limon

I love idioms with historical origins like that one. 'Close but no cigar' (for when someone is wrong) and 'Give that man a cigar' (for when they're right) are two of mine. From when carnival games had cigars as small prizes.

My favorite backronym is the entirely apocryphal but terribly risqué when you're a kid, origins of the most popular dirty word in the English language. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-f-word.htm

What bugs me is when it seems like there should be a pair to an 'in' word, but there isn't. Like 'inept'.

I'm in California, so it definitely comes in handy. Which is not to say that you have to use it here, but there are a lot of Spanish speakers and it can also be useful for work purposes.

There seem to be a million rules for commas, and I don't quite understand them all. I also have a bad habit of using them as I would a pause in speech, leading to run on sentences and huge paragraphs :/

I use phrase acronyms, like FYI, IIRC, IMHO, for brevity. But in general I dislike text-speak, and type out full words. That said, one of the cleverest things to come out of the internet age (I think, maybe it predates it and I just never knew) is the used of the '@' symbol to signify both genders in Spanish words. So for example 'vosotro@s' in place of 'vosotros y vosotras' or 'vosotros/as'

Hmmm, I'm loath to sign up for yet another service, but you're right about the gorgeous design. The reviews are pretty good as well. I wonder if they have an app. ... Sigh, I guess I'm signing up for a new service.

I agree, they are part of the language. And a very important part, at that. If you can't tell an insult from a expression of surprise, or even of admiration (all of which can be expressed with the same curse word in English) then you are liable to get into confusing situations. Beyond that, I find them fascinating. Did you know that they've been found to reduce pain in stressful situations? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8147170.stm

I'd never heard 'the cat's ass'. But I am familiar with 'the cat's meow' and 'the cat's pajamas', also 'the dogs bollocks' though that last one is a UK thing.

Oh, another place that looks pretty promising, but I haven't tried it myself yet; http://www.librodot.com/en/home

I've always used 'geez', but seen 'jeez' a fair bit as well. I don't think I've seen many instances with a final 'e'.

Project Gutenberg has tons of works in every language, including Spanish; http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/es

I've studied on my own, but that's mainly because of a lack of time and finances to do otherwise. I don't think I'd do great in a class setting, but a tutor and/or immersion would be my ideal setting.

Depends on what you like, of course but I'll recommend my favourites. I often guide myself by directors so I'll start off that way; Pedro Almodovar; very big name of course, so you've probably already seen lots of his, but if not you can pretty much choose any one of them. I recommend Volver or the classic Mujeres al horde de un ataque de nervios. Alejandro Amenabar; Tésis is the movie that first got him attention, and is very good. Alex de la Iglesia; Cult director that makes weird and darkly humorous movies. Dia de la bestia is probably my favorite, but I am also ridiculously fond of Muertos de Risa. However it probably helps do know a bit about Spain in the 60s and 70s to enjoy the second one, and comedy duos like Martes y Trece, so YMMV. Some others in no particular order; Bienvenido Mr Marshall (1953) Extraterrestre (2011) Amanece, que no es poco (1989) Marcelino, pan y vino (1955) Ay Carmela! (1990) La niña de tus ojos (1995) If you can find it, I would also recommend the series Cuéntame cómo pasó which ran during the 2000s and is basically a historical soap opera, but it follows a normal family through the sixties and seventies and does a nice combination of personal drama and historical backdrop during the Franco era and transition period.

Native speaker here. I love Shakespeare, though I didn't study his works in school. But it was a revelation when I saw them performed and realized the difference it makes to hear the words spoken on the stage, instead of reading them like prose. Likewise his poetry is better read aloud, imho.

Yeah, after two decades in California I sound like a local, and I have an English friend who still sounds English to me, but to the ears of her compatriots sounds very American, apparently.

Portuguese for me, specifically the Brasilian accent.

Cool, I've read a lot of Poe but never ran across this one. Off to check it out!

Mexico itself is pretty large and has regional variations of its own, mind you, but the one thing I know is not to use the common Castillian verb "coger" in Mexico. It's a rude expression there.

Cool, I can always use new learning tips

Oh that is excellent, thanks for the link. I've always meant to learns some sign language.

That's another thing, yes, some of these kinds of things are great in theory but only actually possible for a privileged few. I see it as the equivalent of people who can afford to have a personal trainer to get them into optimal physical shape; yeah it's the best way to achieve the best possible result, but who has the time or money for that?

You lean over to whisper something discreetly in a different language to your friend to avoid being heard, and then remember they don't speak it either.

They do exist in Spanish, but I think they're less common and more likely to appear in literature than in daily speech. One in English I saw recently; "liquid gas"

It can mean a death, but usually it is not literally that. It can refer to something failing or ending. Like someone quitting or dropping out of a contest, or another newspaper shutting down.