I can't find a picture of ferrets carrying tools to go with this post.

[randomness]

My favorite word in Castilian Spanish is ferretería. It means hardware in American, or ironmongery in British English. Because I think like a kid, I imagine ferrets carrying tools every time I see the word. That's pretty often, given how much I visit Home Depot and Lowe's.

(I know, it's all about ferrum. But I said I think like a kid, remember?)

Comments

[redbird]

Not just Castilian: I learned that one from signs in New York City (so most likely Puerto Rican or Dominican Spanish).

[randomness]

Oh, definitely. I was using Castilian in the first sense the Wikipedia disambiguation page uses it. There's an interesting page called "Names given to the Spanish language", which even includes a map showing which name is more used where.

But I'm pretty sure most of the speakers of that language in the United States recognize the word "ferretería".