OT: plato, meseta or plateau ... Intro to Spanish 101

[Lerebours, Jose]

Jay brought to our attention:

> > JP wondered:
> > > | John post was offensive to me as a reader let alone to Brian.  I
> > > | think it was insulting and as usual, questioned a 
> member's skills
> > > | and intelligence.  Why should John denounce Brian 
> skills as lower
> > > | than Howie?  I have seen some of Howie's post to this 
> list and they
> > > | leave much to question coming from Howie - They are proof that
> > > | even Howie does NOT know it all (John is on that plato 
> on his own).
> > > 
> > > Plato? What does Plato have to do with any of this?  Or 
> Socrates or
> > > Aristophanes or Homer or any other of those ancient Greeks?
> > 
> > >From the Spanish word "plato" which means "platform" or 
> "level" ... 
> > or at least as intended.  I guess I should have enclosed it within 
> > quotes or something.
> > 
> > You disappoint me.  You know enough Spanish to have picked that up!
> 
> "plateau".
> 
> According to Merriam Webster, from the Old French, as the orthography
> had led me to believe.  BabelFish says the Spanish equivalent is
> "meseta".
> 

"meseta" is more like a "counter top" ...  I sure hope you are not using
these translators to translate business documents  ;-)

"plato" in Spanish can be defined as "dish" you eat in, the "roof top" 
(which is also known in Spanish as sotea which in turn could mean "attic").
However, "plato" is commonly employed to define building levels.  So, if
you build layers on top of one another, each can be viewed as a "plato"
or "floor" (in Spanish also translated to "piso").  So, if you build a 
building with 20 floors, you have a building with 20 "platos" and the 
very last one has "sotea" while the rest simply have "techo" better known
as "ceiling".

Now that you posted "plateau", I am sure this is the word I was looking
for but ended up writing it in Spanish instead.  

Regards;


Jose Lerebours