# Is "no problemo" Spanish or English?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 3, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042 "2016-01-03T04:43:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/1 "2016-01-03T04:43:13Z")
In this other [thread about gut-brewers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=779656) there was a tangential discussion about the proper Spanish grammar for “no problemo.” In my opinion, “no problemo” is not Spanish at all, but an English expression with the added ultimate “o” to make it seem Spanish. I’ve never heard a Spanish speaker use the expression unless they were speaking English. It’s about as Spanish as “no way, José.” Dissenting opinions will be entertained, but cheaply, like a Sunday in TJ.
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### Author:  [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/2 "2016-01-03T04:49:39Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#):
>
> In this other [thread about gut-brewers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=779656) there was a tangential discussion about the proper Spanish grammar for “no problemo.” In my opinion, “no problemo” is not Spanish at all, but an English expression with the added ultimate “o” to make it seem Spanish. I’ve never heard a Spanish speaker use the expression unless they were speaking English. It’s about as Spanish as “no way, José.” Dissenting opinions will be entertained, but cheaply, like a Sunday in TJ.
It’s neither Spanish nor English. Not really Spanglish either, since it’s used by people whose only other Spanish-like expression is Frito bandito.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/3 "2016-01-03T04:54:04Z")
I don’t speak Spanish, but I say _No hay problema_.
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### Author:  [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/4 "2016-01-03T05:10:24Z")
You can take any English word and add -o to the end and it’s Spanish. Got it? Cool-o!
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/5 "2016-01-03T05:19:31Z")
“Atsa chair. Atas desk. Atsa window. Atsa door. Hokay, now you speak-a da Italian.”
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/6 "2016-01-03T05:37:40Z")
It’s definitely not Spanish, since as the OP points out it is never used by Spanish speakers even as a mistake. There is no proper grammar for “problemo” because it isn’t a word in Spanish.
I’d say it’s a jocular English expression that’s based on Spanish, but is not itself Spanish.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/7 "2016-01-03T05:46:05Z")
Remember Mayor Bloomberg’s public service announcements?
[QUOTE=ElBloombito]
Muchos trees esta falling downo. No stando under los trees. Que splat!
El hurricano esta mucho worse. No vamos en el street. No es cute! Remaindo where tu are locatedo!
Nueva Yorko will get through el hurricano por que nosotros el besto personas de la earthador.
No walko en el outsido! Mucho dangerouso! Muy agua en la calle. El rapido speed winds que knocko you over.
No looto el bodega. Esta es Nuevo Yorko!
Ay Ay Ay todos things are mucho wet!
Los cans del trasho por favor to turn them back overo. Gracias.
Los offices del la cuidad will be opentado mañana. El commuto el mucho tough y mucho slow. Que crowding!
[/QUOTE]
[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3399](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3399)
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/8 "2016-01-03T06:35:09Z")
I can hear Herb Tarleck saying “No problemo.” Enough reason for me to never utter it.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/9 "2016-01-03T07:25:09Z")
Is Google getting too clever by half?
I put “no problemo” into Google translate with _detect language_. It tells me it’s Esperanto. I’m idly wondering if Esperanto is still a going concern and go to Wikipedia,
> [@](#):
>
> It is the most widely spoken constructed language in the world.
Now I’m trying to remember the name for that kind of expression, and it comes back to me, _damning with faint praise_. I Google that, and one of the top hits is the TVTropes page. The convoluted example of _damning with faint praise_ at the head of that page discusses translating a play _into Esperanto_.
> **[Damned by Faint Praise - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DamnedByFaintPraise)**
>
> This trope is under discussion in the Trope Repair Shop Sometimes, we can't just say something is bad. Perhaps we are being nice, or perhaps we are in a situation where negative comments are frowned upon. It could be that we are expected to give …
Is that just a spooky coincidence, or is Google now remembering your prior activities to try to make a connection even if you didn’t ask for one?
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/10 "2016-01-03T08:56:58Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> Is Google getting too clever by half?
> Is that just a spooky coincidence, or is Google now remembering your prior activities to try to make a connection even if you didn’t ask for one?
It’s spooky, but it’s no coincidence. Big Brother is watching.
I spend a lot of work-related time on the web, normally with Java Script turned off. Which, incidentally, blocks a lot of the basic web tracking. So it was a sudden surprise to see targeted add’s (which I normally never get) after a single episode of full-exposure web browsing! I idn’t know they were that blatant! But they are.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/11 "2016-01-03T10:00:24Z")
What **Emtar** and **Colibri** said, it’s English that was born as fake-Spanish. Like hasta la vista, baby, or using mano a mano for hand to hand.
