La Kahlo

The use of the definite article on famous women’s last names.

Frida Kahlo

 

The use of “La” only for famous ladies.

It’s a pop culture thing to refer to famous ladies using the definite article plus her last name to convey something like “the one and only.” For example:

La Monroe

The one and only Miss Monroe. It’s like if there were no other famous woman with the last name Monroe.

La Taylor

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No other Miss Taylor as famous as Elizabeth Taylor. It doesn’t matter that there may be other famous women named Taylor, la Taylor will be the one and only Elizabeth Taylor for many more years.

 

La Hayek

Salma Hayek of course.

.

La Kahlo

These are just some examples. There are many more “las” than the ones I just mentioned. La López, la Kardashian, la Minelli, La Merkel? Probably!, La Windsor?…No! Not for the queen. La Madonna?, La Cher? No. It works only for ladies with a last name.

This is used mostly on actresses, writers, singers, mostly arts. I don’t think this is done for men, like there is no El Banderas, el Del Toro, el Picasso, el Cruise.

They do the same in Italy:

La Loren

In Spanish you can say La Loren too.

La Loren.
La Loren (Sofia/Sophia Loren) from La Stampa.

La Monroe

just like in Spanish.

La Monroe. Marilyn Monroe.

 

Originally posted on 20110125. Updated on 20210304 (spanishNY.com) top

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