SALAZAR SIGNS MANGLE "OF" AND "FOR" THE PEOPLE

(Ed.'s Note: We, along the border, have some acquaintance with bilingualism. I, me, he, she, Yo, tu, el, ella, you get the drift. So when we saw the campaign sign from JP 2-1 Linda Salazar translating "from the people" to"Para la gente," something didn't ring right.

"From" doesn't translate to "Para," or does it? No. Every local linguist we asked says "from" translates into "De" la gente." Coming from someone who prides herself in reflecting the grassroots culture, it would seem she or someone close to her would have caught the mistake.

If the purpose of the sign was to remind voters of the Lincoln quote from the Gettysburg Address, that went: "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth," it didn't work.

Note there is no "from" in that quote.

"De,""para," does it matter? Well, yes. After all this is the woman who has shown an endearing crudeness in asking for "condones" (a koozie) for her beer and tells couple she weds (for a hefty $250 per ceremony) and tells the groom "ya te la puedes pichonear,"so this minor translation gaffe is probably the least of her transgressions. Oh, yeah. Mothers don't let your daughters grow up to be Linda.)