#spanish slang
These expressions are really used in Argentina, and chances are some of them are also used in other Spanish speaking countries.
Ponerse la 10=Wear the 10. In football (at least as far as I know, and I’m not a big football fan) whoever wears the 10 is important and good for the team ex. Messi, Maradona, Pele. So, wearing the 10 means doing something important, something good.
“Dale ponete la 10 y compra helado” “Lo voy a pensar”
“C’mon wear the 10 and buy ice cream” “I’ll think about it”
“Me puse la 10 y le regalé un auto a mi mamá”
“I wore the 10 and I gifted a car to my mom”
“El profesor se puso la 10 y paso la prueba al jueves que viene”
“The professor wore the 10 and passed the test for next Thursday”
Barba una buena te pido=Beard I ask you for a good one. Beard in Argentina is also used as a slang to refer to God. We use this expression mostly when we are having a bad day, you’re basically asking for something good to be send your way, whoever says this will probably look at the sky while saying it. You don’t have to be catholic nor religious to say it. In Argentina we have a ton of sayings that non-Catholic and non-Religious people use because they are that common.
A mamá mona con bananas verdes no=Don’t come to monkey mom with green bananas. Is basically a way of saying don’t come to me with lies/bullshit, like you’re wise enough to realize someone is bullshitting you and they are wasting their time lying to you.
“Te juro que estudie para la prueba, no sé cómo pude desaprobar”
“A mamá mona con bananas verdes no, no te vi cerca de un libro en todo el fin de semana”
“I swear I studied for the test, I don’t know how I could have failed”
“Don’t come to monkey mom with green bananas, I didn’t saw you near a book the whole weekend”
El muerto se ríe del degollado=The dead laughs of the beheaded. Is basically comparing a situation with another one or making fun of something and someone pointing out that you are in the same situation.
“Leo no va a salir el viernes porque la novia se enojó con él, jajajaja es un idiota”
“Bueno, el muerto se ríe del degollado, vos tampoco salís el viernes porque tu novia no tiene ganas de salir, están en la misma situación”
“Leo is not going out on Friday because his girlfriend is mad at him, hahahaha he is an idiot.”
“Well, the dead laughs of the beheaded, you’re also not going out on Friday because your girlfriend doesn’t want to go out, you are in the same situation.”
No tenes vela en este entierro =You don’t have a candle in this funeral. We use this expression when someone makes an input in a conversation they are not in, for example if someone is being scolded by their parents and a sibling makes a snarky input they or their parents can tell them to shut up by saying “you don’t have a candle in this funeral”.
Che= It would be similar to hey I guess? But not really. Everyone knows that we use che when we talk all the time, when we start conversation, when we are going to ask for something, however we don’t use che when we approach complete strangers nor superiors of any kind (professor, bosses, etc) because it seems kind of disrespectful to address them with a friendly slang.
“¿Che me pasas el ketchup, por favor?” = “Hey, can you pass me the ketchup, please?”
Boludo/a/os/as: It doesn’t have a proper translation but is the softest insult we have, is so soft that we throw it around in a friendly mannerism for the most part, however obviously depending on the tone we say it, it can be used as a not so nice insult, and you wouldn’t be calling a complete stranger boludo while talking to them because sure, is the softest that we have but it is still an insult, unless you actually do want to insult them, of course.
“Boluda, compre un vestido re lindo para el casamiento” = “Boluda, I bought such a cute dress for the wedding”
Ahre or Ah re: I’ve said before what re means, however, ahre or ah re (it can be written in both ways) means a completely different thing. Is an expression that we use at the end of our sentences to let people know that we said something jokingly or to take some of the seriousness off of a sentence. And sometimes can be used as a reply when someone says something dumb, as to let them know that’s a dumbass behavior.
“El otro día estaba pensando en volver con mi ex” “Ah re, ¿Qué decís?”
“The other day I was thinking about going back to my ex” “Ah re, what are you saying?”
Da= is the shortened version of dale (c’mon). We mostly use it when we want someone to hurry up or when we are trying to convince someone.
