![]() ![]() Other examples of different words that mean similar things can be found in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. ![]() Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador: Pana and parce Spanish can be a very colourful language. This usually only applies to men though, with its female equivalent being ‘morra’ which might be very loosely translated as ‘snouty’ as in having a big snout. No prizes for guessing where that comes from! Mexico: Güey and MorraĪlthough it might seem to be following the same reasoning (if that’s what we’re going to call it) from the two above when Mexicans call each other ‘güey’ or ‘wey’ they are actually not referring to ‘guevos’ (huevos/ eggs) but rather to an ox (buey). Their word is ‘weón/a’, a contraction of ‘huevón/a’. Where Argentinians and Uruguayans are ‘ballsy’, Chileans are ‘eggy’. You might also hear an affectionate contraction in the form of ‘bolu’, and derived terms like ‘boludez’ (something silly) or ‘boludear’ (to mess around). The main difference is that with ‘boludo/a’ you might think of tennis balls or billiards – ‘pelotudo/a’ is more about basketballs and inflatable beach balls. Watch the tone though, since it can also be used to mean ‘idiot’. This word literally means ‘ballsy’ and depending on the tone and the relationship between the people in the conversation it can be used to mean a variety of things, but amongst friends it’s like calling each other buddy. Two of the words you are going to hear most often in these two countries are ‘boludo’ and its female equivalent ‘boluda’. Argentina and Uruguay: Boludo/aĪrgentinians and Uruguayans, it seems, are a ballsy bunch. If it’s not ACTUALLY a cousin, the meaning of this is something that might be translated as ‘a gullible fool’. You might also hear someone talking about ‘un primo’, literally a cousin, but be careful with this one as well. ‘Tío’ and ‘tía’ (uncle and aunt) are the words that you will most commonly hear in Spain to mean ‘mate’ or ‘dude’ with the distinction that they vary according to gender. You might be forgiven for thinking that Spanish people are all related, one large family with lots of uncles and aunts. Let’s go over some of these using some Spanish speaking countries as examples. In Spanish, however, the little word you use to let someone know you are addressing them varies from country to country and gives away where a speaker comes from even if he says nothing else. The above might be said by three different people from London, New York and Sydney respectively, or they might have been used by the same person from Dublin over the course of a single day. Pal, mate, dude, friend… These are all ways that English speaking people express similar things, with some dominating in some parts of the English speaking world, but all of them being understandable everywhere. The same word means different things in different places and this can often lead to confusion. The tricky thing about Spanish is that it quite often happens that speakers from different places use words in ways that make absolutely no sense to Spanish speakers from other places. ![]()
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