Solution - Finally!

As 3 people keep nagging me to puplish the solutions of the vocabulary test, I finally want to do that. I really thought a bit more would participate but it was fun anyway.

So here are the solutions:

1. Malinche (Hernán Cortez' lover and translator/ name of a volcano near Puebla): I think I have to explain again that "lover" can refer to both a man and a woman. In this case it was a woman. So it has nothing to do with "gay". The thing is that this woman Malinche was an indígena being Hernán Cortez' lover and translater. Therefore the word Malinche has become a symbol of betrayal. So calling someone Malinche is not too nice;-) - Sorry, nobody got that right!
   
2. Orejas del Elefante (elefant ears): Is a name for a taco. It is filled with a LOT of meat. - Nobody got that right either! - he he, it seems I' winning;-)
3. güey (ox): right Michael, that would be something like dude in English. But you have to be careful because if you say it to a stranger they will feel insulted. Calling people by an animals name generally is quite a bad thing here.
4. agua del calcetin (water of the sock): This has nothing to do with alcohol and it isn't the obvious thing. That's how people call a very weak coffee here. Why is up to your imagination...
5. una fiesta de tornillos (a party of screws): is a pary where there are mainly guys and the girls are missing (there are the screws but the screw nuts are missing). Fabian, it has nothing to do with "screwing someone" or any other "sexual" meaning. At least as far as I was told...
6. pinche (scullion): Right! That's "f***ing" in English. You can use it as an adjective in front of any noun. I have no idea where is the relation to scullion!
7. pendejo (pubic hair): "idiot" would be an adequate translation. It's not as strong as "asshole".
8. cabrón (billy goat): originally it's an expression for a cuckold. The German expression "jemandem Hörner aufsetzen" is similar. So if you want to insult someone, you can call him cabrón. But - just as 3. - calling one's friend cabrón is quite usual and not considered bad at all. As I explained before: Mexicans like a STRONG language.
9. I'll just cite Michael because I didn't know so many English expressions for it: " looked up a few terms that describe what I think this means. Here's what I came up with:
   - beat the meat
   - choke the chicken
   - burp the worm
   - shake hands with the cyclops
   - slap the purple headed yogurt pistol (I like that one :-))
   - whip the weasel
   Now that I think about it... You seem to have a - well... - interesting time in Mexico, considering what you call "part of every day's communication"... 8-)" And to explain how that comes into "every day's communication": Mexicans (guys) like expressions with a double meaning. And quite often it happens that you say something which you think it quite a normal sentence. A Mexican says this sentence slightly different and everybody starts to laugh. Except yourselft. He sais it again. You still think it is a normal sentence. If they are nice, they explain the double meaning to you...
10. mordida (bite): bribe money. Definitely part of "every day's life" here (although some Mexicans deny it). The police here often stops people who look a bit more wealthy because you can avoid a lot of trouble paying a little bribe. It's something deep-seated in Mexican culture and I guess even if they would exchange all policemen (as New York's former mayor Giuliani who acted as an advisor for the Mexican government) nothing really would change.

And here are your grades, cabrones:

• Michael: You did pinche well on the test. Did you forget to tell me about your Spanish/ Mexican girlfriend?;-) Or how come you got so many words right? I guess you were bored and found a good dictionary on the web... So best grade on the test but you definitely failed convincing others to participate! So I would say 5 points on the test and -10 for convincing others.
  
• Digger: Nice guesses. But just guesses!:-> Well, it was fun reading them anyway. So 1 point for that;-)
  
• Fabian: More guesses that made me laugh! Especially how carefully you expressed your guess on 5. Sorry, it wasn't right. I give you 3 points. But just for the amount of text you wrote;-) (remember Dave Link's scales!!!)
• Everybody else: shame on you, you didn't participate!!!