Hi Tony,

I'll try to answer your questions:

> 1)What is the Spanish for "message-board"?

This is actually a tricky question. In the context of the Internet
and among people who are familiar with Internet jargon, I would
probably simply say "message-board" for a lack of a better word. The
gender could be either "el" or "la", though "el" is probably
preferred.

Now, if you have a board next to your telephone where you take down
messages for other member's of the house, I would call that "una
pizarra" or "un pizarrón". You could also call an Internet message-
board "una pizarra", but IMO that only creates confusion.

> 2)Why does the message page have "mensaje anterior"
> for "previous
> message" and "siguiente mensaje" rather than
> "mensaje siguiente"
> for "next message". Is there a subtlety here I am
> missing?

Well, I guess we should ask the one who translated the original
site ;-)

In principle, you're completely right about the word order, and I
believe that the choice for the inverted word order is purely due to
a translator (or just a programmer?) having a tantrum or something
like that.

> 3)Am I the only one to notice this but are Norma and
> Martín
> (subliminally) conducting a sort of public love
> affair above and
> aside from the usual subjects of interest within
> this group?

I don't think so. But so far you're the only one who wasn't afraid
to ask.

But seriously, I've been wondering whether that's really productive
(and even instructing) for this group. They have been using many
local expressions and words, some of them no longer in use which I
don't recognize myself. Their discussion might be useful for an
advanced Spanish learner interested in words connected with a
certain region, but I don't see how it can help those who want to
practice or improve their Spanish. Not to mention the unnecessary
overhead that the increasingly appended footers generate...

That's my opinion anyway.
I hope this helps.

Regards,

Ignacio.

[1st February, 2006 @ 4:07 pm GMT-3]