mr. Ponytail. This is an off the cuff attempt. I’d be interested in what others say!
Hola, Monic y Gerardo:
Voy sobre el español.
Fuente: NGLE, apartado 12.8k .
Entiendo lo que dices de que lleva solo una coleta y debería ser singular. Aunque puede ser una mera apreciación personal, para mí el plural «el Coletas» es más peyorativo que el singular —quizá se aluda a las coletas de una niña y, por tanto, se ridiculiza a la persona—.
Un cordial saludo a todos.
Thank you very much, Gerardo! You always help a lot! I have another question: are nicknames in English as normal as in Spanish? It seems that your translation was not a usual translation for English.
Gracias, Blasi. A mí es que me parece que el singular y el plural con «coleta» es en este caso despectivo.
Abrazos
Nicknames that are «true» names are very common in English.
Ex. Tom for Thomas, Bill for William, Pat or Patty for Patricia, Sue for Susan, etc.
In terms of nicknames which people give to others, as is the case in your post, I have the feeling that it is more common in Spanish than in English. This is my own personal opinion and perception.
My attempt above may not be the best. It may not even be correct, although based on the meaning of the Spanish word and pictures of the man in question, I suspect it is. If it is not, please let me know! It was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read it — other than a rather stilted translation: The one with the ponytail.
Have a good weekend!
Hi Gerardo! I thank you very much your help and comments. Yes, I referred to if it is popular the use of for example «the lame, the big» etc.in English. I thought it was the same, in English it is not so used.
Good weekend to you!!!
Hello again.
I agree with you both.
I’ve found a paper published on the Internet, ‘The structural and demographic implications of nicknames in Navanogal, Spain’ (by Stanley H. Brandes-Michigan State University), which, although it refers to a Spanish village and is from a long time ago, may be an interesting reading for you, Monic, or anyone interested in this subject.
Have a good week, everyone!
Thank you Blasita!