# Seen on a bus



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

On the outside of the bus, actually. A big long decal or painted phrase in a sort of cursive font running the length of the bus's rear bumper. (I was actually on the following bus looking out). It said 

"muñeco pero no de todas".

My translator app translates this as "doll but not all". Which actually has a ring to it in English, making me think that maybe the phrase is a translation of an English original - but the meaning escapes me.

Anyone got any light to shed?


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## Marian42 (Oct 22, 2020)

eastwind said:


> On the outside of the bus, actually. A big long decal or painted phrase in a sort of cursive font running the length of the bus's rear bumper. (I was actually on the following bus looking out). It said
> 
> "muñeco pero no de todas".
> 
> ...



I'll be very interested to know what that means in English.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Pay attention to the gender indicated.....then use your imagination. Oh well.........


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

The rear end of many buses in our area are displaying political ads at the moment.
There is an election coming up in less than a month.
Unfortunately it is hard to say without the entire context but I suspect the translation of the word 'muñeco' in your case might be closer to puppet rather than doll.
Perhaps post an image.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

eastwind said:


> "muñeco pero no de todas".
> /QUOTE]
> 
> That would be "not of all" rather than "not all".
> ...


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Sorry, didn't get an image. Perhaps I'll see the same bus again, I'll keep an eye out. 

The back end of the bus was white, pretty much all over. More or less white that is, with no ads. This phrase was written across the bumper, only, i.e. down low, which was also painted white. It was in a black cursive style font and the letters made an sort of up and down wave as they went across the bumper. No other clues.

Maybe it's political, as in accusing some unnamed politician of being in the pocket of someone (but not everyone, i.e. representing only whoever owned the pocket), but it was not naming anyone in particular.

I thought it was more along the lines of a decoration a private bus driver put on his bus to personalize it. Maybe the bus is the puppet of the driver, in that the driver directs the bus where to go?

I'm beginning to suspect that the meaning would be lost on most Mexicans as well.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I could be wrong, but I interpret this as a coquettish turn of phrase, not political. “Muñeco” is a male doll, but can also be used to refer to an attractive, sexy guy. [Or a really cute kid (with no sexual overtones) in other contexts.] Same with the word “papacito”. So he (presumably the driver) is declaring himself as a hot, sexy guy, but rather exclusive (not for everyone - and again gender matters - “todas” refers to everyone female or all women). It actually makes sense to me in Spanish, but I can’t come up with any straightforward way to say it in English that makes sense. But yes, most Mexicans would get the meaning.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Thanks, that would fit with the style of the script and the location - it was a up-and-down wavey line of letters written in a sort of cursive italic font along the lower bumper, much more of a 'signature' sort of thing that a 'sign' sort of thing as one would expect for a political slogan. 

I saw the same bus again the other day but still didn't get a picture, it was past me and gone quickly.

The first time I saw it was well before the recent election, too.


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