# band-aid



## ednalaura

hello everybody! wordreference says that the translation of "band-aid" is "tirita", but it doesn´t quite convince me... in mexico (monterrey) we call it ´curita´... do you have any other translation for band-aid? thanks


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## jessiemsy

i've always heard curita


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## ILT

La curita in México. Bandita in other countries. 
This is what RAE says:
curita: Tirita
tirita: Tira adhesiva por una cara, en cuyo centro tiene un apósito esterilizado que se coloca sobre heridas pequeñas para protegerlas
bandita: No aparece en el diccionario.


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## Troy_Indiana

I've never heard any word other than 'curita'... (Mexico and Ecuador)
Maybe the dictionary entry is a word used in Spain?


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## ednalaura

thank you all for your input!!


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## moirag

In Spain they use "tirita"... and we don´t use "band aid" in Britain, either. It´s a plaster or Elastoplast.


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## Carlosfv

Yes, if you ask for a "curita" in Spain they would think you're asking about a _tiny priest_.
We always ask for "tiritas"


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## tillymarigold

And man, there's nothing so humbling as being completely fluent in your second language, living in a foreign country, and realizing you can't get a Band-Aid when you need one. (Was living in Ecuador, only knew "tirita" ... so I can definitely confirm that it's "tirita" in Spain and "curita" in Ecuador!)


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## Tape2Tape

Carlosfv said:
			
		

> Yes, if you ask for a "curita" in Spain they would think you're asking about a _tiny priest_.
> We always ask for "tiritas"


 
This reminds me of the first time I went to the _ambulatorio_ and saw a sign saying _Sala de Curas_... well, I thought, if we have Sisters in the hospitals in England... 

I'd say _tiritas_ as well, though I have seen the printed word _apósitos_ on a box before (although maybe that was Portuguese)...


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## Punto

ok, here is a new one.
En Chile decimos "Parche curita"


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## nikita962

Hi:
In Peru, we say "venditas" o "curitas"


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## Carlosfv

tillymarigold said:
			
		

> And man, there's nothing so humbling as being completely fluent in your second language, living in a foreign country, and realizing you can't get a Band-Aid when you need one.


 
Hi tillymarigold, don't worry. It's not a problem with your spanish. 

I guess the issue lies on a the (bad) habit of calling a thing upon a brand name (usually the first to introduce the product). It happens the same when asking for "casera" instead of gaseosa, "chupachup" instead of a (Oops, I can't even find a real name in spanish for a lollypop... pirulí?) or a "potito" (originally named that by Bledine) instead of a baby food pot.

"Tiritas" where introduced in Spain after the Civil War by a Catalonian (from Mataró) that spent some time in the US (were its said they were invented by a worker of Johnson&Johnson). It seems that we spaniards quickly adopted the brand name, mostly because they were unknown until then, but also because of the funny slogan they used to advertise them:
_"Tiritas: para rasguños y heriditas"_  

I do not know about "Curitas". But its name sugest me that this could be another brand name. I'll let my fellow Latin Americans do the research here


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## tillymarigold

Most people I know call lollipops "paletas" in Spanish ... though I do always have to stop myself from calling them "chupachups." 

Yes, J&J (the company's headquarters are in my hometown) did invent the Band-Aid, and in fact they're the only company that's allowed to call them that. And yet everyone calls them that. Personally, I don't even *like* real Band-Aids, yet I call them that anyway.


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## Nippur de Lagash

Una versión "culta": apósito protector.


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## aurilla

In Puerto Rico we also call "band aids" "curitas".


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## Nippur de Lagash

Carlosfv said:
			
		

> Hi tillymarigold, don't worry. It's not a problem with your spanish.
> 
> I guess the issue lies on a the (bad) habit of calling a thing upon a brand name (usually the first to introduce the product). It happens the same when asking for "casera" instead of gaseosa, "chupachup" instead of a (Oops, I can't even find a real name in spanish for a lollypop... pirulí?) or a "potito" (originally named that by Bledine) instead of a baby food pot.
> 
> "Tiritas" where introduced in Spain after the Civil War by a Catalonian (from Mataró) that spent some time in the US (were its said they were invented by a worker of Johnson&Johnson). It seems that we spaniards quickly adopted the brand name, mostly because they were unknown until then, but also because of the funny slogan they used to advertise them:
> _"Tiritas: para rasguños y heriditas"_
> 
> I do not know about "Curitas". But its name sugest me that this could be another brand name. I'll let my fellow Latin Americans do the research here


"Curitas" es el nombre comercial original aquí en la Argentina. No recuerdo bien pero supongo que eran de J&J, o bajo licencia de los mismos. Tal vez otra marca, para zafar, inventó los "apósitos protectores".


