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Spanish - narcótico and estupefaciente? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| kaizen Groupie Canada Joined 4958 days ago 48 posts - 52 votes  Studies: French | Message 1 of 10 18 March 2015 at 3:56am | IP Logged | ||
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I've looked both these words up in a couple of dictionaries and they both seem to mean "narcotics/drugs". However I came across this sentence (written by a Mexican), "No se permite consumo de alcohol ni de ningún narcótico o estupefaciente." So I'm guessing that they probably refer to different kinds of drugs. Can any of you elaborate?
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| kerateo Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5647 days ago 112 posts - 180 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English, French Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 10 18 March 2015 at 5:17am | IP Logged | ||
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The Real Academia de la Lengua Española (RAE.es) has different but similar definitions (estupefacientes are morfine and cocaine and narcotics are opium or chloroform). But I can tell you as a Mexican that they are both used as fancy synonyms of "drogas". It is a feature of the Spanish language to be a little bit redundant for poetic reasons :) . You will see this construction: synonym "y" synonym, a lot in Spanish.
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| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 3 of 10 18 March 2015 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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They refer to different kinds of drugs, just like "stimulants", "painkillers" or "hallucinogens" do.
However, other than the actual words, there's nothing language-specific, or "fancy" in that kind of construction -- when someone wants to refer to a whole wide category of things, and s/he uses a generic word that applies to all, it may lack specificity, so another approach is to mention a number of the broader subcategories in an attempt to cover the widest possible [sub]spectrum. Of course, no approach is perfect. Think of saying 'addicted people' or 'alcoholics and drug addicts'. The latter sure doesn't cover work addicted people, for example, and we don't know if that's intentionally or not. The former, though, theoretically covers those, but many people may find it too lax to refer to them. Edited by mrwarper on 18 March 2015 at 12:22pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4335 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 10 18 March 2015 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Pretty much nothing to say other than to back up what kerateo said. Cultured Mexican Spanish can sound terribly convoluted and pompous precisely because people try to show off their vocabulary by repeating synonyms where they shouldn't be used thus--you'll find this pattern all over the place, from the newspaper editorials to official signs in airports and public offices.
In this case, "estupefaciente" is a type of "narcótico" (essentially, a "downer" or depressant drug). The opposite class of drugs is "estimulante" ("uppers" or excitant drugs). Edited by Lakeseayesno on 19 March 2015 at 12:36am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| caam_imt Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 4863 days ago 232 posts - 357 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, Finnish Studies: German, Swedish | Message 5 of 10 19 March 2015 at 12:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose that by "cult" you mean "cultured" or "refined". Regarding the fanciness of
such usage, I have to say that it depends. I agree with mrwarper in that these are different words with different meanings. We can never be sure whether the writer wanted to show off or be precise, so it all depends on the context. However, in this particular case, I would consider these words as synonyms for "drugs", as it is clear that the focus lies on refraining from consuming any "bad" substance, rather than on preciseness (IMO). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4335 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 6 of 10 19 March 2015 at 12:40am | IP Logged | ||
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You're absolutely right about "cult" and "cultured". I was thinking in Spanish but writing in English there. Whoops.
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| kaizen Groupie Canada Joined 4958 days ago 48 posts - 52 votes Studies: French | Message 7 of 10 19 March 2015 at 1:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks to all of you for the great replies. That's quite interesting what some of you have said about the synonyms - I've never noticed that before. I'll keep my out for similar instances in the future.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 8 of 10 20 March 2015 at 12:23am | IP Logged | ||
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They are not exactly synonymes, even though general public and dictionaries (including
the most prestigious general language ones) may consider them to be. But as soon as you are in another situation (such as studying medicine with the pharmacology exam coming :-) ), you might be interested in looking elsewhere. I found a nice definition here: http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/caleid/in dex-fra.html? lang=fra&lettr=indx_autr8fq9MkNqa2sc&page=9iMsQpSpNrVs.html
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