Voices en Español

By Veronica Pamoukaglian

Spanish is a unique language known for its variations, not only in pronunciation but also in its lexicon and grammar. So much so that at times it can get rather complicated for a native Spanish speaker who travels to another Spanish-speaking country to speak the way he normally would en casa. In case you hadn’t already guessed, I’m talking about the group of taboo words and phrases that are typical to each region.

A Uruguayan arriving in Lima, Peru, for example, should take care when using the word pincho, which is simply a point or a needle in his homeland. But in Peru, a pincho is a vulgar term used to refer to a penis, while in Spain, “un pincho” refers to a (food) portion size! However, when a Peruvian says “me llega al pincho” he’s not referring to a man’s member nor the size of his food portions, but instead he’s saying doesn’t care, that it doesn’t matter, or what would conventionally be expressed in standard Spanish as “no me importa.” Other colloquial expressions used in Spanish to convey the same idea are are me importa un pito, me importa un bledo, me importa un pepino.

But by far the most notorious example of this kind of falso amigo is the verb coger, which in Spain is commonly used to mean “tomar” but in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico, the same verb means to fuck, or what genteel people would say is to fornicate. Imagine how funny it sounds to a Uruguayan to hear a Cuban say “vamos a coger botella,” which in Cuba means to hitchhike. (By the way, the standard way to say  “to hitchhike” in Spanish is “hacer dedo.”) And when Spaniards “coger el tren“, Spanish speakers from other countries “tomar el tren.” Another verb used as substitute of coger is agarrar, when referring to the idea of grabbing or holding on to an object.

Perhaps one of the most jarring words for a Latinoamericano to hear upon landing in Spain is the word pija, the feminine of pijo. In Spain this word is used everywhere and it is a term used to describe a snobby, stuck-up female who wears the latest fashions, lives in the best neighborhoods and generally thinks the world revolves around her. But in South America, una pija is like using the English insult “a prick,” a term you definitely wouldn’t use in polite conversation. To make matters worse, in many places in South America, the phrase “es una pija” is synonymous for “She/it is shit” or “no vale nada.”

There are a ton of differences in the Spanish spoken in Spain and in Latin America. After all, all of Latin America at one time or another was a former colony of Spain. But during my time living in Spain, I had an opportunity to use various insults and swear words that we used to use in my family 20 years ago. They were expressions that had the same significance in Spain as they did in Uruguay, which is where I’m from. For example, the euphemism “me cago en diez” instead of “me cago en Díos.” This expression, which one uses when angry, was used by my parents’ generation during the 1970s and ’80s, but today in Spain, this expression is alive and well and widely used.

As you can see, this subject is pretty complicated. So if you’re planning on traveling to Spain or headed to Latin America, be sure to get your tacos and palabrotas straight! 

Click here for the Spanish version of this article.

Comic “When Name Calling Isn’t Swearing,” used with permission