Interesting Spanish phrase – “and a bit …”

These two words were assimilated into my spoken Spanish very early on – they are “y pico” (and a bit).  Here’s how they are used:

“¿Cuántos años tiene?”   “Tiene treinta y pico años”

“¿A qué distancia está?”  “A un kilómetro y pico”

“¿Cuánto costó?”  “un euro y pico” or “un millón y pico” (depending on what you’re talking about obviously).

It’s one of those phrases that gets added to estimates, a bit like “más o menos” except that it means “más” and not “menos”.

Then when I moved to Murcia I discovered another use of “pico”.  Here, instead of calling a corner “esquina” they call it a “pico esquina”.  I have no idea why, and I don’t think it means “more than” a corner.  Just one of those strange things.

 

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