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## aurilla

There is a "Curity" brand of band-aids.


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## Hija del Maíz

Yo las conozco como curitas o como banditas por lo de "Bandas adhesivas", pero entiendo lo de las marcas, en México es muy común pedir un kleenez en lugar de un pañuelo.
Acá les llamamos paletas, pero una véz un español me comentó que para el las paletas eran los huesos de la espalda llamados omoplatos...


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## ACPend

In Colombia I have always heard Curitas


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## Xailana

Sé que el post es viejo pero quería aclarar para fururos visitantes, que en Argentina "Curitas" es una marca y, sin embargo, es la palabra que más se usa. La palabra genérica y neutral es "apósito" (es la descripción del producto en las cajas de vendajes de ese tipo).


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## Carlosfv

tillymarigold said:


> Most people I know call lollipops "paletas" in Spanish ... though I do always have to stop myself from calling them "chupachups."



There are very different words to name the same thing in different parts of the coutry but, fwiw, I can tell you how it was at least in Madrid when I was a child:

Let's consider a lollypop as a sweet/candy put on a stick. The right name for this is "pirulí" (the famous "Torrespaña", Madrid comunications tower, is also known by its "pirulí" nickname). The sweet/candy can be given many shapes:

- spherical shaped -> chupachup (from the brand name "Chupa Chups")
- flat shaped (usually round) -> "piruleta" 
- whistle shaped -> pirulí (they had a moving stick so you could blow on the top and change the note of the whistle... before eating it, that's it )
- Kojak (originally a brand name, given after the famous bald TV police inspector )-> Spherical shape but with bubble gum inside.

(This thread has become a very funny one )


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## Bienvenidos

He oído en Venezuela:

"Band - aid" es "tirita" y "bandage" es "venda/vendita." Me fascina la influencia de "marcas registradas" como Band-Aid.


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## Uly

IN Cuba they're also called curitas, so I guess it's safe to say that we have an American universal: *curita*, and an Iberian: *tirita*.


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## _Mozart_

Punto said:


> ok, here is a new one.
> En Chile decimos "Parche curita"


 
Yeah! _"Me compra parche..." (estación U.de Chile)_. Si, parche curita.


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## suzzzenn

> "Tiritas" where introduced in Spain after the Civil War by a Catalonian (from Mataró) that spent some time in the US (were its said they were invented by a worker of Johnson&Johnson). It seems that we spaniards quickly adopted the brand name, mostly because they were unknown until then, but also because of the funny slogan they used to advertise them:
> "Tiritas: para rasguños y heriditas"



hmmm.. I am missing the humor! Why is that slogan funny? Is  the expression "heridita" not commonly used?


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## Uly

duh...because it rhymes


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## Julie_universitymagazine

What you call "bandage" or "plaster" is translated as "apósito protector".
"Curitas" is an equivalent to "Band-aids", the trademark.

The same happens with "Gillette" here in Argentina. They are razors, but people call them "gillettes".

"lolly" is "chupetín" here.


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## Carlosfv

suzzzenn said:


> hmmm.. I am missing the humor! Why is that slogan funny? Is  the expression "heridita" not commonly used?



First, as Uly says, it has a rhyme.

Second, the use of the diminutive form (_heridita_ is diminutive for _herida_) gives the phrase a childish charming sound that also comes quite handy when it comes to calming a crying boy or girl that has a wound. Btw,_ Tirita_ is also diminutive for _tira_.
It sounds more apealing to little children to (tenderly) say that you are going to cure them with a _little band_ than doing it with a (plain) _band_. Here we are done to use diminutive words when talking to babies and children (i.e. we even tell them _"Mira ese perrito"/Look that little dog"_ while pointing at a enormous San Bernardo  )

I consider it an example of good'ol wise marketing. At least it worked.


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## Manuel G. Rey

Apósito es también en España el genérico, y así se designa el producto en sus cajas.
Lo que no quita para que en el lenguaje usual se llamen 'tiritas', aunque esa una marca comercial.


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## Mofle

En Argentina le decimos "curita". A los lollypops los llamamos "chupetines".


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## Arrius

*Most people I know call lollipops "paletas" in Spanish tillymarigold*

I would have taken *paleta *to mean _female hick, yokel, hayseed, or country bumpkin!_


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## Mofle

La palabra "paleta" prácticamente no se usa en Argentina. Es chupetín. 
Para female hick: pajuerana.


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## aztlaniano

Troy_Indiana said:


> I've never heard any word other than 'curita'... (Mexico and Ecuador)
> Maybe the dictionary entry is a word used in Spain?


 Definitely in Spain it's tirita.


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## Arrius

I live in Spain and can also confirm that _tiritas_ is what it says on the packets of sticking plasters.


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