okay, I gave 'straight ahead' as the English translation of derecho; but I got this email from Dagny:

Nope, it means to the right. It also retains the same secondary sense as the
word "right" in English - a la <human rights>.

I bet I'm not the only one to email you about this! =)


well, so far she's nearly the only one, although I did get this:

Is it ok if I prefer to regard this as a Spanish word
which has quite a few definitions, but basically
meaning right-hand; or even straight, standing,
upright.

thus it seems to mean either right or straight (but not quite straigh ahead) -- anyone else?