(no subject)

[damselfish]

I'm in the final throes of editing a story, so I've reached the point where all my "find good word for this" notes have to come out and I have to find, well, a good word.

One of them is something for a captain of one warship to call the protagonist. I've been through all manner of permutations, from "tart" to "witch" and everything, trying to avoid the word "bitch." But I've realized that not only is "bitch" what I want him to say, I would like it in Spanish.

The problem with growing up bilingual but not particularly conversant with the public means I know enough Spanish to get along, but I know very little about slang. I can swear! But none of my swearing seems to have a "bitch" equivalent. I don't want to call her a slut. Most of the swears I know are things like shit, damn, cocksucker, etc. I know the word for pussy but it's not really one thrown at people that denotes the same level of casual venom as "bitch."

So I go looking, and I quickly realize that the reason I don't know "bitch" is because there doesn't seem to be an equivalent-- the closest is "puta" which to me doesn't really read as bitch so much as whore. I also notice that it's wildly variable. I mean, duh, of course, but I narrow the search down to Cuban since that's the Spanish I know. Suddenly, I find "tortillera = lesbian."

There was a record scratch in my head. While lesbian works for my purposes, I have never in my life heard this before. Of course, I've never heard the word lesbian in Spanish, ever, but... really? Tortilla-maker? It's so bafflingly adorable!

I quickly googled around to see if it is, indeed, tortillera, and while it's hard to sift through all the stuff about people who make tortillas, it seems to be the word! No clue if it's insulting, but then again I've heard people call women lesbians to insult them, though it's a value neutral word.