“Da apúrate que en cinco viene el uber”
“C’mon hurry up that the uber will be here in five”
Pibe/a/es/as: is literally boy(s) or girl(s). Anyone who is twenty-something or less can be called by these terms.
Wacho/wacha/os/as: this is also a way to say boy(s) or girl(s). Is even more slangy(???) you won’t see a lot of posh people using this one. And it can be used when people fight, instead of “what’s your problem man? You wanna fight?” you would hear
“¿Tenes algún problema wacho? ¿Te queres parar de manos?”
“do you have a problem man? Do you want to stand on you hands?”
Pararse de manos: literally translated is stand on hands. It means fighting, if you see two people fighting on the streets chances are you’re going to hear one of them asking the other to stand on their hands, it’s kind of similar to square up.
“Dale wacho parate de manos ¿o no te animas?”
“C’mon man square up, or you don’t dare?”
So, if someone tells you to stand on your hands and they look ready to fight, walk the fuck away.
Wachin/na/es/as: wachin or wachines can be used to refer to a little kid (m) or a group of little kids or a group of people way younger than you (m and f), but also it can be used in a way to put you down in a kind of insulting manner, because it’s not a straight up insult but they are not flattering you if they call you a wachin or wachina, it’s a way to say that someone acts childlike, or doesn’t know how to act their age. Wachina falls more on the category of the second meaning so you don’t want to adress little girls by this one unless you want their mother to punch you.
“No boluda, Marcos es un wachin tiene veintidós y actúa como un wachin de dieciséis”
“No boluda, Marcos acts childlike he is twenty-two and acts like a sixteen-year-old kid”
“No vayamos a esa fiesta va a estar llena de wachines, vayamos a algún bar”
“Let’s not go to that party is going to be full of kids, let’s go to some bar”
As the title says I’ll give you the basics of Argentina slang.
Agarrar= Grab/Get. The actual meaning is grab like “Agarra eso por mi, por favor”“Grab that for me, please”, but in Argentina, we also use it to refer to “getting” things that you can’t physically touch for example;
“Meagarre un resfrió hace un mes” = “I got a cold a month ago”
“Vi la película que me dijiste y me agarrouna tristeza cuando la termine” = “I watched the movie that you told me, and Igot a sadness when I finished it.”
Re= So or Such a/an. We use this so much in our daily basis, mostly to emphasize what we are saying.
“La frutilla esta recara” = “strawberry is soexpensive”
“No le prestes atención, es re idiota” = “Don’t mind him, he’s such anidiot”
En/Un pedo= Being drunk.
“Esta re en pedo, no sabe lo que dice” = “He is so drunk, he doesn’t know what he is saying”
Un pedo in Argentina can mean two things a fart or being drunk so watch out, it’s not the same “Alguien se tiro un pedo” = “Someone farted” than “Me agarre un pedo anoche” = “Last night I got a drunkenness”
Boliche= Nightclub. In some Latin American countries, Boliche refers to Bowling places, in Argentina it refers to nightclubs.
Cheto/a= Posh. We use this word to refer to posh people or posh places.
“Ese boliche es recheto” = “That nightclub is so posh”
“Todas las amigas sonchetas” = “All her friends are posh”
In recent years the youth has taken cheto and started to use it to say they are cool or ok with something, for example:
“Ya tengo las entradas del cine” “Cheto” = “I already have the tickets for the cinema” “Cool/Ok”
Socheto can be used in both ways, mainly the first example, if you are trying to let an older person know you are ok with something, and tell them cheto, instead of ok, chances are they are going to look at you weirdly.
Mal ahi= Bad there. It literally makes no sense in English, but we use this expression in Argentina when someone is telling us something bad that happened to them and to let them know we agree that what happened was bad.
“Se me rompió el auto y hasta el lunes no me lo dan” “No, mal ahi amigo”
“My car broke down and I won’t have it back till Monday” “No, bad theredude”
noun(masculine) (slang)
literally translating as “the candle holder” and conjuring an image of someone silently holding a candle to light a couple’s romantic dinner, “un aguantavelas” is a third wheel or spare part (romantically speaking).
Qué pobre este tío, siempre es el aguantavelas.
That poor guy, he’s always the third wheel.