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#):
>
> You can take any English word and add -o to the end and it’s Spanish. Got it? Cool-o!
Hey, I didn’t know you were familiar with [Kendji’s work](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbVnbwCKigo)! (French-Catalan gypsy singer, doing mostly rumba catalana; the French apparently think his work is “influenced by flamenco” but rumba catalana is very much-o flamenc-o, just not the kind you’ll find in a tablao. Excuse me, tabla-o)
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/12 "2016-01-03T12:48:07Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#):
>
> You can take any English word and add -o to the end and it’s Spanish. Got it? Cool-o!
Don’t forget to speak it slower and louder, too. If any native Spanish speaker doesn’t understand “el bathroom-o”, it’s only because you were speaking too fast and/or quiet.
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### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/13 "2016-01-03T13:57:42Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> What **Emtar** and **Colibri** said, it’s English that was born as fake-Spanish. Like hasta la vista, baby, or using mano a mano for hand to hand.
You lost me there.
_mano a mano_ is “hand to hand” as in combat without any weapons.
It is mistakenly used as “man to man” combat, an expression in and of itself but not the equivalent of _mano a mano_.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/14 "2016-01-03T15:14:05Z")
> [@minlokwat](#):
>
> You lost me there.
>
> _mano a mano_ is “hand to hand” as in combat without any weapons.
>
> It is mistakenly used as “man to man” combat, an expression in and of itself but not the equivalent of _mano a mano_.
[Relevant link](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1131/what-does-the-expression-mano-a-mano-mean).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/15 "2016-01-03T16:24:32Z")
While not exactly the same, sometimes foreign phrases are taken up in English and understood as a unit, regardless of their original grammatical meaning. Examples are “the _hoi polloi_” or “with _au jus_.” It can be argued that these are redundant (_hoi_ meaning “the,” and _au_ meaning “with”), but they are understood as a unitary phrase in English, not according to their components in the original languages, and so can take the appropriate articles or prepositions.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/16 "2016-01-03T16:28:32Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#):
>
> Dissenting opinions will be entertained, but cheaply, like a Sunday in TJ.
Next up: is “Gaucho” Spanish or English?
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/17 "2016-01-03T17:35:00Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> [Relevant link](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1131/what-does-the-expression-mano-a-mano-mean).
The Master is incorrect.
[Truly relevant link](http://lema.rae.es/drae/srv/search?id=eISdSFNZZDXX2hi1LAXT).
The specific expression mano a mano is waaaaaay at the bottom.
> [@DRAE](#):
>
> ~ a ~.
>
> 1. loc. adv. Taurom. U. para precisar que, en las corridas de toros, actúan solo dos diestros en competencia. U. t. c. loc. sust. m.
> 2. loc. adv. Se dice de toda acción realizada por dos personas compitiendo con emulación.
> 3. loc. adv. En compañía, con familiaridad y confianza.
1. In bullfighting, a fight involving only two matadores. (Note: The usual would be three).
2. Any competition involving two people competing on a level ground.
3. In close company, with familiarity. (Note: think someone you’ve known and worked with for so long you barely need to speak or look at each other).
A sentence starting with _el mano a mano de las hermanas Williams…_ could mean either that there has been a Serena vs Venus (meaning 2) or that there has been a doubles with Serena and Venus playing together (meaning 3).
The actual Spanish for hand to hand is _cuerpo a cuerpo_ or _sin armas_.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/18 "2016-01-03T17:48:47Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> Next up: is “Gaucho” Spanish or English?
At this point, it’s both.
The etymology appears to be obscure, but in its present meaning it is certainly originally Argentine Spanish. However, it is generally well enough known in English that it is not typically written in italics, and it is understood as the English word for a South American cowboy.
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### Author:  [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/19 "2016-01-03T17:53:19Z")
If you google “pelear mano a mano” you’ll get plenty of hits showing Spanish usage of the phrase. I suppose it’s possible it re-entered Spanish because it’s so popular in English. Anyway, the Academia looks like it’s lagging far behind usage.
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### Author:  [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042/20 "2016-01-03T17:55:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> While not exactly the same, sometimes foreign phrases are taken up in English and understood as a unit, regardless of their original grammatical meaning. Examples are “the _hoi polloi_” or “with _au jus_.”
_Hoi polloi_ really lost its original meaning. _Hoi polloi_ literally means “the many,” as in “the great unwashed lower classes.”
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-no-problemo-spanish-or-english/742042.md?page=2)