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Old 3rd November 2007, 04:55 AM   #10
Chris Evans
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 685
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Hi Fernando,

Quote:
Originally Posted by fernando

As for the viper atribution, Chris, i have a varied perspective. In Spain, like in Portugal, there are three diferent terms ( maybe all over ). Cobra, used for generically mentionning the reptile (at least in Portugal) Serpiente=Serpente, used often in mystic situations, and Vibora, necessarily a poisonous snake.
Cobra is only atributed to the reptile, Serpente can be used to conotate an evil person, and Vibora to conotate a poisonous ( speech ) person.
So in the case of Navajas, i think the "Vibora" sense is that of a lethal snake = Cobra venenosa.
Forget if i am talking nonsense.
All the best
You are absolutely right and I stand corrected. By way of a lame excuse, what I was stating was considered normal usage of the word in South American Spanish and I forgot about Iberia! Actally, even there it was a misnomer because I looked it up in my ancient Argentinean dictionary! "Cobra" is a misnomer also used in South America interchangeably with "serpiente", "culebra" and "vibora".

Cheers
Chris
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