Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Spanishisms

One of the greatest parts about living in a foreign country for an extended period of time, and more specifically in a truly RURAL part of that country, is that you pick up some of the local colloquialisms. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

1. "De PUTA MADRE" - one of the more baffling Spanishisms. Directly translated it means "of the mother whore," but believe it or not, it's used to describe things that are totally awesome.

2. "Eso es una MIERDA" (or "de puta mierda" or "que mierda") - basically means "this sucks" (which they find hilarious when you explain it to them) but is directly translated as "it's shit" or "what a crap"

3. "Un grano en mi culo" - can be translated to "it's a zit on my butt." The Spanish use this one to describe something that's a pain in the ass.

4. "Cabrón" - little did I know when I told Juan's Dad that it was "este cabrón" who wanted to ring the doorbell at 6 AM to get into his house that it actually means "son of a bitch" or "bastard," but among friends, this word gets thrown around all the time. You can't call anybody a Puta, but Cabron is definitely acceptable among friends.

5. "Gilipollas" - still not totally sure what the direct translation is, but gilipollas is defined as "twat," "wanker," "prick," and "jerk" on word reference. The way I thought it was used was more along the lines of "asshole," but it was described to me basically as "a silly penis." Manuel loves this one.

6. "Maria" - just think about it

7. "Coño" - this word continues to shock me. Even though I'm pretty sure that the literal translation is "cunt" this word gets thrown around by everyone, including school children.

8. "Ostia" - this word is even more baffling to me considering that they use coño so frequently. "Ostia" is the host that is given at communion in Catholic mass, but it is considered as bad as "fuck" in the English language. Next to "puta" it's one of the more offensive words you can use, but once again everyone uses it. I got yelled at for using this one more than a few times.

9. "Joder" - one of my absolute, all-time favorites. It means "fuck" and can be used in expressions like "no me jodas" or "don't fuck with me."

10. "Maricon" - "poof." They're still not too down with the gays over there, but I did see one of the biggest gay pride rallies in the country after the mayor of Badajoz basically said that all of the homos should go somewhere else. His message wasn't as well received as he'd hoped and the biggest gathering of gay pride supporters happened right outside his window a few weeks later.

11. "Tengo moscas" - This one is uniquely Extremeñan. It means "I have flies" but basically means "I'm friggin' tired." My roommates used it all the time, but Sonia said she'd never heard it before.

12. "Visitar Manuela" - "Beating off"

13. "Tio" - means "uncle" but is used like "dude" or "man." "Acho tio" is kind of like the Badajoz version of "that's wicked" from Boston but means "what the fuck, man."

14. "Que guay" - "that's cool/awesome"

15. "Ligar" - if you're dating someone you are "tied" with that person. It's one of the many examples of how poetic the language can be at times. The rest of these words don't really do Spanish justice, but once you begin to understand the intricacies of Spanish you begin to notice how it can flow like prose and is much more beautiful in it's descriptions. This is one thing English really lacks and that I miss about Spanish.

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