My wife just called me from work. She and her Mexican co-worker were cleaning a wine press, and her co-worker asked if she knew the word “morio.” I know a bit more Spanish than my wife, but I was stumped, and my online Babelfish skills failed me. I unfortunately could get nothing more from her re: the context of the conversation, just that it perhaps had something to do with cleaning, or with being finished (or never finished) a task.
First thing that came to mind was “morir,” of course, but I couldn’t find a matching conjugation, and esp. not one that made any sense (…“cleaning this is killing me”…?).
Naturally, our American ears could have totally misjudged what she said, so it could be anything from “morio/morrio” to “moria” (Tolkien?) to “moreo” to “modeo” to “moteo” to “moleo” …
Maybe it was some variant/pronunciation of “mole” (maybe the goo they were cleaning out of the press reminded her of mole sauce…)?
Any help here?
It looks like Lib was on target. I told my wife his suggestion, and her co-worker confirmed it; the gist was essentially that they were working themselves to death.