Camarer@!

Look out for one of these the next time you're in a Spanish hotel or restaurante... and amaze your family by showing them what to do with it!

The writing on the front is actually three words squashed together for a website address:

Pulsa y voy.

Pulsa means 'press'.

y means 'and'.

Voy means 'I go', although in this context it means 'I'll be there'.

You'll find these little aparatos (that means 'gadgets' or 'gizmos') on the tables wherever  camareros and camareras (waiters) serve. They're about the size of a deck of cards.

Look on the side and you'll see some more pistas (clues). 

The first button (what I originally thought was someone looking through a telescope) means 'Call the waiter'. Do you remember learning 'Me llamo Jeremy'? Well, llamar means 'call'.

The second button means 'Ask for the bill'.

I'm sure you can work the last one out yourself!

But if you do ever spot one, make sure you get to it first. 'Cos if anyone else turns it around, they might see this...

...and your little performance won't be quite so impressive.

Finally, did you notice how young people are getting around the camarero/a issue by using camarer@ to stand for both? They're using the '@' symbol (called arroba in Spanish) for lots of words which use 'o' and 'a' to change the gender. I think it's pretty guay! (That means 'cool', but click on the word to hear how to say it as it's not immediately obvious.)

Now, who's ready for hamburguesa y patatas fritas?