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Submit, Submit To Me Now!
November 01, 2004
By Mariana C. King
Latinos who joined the mailing lists of this year's presidential campaigns through the candidates' Spanish-language Web sites know by now if they simply "went" with a candidate or were "subdued" by the other. At first sight, neither Web site had any major blunders in Spanish — not that I was looking for them — until I decided to join their mailing lists.
John Kerry's site asked for an e-mail and zip code. After clicking on a yellow button with the word "ir" (as in "go" to the next page), it thanked me cordially in Spanish.
George W. Bush's site requested my address, phone number and even my instant-messaging software of choice, but I was terrified to send such personal information: The red button to do so threatened me with the word "sométase," literally ordering me to "surrender" or "subdue" myself. That's hardly a subtle invitation.
The infinitive verb "to submit" and its homologue in Spanish, "someter" (both from the Latin submittere), share some meanings, such as "to place oneself under the control of someone" or "to surrender oneself."
Languages can take on new meanings over time and not always at the same pace. The Internet probably made popular the use of "submit" to mean "to send" or "to post" information online, but in Spanish "someter" has kept its negative connotations, also meaning "to conquer" or "to humiliate."
On the Bush campaign Web site, the second person imperative "sométase" made it all the more frightening. Weighing the implications of "surrendering" to the campaign, I felt constrained under a plausible Big Brother scenario.
Several Web sites offer better-worded choices on their mailing lists without the fear factor: "regístrate" ("register" at www.newmexicogovernor .gov/espanol) and "inscribirse" (foxhome.com/foxespanol/inscribete.html), both meaning "subscribe."
I finally did "surrender" and joined both campaigns. But it didn't matter. Once I started receiving their e-mails, not one was in Spanish.
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