Rip cur­rents have got­ten a lot of press lately. Every sum­mer local and national news sta­tions invari­ably run a short piece on the dan­gers of rip cur­rents. This is great, as pub­lic aware­ness is the first step to decreas­ing drown­ing acci­dents. Unfor­tu­nately, most media pieces on rip cur­rents don’t tell the whole story. Here are five things you might not know about rip cur­rents that could save your life.

5 Things You Might Not Know About Rip Currents

They don’t pull you under­wa­ter.
There is no such thing as an under­tow. Noth­ing is going to pull you under­wa­ter (except a mael­strom or very large surf). Rip cur­rents occur when water from incom­ing swell energy returns to the ocean. As such, rip cur­rents do not pull under, but rather flow out­ward like a river.

They don’t always go straight out to sea.
Now we know that rip cur­rents go out, not under, but it is impor­tant to under­stand that they do not always go straight out.  Water fol­lows the path of least resis­tance. A rip cur­rent may flow straight out, it may curve, it may zig-zag, it may flow at an angle, or it may flow par­al­lel to shore and then curve sharply out­ward. Because rip cur­rents don’t always flow away from shore, many vic­tims do not real­ize they are in a rip until it is too late.

You shouldn’t always swim par­al­lel to shore.
Con­ven­tional wis­dom dic­tates that you should swim par­al­lel to shore when you are in a rip. That’s great if the rip is mov­ing straight out to sea, but if the rip is diag­o­nal, long­shore, or zig-zagging you will  tire your­self out by swim­ming par­al­lel to shore. As a rule, you should always swim per­pen­dic­u­lar to the flow of the rip, towards shore, with the wind.

You shouldn’t always wait for the rip to end.
Some peo­ple sug­gest wait­ing for the rip to stop flow­ing before fig­ur­ing out how to reach the shore. That’s fine if you are in a small rip, but some rips flow 300 yards out to sea. The best way to escape a rip is by act­ing quickly and ratio­nally. Once you feel the pull, fig­ure out which direc­tion you are going and then fol­low the guide­lines in step three. Wait­ing until the rip ends may leave you very far from shore.

You don’t have to be an expert swim­mer to save a life.
You just need to be smart and informed. If you notice some­one in a rip, first sig­nal for help. Life­guards and surfers will be able to respond effec­tively. If you are on land, call 9–11. If you have avail­able flota­tion (rafts, body boards, surf­boards) approach the vic­tim and lend the flota­tion. If you do not have flota­tion, but have avail­able assis­tance, a human chain can help pull vic­tims to the safety of the sand­bar. Just remem­ber, never panic and never ever approach a vic­tim with­out flota­tion. A poten­tial res­cuer should never become a victim.

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How To Say “Fat” in Spanish

This time Andy only made 2 mistakes instead of the usual 5. Again, I made a note of his mistakes with my smart phone in order to share them with you.

Patrick Jackson

How to say fat in Spanish is what you will learn from this blog post. And I will talk about a Spanish word that can be both used as an insult or a term of affection. I will also teach you how to say fat as in body fat, animal fat and “fat” as in being over-weight.

How To Say Fat in Spanish

In a previous blog post, I told you about how I went “al cine” (to the movies) with some Colombian friends and they had a friend named Andy who joined us.

Andy is from the U.K, and he is sort of a “mochilero” (backpacker) who has traveled throughout Latin America. “Mochilero” comes from the word “mochila” which means “backpack.”

In that email, I told you about 5 mistakes that I heard Andy make when speaking Spanish.

Well, Andy is still here visiting Medellin, Colombia. And last night Andy, the same group of friends, and I went out to get something to eat.

1. At the “restaurante,” when the “mesero” (waiter) took Andy’s order, he asked for “costillas de cerdo” (pork ribs) and “papas a la francesa” (french fries). (In Colombia, french fries are called “papas a la francesa” but in most parts of Latin America they are called “papas fritas” — literally, fried potatoes).

After telling the “mesero” (waiter) that he wanted “costillas” (ribs) — but at the same time wanting to eat somewhat healthy — Andy then told the “mesero,” “sin mucha grasa.”

In Latin America, that’s not the correct way to say “without a lot of fat.” Well, “grasa” does mean fat. But in Latin America, when referring to the fat that is on meat, the word that you should use is “gordo.” So Andy should have said “sin mucho gordo” (without a lot of fat).

“Gordo/a” also means fat as in overweight:

• Mi jefe estaba gordo. My boss used to be overweight.

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Calling somone “gordo” (fatso) or “gorda” (fatso) is also a way to insult someone.

But in many parts of Latin America and also in Spain, “gordo/gordito” and “gorda/gordita” can be used as names of affection. For example, “dame un beso, gorda” (give me a kiss, sweetheart.)

Speaking personally, my “novia” (girlfriend) could probably score more points with me by calling me “flaquito” (the diminutive word for skinny) instead of calling me “gordo.”

After Andy placed his order, I then placed my order and requested:

- Pechuga a la parrilla – grilled chick breast – Ensalada – salad – Un vaso de agua de la llave – glass of tap water.

And yes, you can drink the “agua de la llave” (tap water) in Medellin. It actually tastes pretty good. But not as good as the tap water from “Nueva York” (New York) — which, in my opinion, tastes better than any bottled water. (But I would not recommend drinking “agua de la llave” in any Colombian city other than Medellin.)

Andy noticing that I had ordered a healthy “plato” (dish), he then asked me in Spanish:

2. “Patrick, ¿quieres perder gordo?

I responded, “Sí, quiero perder GRASA y ganar músculo.” (emphasis added). (Yes, I want to lose fat and gain muscle.)

As I mentioned earlier, “gordo” does refer to fat. But when you are talking about body fat (or blubber) the word to use is “grasa.”

So Andy should have asked me, “Patrick, ¿quieres perder grasa?” “Patrick do you want to lose fat?”

The Spanish word “grasa” also means grease. And the Spanish word for lard is “manteca.”

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