To celebrate the Mother Language Daythe Babbel agency published a guide that compiles the glossary with the phrases and words funniest used in different Spanish-speaking countries.
This is a guide with different ways to say the same thing.
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And this is February 21st is celebrated on International Matern Language Daya, a date to promote linguistic and cultural diversity around the world. This initiative, proclaimed by the UNESCO in 1999, seeks to raise awareness in society about the importance of preserving and promoting the use of mother tongues, recognizing that they are fundamental for cultural identity, social cohesion and sustainable development.
For example, in Colombia, to indicate the difficulty or complication of a situation we say: “I don’t give a damn”; while in Argentina the word “bola” is used for someone to “give us a ball”, seeking to pay attention to us.
In the same style, in Spainto tell someone to pay attention to us we say “stay at the parrot” and, taking into account that parrots do not process much and rather repeat everything, the expression is quite ironic.
Esteban Touma, Babbel Live teacher, explained that something that gives rise to funny expressions in Spanish is lack of time or being in a hurry.
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In Spain they say: “let’s go on time.” In Chile they “squeeze the cheek.” And in Colombia we would have to “give him a flip flop.” And on the other hand, in Mexico someone who is in a hurry “goes crazy” or “goes mad.” For its part, when the rush is directed to work, the expressions vary, in Colombia one goes “to the camel” or one is “camella”, while in Spain one goes “to the job” or “to the tajo”, he added.
Distance also plays an interesting role in expressions, while Argentines say that something “is on the hill”, in Spain the expression “where Christ lost the espadrille” is used, and in Mexico it would be said “in the fifth chingada”. Without a doubt, the colorful rhetoric of the Spanish language manifests itself uniquely in these situations.
In this way, language is transformed into something alive that has its whims and exaggerations such as “it is older than cough”, “it is older than Methuselah” or “it is more fun than a flea circus”. In addition to its ironies and extravagances that change from border to border. This is the case of Spanish, a language so rich that its own native speakers continue to learn from it every time they visit a new Spanish-speaking country.
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Funny words in Spanish
It is interesting to explore the world of words in Spanish, since it is a language with a lot of linguistic diversity.
Here are some funny words selected by Babbel linguists, that might make you smile:
- Cachiporra (Spain and Colombia): Stick or club.
- Chirimbolo (Spain and Colombia): Object of indefinite or complicated shape.
- Papafrita (Argentina): Fried potato.
- Chachachá (Cuba): Dance of Cuban origin.
- Cachivache (Spain, Mexico and Argentina): Old object or object in poor condition.
- Blackberry (Mexico and Spain): Fruit of the bramble, similar to the blackberry.
- Piltrafa (Argentina and Spain): Person of little value.
- Zampabollos (Spain and Mexico): Person who eats a lot and eagerly.
- Mequetrefe (Argentina and Uruguay): Insignificant or unimportant person.
- Cocoliche (Argentina): Mixed or confusing language.
- Perendengue (Venezuela and Colombia): Unimportant ornament.
2024-02-21 16:29:59