Pura bazofia - level 2

I’ve been doing an intercambio with a Spanish lady for about three weeks. Today I was trying to be funny and I said to her, ‘Cuando estoy hablando contigo a veces me parece que estoy hablando pura bazofia’. She seemed a bit shocked and said I shouldn’t use it in that context and never when referring to another person as it could be seen as an insult. She was quite amused but be careful of when you use this expression. Just a warning.

Hmm, interesting. I’m going to ask a Spanish friend and see what he thinks :slight_smile:

This is the answer from my Spanish friend:

‘Bazofia’ is very bad or low quality food or cooking, for example what is given to prisoners. It can also be used metaphorically, for something that can’t be swallowed, therefore unacceptable, very bad quality, for example work or produce that is very low quality, but it’s quite indecent and perjorative. You would never say it about a person, that’s a huge insult.

I then asked if he would use it about a film and he said:

If the film is very bad quality, either in the way it’s made or what it’s about, you could say that. It’s also used with a moral aspect to say that it’s bad nutrition for the spirit or mind. In that sense you could also apply it to a film, if it doesn’t make any sense and becomes bad quality.

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I can see then why she was surprised I’d used that word about our conversation. It serves me right for trying to be clever and funny! It shows that the right intercambio is a safe place to practise.

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Mind you, when you make mistakes of that sort you learn very quickly and don’t make them again! :smile:

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