Here we are again, hanging out another pair of Spanish words to air their differences in usage. Today’s duo are colado and colada.
If you didn’t know this already, from the introduction you will probably have gathered there’s a link between colada, the feminine noun we’re starting with, and laundering clothes, bedding and so on. In Spain, la colada may be the process of soaking, soaping, rinsing and wringing items (or putting them in the washing machine and switching it on) or else the articles themselves before or after this – washing or laundry (or, if talking about a particular instance of doing the washing, wash):
Limpiaban oficinas y casas, hacían la colada.
They would clean offices and houses, they would do the washing or laundry.
Los lunes se hacía la colada.
On Mondays you’d do the washing orlaundry.
Dos mujeres están discutiendo mientras una tiende la colada.
Two women are talking while one hangs out the washing or laundry.
Recoge la colada, lava los platos, limpia la casa.
He brings in the washing or laundry, does the dishes, cleans the house.
In the context of volcanic eruptions, una colada or una colada de lava is a stream of molten lava that comes out of a volcano and runs down the side onto the land below, destroying whatever is in its path – a lava flow. Colada is also the word for a solidified lava flow.
Las coladas de lava destruyeron una gran cantidad de viviendas y edificaciones.
The lava flows destroyed a large number of homes and buildings.
Se evacuó a más de 5000 personas de los barrios más próximos a la trayectoria de las coladas.
More than 5,000 people were evacuated from the areas nearest the path of the lava flows.
La escasez de vegetación en las coladas de lava más recientes indicaba que eran del Holoceno.
The scarcity of vegetation on the most recent lava flows indicated that they were from the Holocene.
Colada is also used in the context of mud flows:
Las coladas de barro tienen una enorme capacidad destructiva.
Mudslides orMudflows have enormous destructive capacity.
Las fuertes lluvias tropicales han contribuido a la erosión, provocando coladas de fango y sedimentos.
Heavy tropical rains have contributed to erosion, causing mud and sediments to slide.
Given the last two meanings, it’s maybe not surprising that colada is used in metallurgy to refer to flows of molten metal:
Así forma un único molde listo para recibir la colada de metal fundido.
In this way it forms a unique mould ready to receive the molten metal that’s poured in.
lingotes producidos en máquinas de colada continua
ingots produced in continuous casting machines
La galvanoplastia se ha utilizado para realizar esculturas de metal de forma alternativa a la colada de metal fundido.
Electroplating has been used as an alternative to metal casting to make metal sculptures.
Una colada is also a route between mountains that is narrow or in other ways difficult to negotiate – a pass:
Al pasar el día en una finca asentada sobre la Colada de Cervantes, quedé impactado de la belleza de las montañas.
On spending the day at a farm perched on the Cervantes Pass, I was struck by the beauty of the mountains.
El colado (masculine) of a metal object is the act of creating it in a mould – the casting:
Durante el colado de la escultura se rompió el molde.
During the casting of the sculpture the mould broke.
In informal language, both un colado (masculine) and una colada (feminine) can be a person who has entered a place or an event without invitation. They may be a gatecrasher, an intruder or a queue jumper, depending on the circumstances:
El museo se inauguró el domingo con la presencia de 100 invitados y 20 colados.
The museum was officially opened on Sunday in the presence of 100 guests and 20 gatecrashers.
Colado (together with the inflected forms colada, colados and coladas to agree with the noun described) is also an adjective (as well as the past participle of the verb colar).
When describing metal, colado means created by melting and pouring into a mould – cast:
la producción de hierro colado
the production of cast iron
un puente de hierro colado
a cast-iron bridge
In informal language in Spain, if someone está colado por someone else, they are very keen on them!
Adolfo estaba colado por Carmen.
Adolfo was crazy about Carmen.
DID YOU KNOW?
Although in Spain la colada has come to mean washing and laundry the way we do it today (whether by machine or by hand), its origins lie in the days before effective detergents, when people whitened and disinfected grubby clothing by boiling up water and wood ash (or pouring boiling water onto wood ash) and straining the weak lye solution created onto the items being washed. The resulting alkaline solution had a bleaching effect. Hence the relationship of la colada with colar (to strain) and el colador (strainer, sieve, colander).
Hacer la colada is used only in European Spanish. A more universal expression is lavar la ropa (literally to wash the clothes):
Su pareja estaba lavando la ropa.
Her partner was doing the washing.
Related to lavar is un lavado, meaning a wash:
Este producto debe introducirse en el tambor vacío antes de cada lavado.
This product should be put in the empty drum before each wash.
To immerse yourself in the usage of more Spanish words, come back next week.
