[Depolit]

In another thread about "myths" the issue of "pasmarse" arose...and some of you participated trying to clarify the situation but in fact added a lot of confusion...sorry, but most of you are DEAD WRONG.

Pasmo (or pah'mo in Andalu/Dominican) with coresponding verb form pasmar(se) (pah'marse) DOES NOT correspond to espasmo...repeat...NOT.

You are also WRONG by thinking they mean that exposure to cold when your body is hot may cause DEATH...YOU IMAGINED they meant death because they warned you against it...but they NEVER spoke of death...they DO NOT mean death.

What they mean is that you could get a muscular stiffness (probably of a facial muscle) which may disfigure your face and make it difficult for you to speak clearly or at all...and yes I know this from FIRST HAND.

And guess what...this is not a legend AT ALL...

Pasmar(se) is a 100% standard ('correct', 'official') CASTELLANO word, which means almost exactly what the Dominican campesinos think it means...yes, sometimes Dominican campesinos know more about (their) life than you do...how shocking!

From the 'sacred' Royal Academy dictionary:

pasmar(se): 1. tr. Enfriar mucho o bruscamente. U. t. c. prnl.
(to make something/someone too cold or cold too suddenly )
5. prnl. Contraer el pasmo (‖ enfermedad).
(To get the "pasmo" (||desease).)

Pasmo:
3. m. Rigidez y tensión convulsiva de los músculos.
(muscular stiffness and tension with convulsion)
4. m. Efecto de un enfriamiento que se manifiesta por romadizo, dolor de huesos y otras molestias.
(effect of exposure to cold temperature which manifest itself as head cold and bone pain)
5. m. tétanos (‖ enfermedad)
which is:
1. m. Med. Rigidez y tensión convulsiva de los músculos voluntarios.
(muscular stiffness and tension with convulsion)
2. m. Med. Enfermedad muy grave producida por un bacilo que penetra generalmente por las heridas y ataca el sistema nervioso. Sus síntomas principales son la contracción dolorosa y permanente de los músculos, y la fiebre.
(Grave disease caused by a bacillus...whose main symptoms are painful muscular contraction and fever) .

There you have it: When Dominicans talk about "pasmarse" or "pasmo" (pronounced often with an H sound replacing the S as in the South of Spain) they mean more or less the same as...the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language...surprise, surprise, surprise.

Of course they are not necessarily medical doctors, and the situations that they think may lead to a pasmo may not be...but in principle they are correct (and you TOTALLY WRONG...sorry).

[Cydayshosse]

Moved to Spanish 101.

[Andoror]

Thx for the info. I had heard the term se pasma la boca but being that it was in the campo and that they also say se le tuerce la boca I just assumed it must be espasmarse. Also, I have never heard anyone would die only that the mouth would go numb or twist or that one would go crazy.

Finally, given that hundreds of millions Americans, Europeans and Asians aren't affected by the hot/cold issue (just look at professional sports or standard first aid for heat exhaustion) I expect the reason Dominican's are effected is merely suggestion. In fact doctors now known that the mind is a very powerful tool in healing the body.

Below are some example of treatment for heat stroke from one of the premier health clinics in the world, the Mayo Clinc: Heat stroke: Treatments and drugs - MayoClinic.com

- Immerse you in cold water.
- Pack you with ice and cooling blankets.

Finally, hundreds of Americans die every year from heatstroke and I imagine thousands are treated as referenced and I doubt anyone has had any complications with their mouth to say the least.

[Depolit]

Thx for the info. I had heard the term se pasma la boca but being that it was in the campo and that they also say se le tuerce la boca I just assumed it must be espasmarse. Also, I have never heard anyone would die only that the mouth would go numb or twist or that one would go crazy.

Finally, given that hundreds of millions Americans, Europeans and Asians aren't affected by the hot/cold issue (just look at professional sports or standard first aid for heat exhaustion) I expect the reason Dominican's are effected is merely suggestion.

