My word of the week

I learned a new word yesterday.  The pastor asked the congregation how many people were empadrados and a fair number of hands across the church went up in the air.  Then he went on to talk about how Mary was pregnant before she was married and that didn't keep Joseph from bringing her to Bethlehem to fulfill his civil obligations.  This obedience also resulted in the prophecy being fulfilled of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem.

So I was trying to figure out what empadrado means.  At first I thought it meant someone who had a girlfriend who was pregnant before they were married, but that didn't seem right since so many people raised their hands.  (And it didn't seem like something the pastor would ask a show of hands for in the middle of a service.)  Then I thought that perhaps the word has the same root as the word padre and that it has something to do with men of the house taking responsibility for the family...but again, that didn't make all that much sense with the rest of the sermon.

So I came home and looked it up in my dictionary.  What does it mean?  To register.  As in, to register to vote.  Which makes complete sense with the rest of the sermon talking about why it is important for Christians to vote in the upcoming elections here.

I guess studies aren't that far off when they say that context clues aren't always the best way for people to pick up vocabulary when learning a new language. :-)