# Quick Spanish grammar question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352 "2006-05-19T01:40:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352/1 "2006-05-19T01:40:25Z")

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There’s a restaurant in downtown DC named Rosa Mexicano. Based on my familiarity with French and Latin, I wonder if it shouldn’t be named Rosa Mexicana. Is there some extenuating circumstance that I’m not familiar with, or did the owners screw up?

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352/2 "2006-05-19T01:42:31Z")

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Google’s my friend, I guess. From [here](http://www.washingtonian.com/dining/Profiles/rosamexicano.html):

> [@](#):
>
> I often wondered, while eating in the restaurant’s shocking-pink dining room, why the place was named “Rosa Mexicano” rather than “Rosa Mexicana.” The answer, I’ve discovered, is that the restaurant is named not for a flower but for the color of the dining room, and colors in Spanish are masculine.

Does that mean that the restaurant’s name is describing a particular shade of pink rather than a flower?

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**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352/3 "2006-05-19T01:43:06Z")

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You are correct, unless the restaurant is named for some woman named Rosa Mexicano.

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352/4 "2006-05-19T02:02:01Z")

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That settles that, then. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-spanish-grammar-question/357352/5 "2006-05-19T02:37:00Z")

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That way, it means “Mexican Pink”.

Insert witticism here tying in Mexican food and the color of bismuth subsalycilate a.k.a Pepto-Bismol…