Cercas/Fences


Naturally? There is nothing natural about spreading by virtue of a fence… But that is exactly what happens, naturally. In Spanish the word for fence, “cerca”, also translates into closeness and proximity. People use the word in a colloquial way “cercas” (with an “s” mistakenly added to the adverb) to mean being next to each other or near each other.

¿Naturalmente? No hay nada natural en ese desplazamiento que se realiza por sobre una cerca… Pero eso es exactamente lo que ocurre, naturalmente. En español cercas viene de cercar. Algunas personas dicen cercas para referirse de manera colloquial a estar cerca o a corta distancia de algo… ¿Colindancia? ¿Cercanía?

Photo and text © María Dolores Bolívar