Castellano vs español
What’s the difference between castellano and español? Which one should I use? Short answer: both are correct, both mean the same language. Sí, no, gracias, por favor, etc. Long answer: Spain is a country. español,-a is someone/something that comes from Spain. The origin of the Spanish language can be located in the old kingdom of…
Pendejo
Pendejo se usa mucho en México, para decir idiota, estúpido, dumbass, y en Argentina/Uruguay para hablar de una persona muy joven o inmadura. Ejemplos: Mi vecino es un pendejo, pone la música a todo volumen. ME My neighbor is an idiot, he plays music very loud.Te estás comportando como un pendejo, madurá un poquito. AR/URU…
Estar metido en la mierda
And it’s other versions: ‘estar de mierda hasta el cuello’, or, ‘estar en la mierda’ means to be in deep shit. Just picture someone’s soul swimming in shit. In the circles I move, that means to have too much urgent work to do. I imagine that in darker places might need to be in trouble.…
No caberle a alguien en la cabeza
Language Level: advancedSwearing Degree: none, you can say it in front of your bossStructure: no + me/te/le/nos/os/les + caber (conjugated) + en la cabeza que + subjuntive caber means to fit, in the sense of to fit inside of something else. The verb is so irregular that sometimes natives have problems with the conjugation. A…
Nombres de países
Whoever named the following countries in Spanish should be held responsable: Lituania and LetoniaEslovenia and EslovaquiaUruguay and ParaguaySuecia and SuizaAustralia and AustriaAm I missing any pair?
xxx de mierda
‘uruguayos de mierda’, ‘españoles de mierda’, ‘gringos de mierda’, ‘putos de mierda’, ‘putas de mierda’, ‘blancos de mierda’, ‘negros de mierda’. There. And if you are frustrated because the tv doesn’t work, or they are showing a shitty movie, don’t be shy: ‘tele de mierda’. You’d be wrong, though. Humans and animals are full of…
Ser un aborto del diablo
OMG! I just remembered this one, and I’m overexcited. What an insult. I don’t like that is so superficial: it means “to be ugly as hell / to be incredibly ugly”, but anyway. el aborto: miscarriageel diablo: Satan I haven’t heard it in a long time, I don’t know if it’s falling into disuse, or…
¿Qué cojones haces aquí?
(Seen in ‘El desorden que dejas’, episode 1) A man rings the bell. When nobody opens the door, he tries to get in, using his own key. A woman, inside, makes it in time to block his access. They know each other. “¿Qué cojones haces aquí?”, she shouts at him. Translated literally; ‘What testicles are…
Obscenities
I only feel deeply offended when someone insults me with a truth, or something I believe is the truth. “Te estás poniendo gorda”, “te estás poniendo vieja”, “loca como tu madre”, maybe they hit home. And yet I’m pretty sure they are not obscenities. By definition, an obscenity is an “extremely offensive word or expression”.…
Everything started with the word ‘culo’
I am Angela and I love words. I teach Spanish online for a living, I learn languages as a hobby. The thing with Spanish is that it is used across a vast territory, and in different countries we use it differently, or very differently. I’ve lived in Uruguay, Argentina and Spain. Some words are used…
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La Mala Palabra 