Sorry but you missed the point...the definitions are NOT from the Dominican dictionary, but from the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in Madrid...and they do not even mention it is a regionalism (which they do when appropriate)...the definitions starting with "Med" are MEDICAL definitions...so, obviously, Dominicans did NOT invent the word or notion of "pasmar(se)".

In all likelihood the notion came from the same place from where the word came: Spain.

In fact, considering that Southern Spain (and even Madrid) can get EXTREMELY HOT in summer time (over 40C/100F easily) it would not be surprising they developed a concern about the effect of sudden change of temperature, especially from hot to cold....

[Aluback]

in which case it should be called 'espasmos', no?

[Depolit]

in which case it should be called 'espasmos', no?

The definitions that are right there in the original post are from the dictionary of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE.
The word PASMO (not espasmo but PASMO) is in that dictionary, with the definitions given. It's all in the original post. Please, re-read it.

[Andoror]

Sorry but you missed the point...the definitions are NOT from the Dominican dictionary, but from the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in Madrid...and they do not even mention it is a regionalism (which they do when appropriate)...the definitions starting with "Med" are MEDICAL definitions...so, obviously, Dominicans did NOT invent the word or notion of "pasmar(se)".

In all likelihood the notion came from the same place from where the word came: Spain.

In fact, considering that Southern Spain (and even Madrid) can get EXTREMELY HOT in summer time (over 40C/100F easily) it would not be surprising they developed a concern about the effect of sudden change of temperature, especially from hot to cold....

Dominicaus

No offense buddy but read my post again. I never stated I read pasmarse in any dictionary, it was what I had heard. Given that the pronunciation in the campo isn't the best I just assumed pasmarse was espasmarse pronounced incorrectly. ciao.

[Aluback]

The definitions that are right there in the original post are from the dictionary of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE.
The word PASMO (not espasmo but PASMO) is in that dictionary, with the definitions given. It's all in the original post. Please, re-read it.

mine was what I thought was quite intelligent humour. being as the origin is spanish, I thought it was humorous to say that it should be called ES-pasmo no?

maybe you should re-read MY post........lol

[Depolit]

No offense buddy but read my post again. I never stated I read pasmarse in any dictionary, it was what I had heard. Given that the pronunciation in the campo isn't the best I just assumed pasmarse was espasmarse pronounced incorrectly. ciao.

I was responding to the parts of your post that I quoted...something along the lines nobody else on earth is affected except Dominicans... "I expect the reason Dominican's are effected is merely suggestion"...which is why I referred you (and still do) to the OP where I provide the definitions from the Royal Academy dictionary...These definitions make clear that the concept extends at least through the Spanish-speaking world...they have no indication that the words/concepts are "regionalisms", and they also give some MEDical definitions, all consistent with the usage in the DR.

[Andoror]

I was responding to the parts of your post that I quoted...something along the lines nobody else on earth is affected except Dominicans... "I expect the reason Dominican's are effected is merely suggestion"...which is why I referred you (and still do) to the OP where I provide the definitions from the Royal Academy dictionary...These definitions make clear that the concept extends at least through the Spanish-speaking world...they have no indication that the words/concepts are "regionalisms", and they also give some MEDical definitions, all consistent with the usage in the DR.

With all due respect here are the quotes from RAE:

Enfriar mucho o bruscamente.

Ocasionar o causar suspensión o pérdida de los sentidos y del movimiento.

The first quote only refers about cooling something rapidly, and does not specifically state the body. The second quote refers to parts of the body to lose feeling such but does not specifically state the cause, it could easily be caused by a stroke.

The fact are that there is no scientific proof that the mouth will twist because the body experiences a change in temperature other than a very, very small minority of people claiming this effect. Therefore, it would have to assumed to be based on the power of suggestion. A similar effect is the nocebo effect, aka "vodoo death" whereby people feel symptoms or even die from taking placebo medicines or react negatively to innocuous stimulus like dying from fright after being bitten by a harmless spider. This is a real medical condition and is widely documented. Nocebo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia