on a scapeship. At least not one made by the sirius cybernetics corp. -- mgb Jan 19 at 6:21 I learned how important it is not to translate idioms when I was in Germany. After interviewing a female candidate a colleague asked "What did you think of her?" I replied Sie ist sharf (She is sharp). He then asked me how I could possibly know that she was horny. Blushing, I explained my translation error. English speakers learning Spanish are always told that although "caliente" means "hot", you must always use "clido" if you are referring to a person being hot, because "caliente" has connotations. Of course, there is a t-shirt that says "My Spanish teacher is MUI CALIENTE" -- slim Jan 17 at 17:53 3 I have had a niece refer to piquant food as burn-y/burning hot, but was referring to scovilles (and in one instance due to garlic) not thermal heat. -- mfg Jan 17 at 19:09 @slim Surely that must be muy caliente , unless the person's surname (or maamname) should happen to be 'Mui'. I do know such people. -- tchrist Jan 17 at 21:58 2 No, "burning hot" could be idiomatically interpreted to mean "spicy" as well. As a matter of fact, I've heard people talking about spicy food "setting their mouths on fire". -- Rice Flour Cookies Jan 18 at 16:06 @RiceFlourCookies There actually something Quite Interesting going on there with the human nervous system, in which the mind equates the stimulus of capsaicin