Spanish 401: Advanced Colombian

I took a lot of Spanish in school, but every country has its own idiosyncrasies, and the Spanish you learn in school can never be the living language you encounter when you talk to native speakers. For those of you with some Spanish, let me warn you about some words and phrases that your dictionary may not help you with. Most of these words are associated with an embarrassing story, so maybe I can save you from making a fool of yourself, the way I did. My wife and stepdaughter have been amused teachers of advanced Colombian Spanish.

chino: a boy or teenager (there's a feminine form too)

boleta: tacky, low class, tasteless (one of my wife's favorite words)

hacer(le) falta: to miss someone, in the sense of wanting to be with them; for instance, I miss you = me haces falta

tirar: means to throw, but also to have sex

para llevar: carryout (as in, “do you want that to go?”

gordo: fat (an adjective), but also, often, an affectionate term. I’ve seen mothers called their sons gordo while glowing with love, and women often address their friends as gorda.

vieja: a teenaged girl or woman under the age of about 35; often, used in a context that is not flattering

senora: often, this means a woman over 35

viejita: an old woman (there’s also a masculine form)


And again: querer means to love, as well as to want. In my experience this is a much more common form than te amo.

Finally, you may have learned some conjugations in school that the Colombians rarely use. The first is the progressive form, like “going” or “sending.” We Americans use that construction all the time, but in 99% of its use, you’ll want to translate the idea into the simple present. Colombians also don’t use the “perfect” forms much at all: “I have gone, you have gone, he has gone,” or “I had seen, you had seen, he had seen,” and so on.

Yes, I know these aren’t what your dictionary says, but if you speak some Spanish, listen and see if you catch the same meaning.

Doc,
that was an interesting post. I studied Spanish in Mexico and Argentina before going to Colombia and am also frequently learning Colombianisms. One is they use colocar in place of poner. They are synonyms everywhere but Colombians, or my wife anyway, almost always uses colocar, "colocate la camisa roja" (put on the red shirt). Others:
chusco= attractive "el es muy chusco" (he is attractive)
chevere= cute: like American women Colombianas tend to overuse this for darn near anything; books, puppies, jewelery...whatever.
saco=sweater
chuspa= plastic bag
There are also some words that have different genders in Colombia; bolso=purse (it's bolsa in the rest of the world) or el computador.
You're right on the progressive but the problem is English not Spanish, we overuse it saying stuff like " I am going to the movies tonight" when that refers to the future, not something that's happening right now. If you just use the progressive only for actions actually in progress you're fine.

As a high school teacher in southern California 99% of the Spanish I encounter with my students is from Mexico/Central America and the colombiansims can confuse them at times, it's definately a specialized vocabulary.

[Dr. Detroit]

....and on a lesser note, don't forget one of my favorites down there....

Huevos can be eggs or "balls" depending on the context used, so be careful ordering your breakfast.....LOL

Which reminds me of one my favorite gringo mutilating Spanish stories, confusing ordenar (to order) with orinar (to urinate).

So the gringo is in a restaurant in Mexico, ready to order. He says "mesero, estoy listo para orinar" the waiter gives him a slightly confused look and motions towards the bathrooms. The gringo says, "no en el baño, aquí en la mesa!"

I also noticed another term used widely among younger Colombians...marica. I thought that they were calling each other gay, but it was actually just a term of endearment among friends...

Kery:
I've got plenty of stories of my own about almost getting Spanish right, and providing the natives with lots of entertainment. There was the time I tried to say the equivalent of sirloin, and said overcoat instead. *sigh*

The way my wife and stepdaughter use "chevere" (I haven't checked the spelling), it's great or terrific. And you do want to hear the word churo (one r or two?)--it means a handsome guy. "El es un churo!"

I wonder how much variation there is in meaning by regions. In the past, there was relatively little communication between the regions, because of the mountains. Even now, my wife can tell me what region someone is from--zona cafetera/paisa, the south, the Amazon, the Pacific coast, the Atlantic coast--by accent.

[Jim]

My personal mutilated Spanish stories.

I umpire sports including Mexican league baseball and it is customary we get paid before the game starts. I once asked the managers to "pegame" [hit me] instead of "pagame" [pay me].

When teaching ESL students I once told them to "entrege sus ojos" [hand in your eyes] instead of hojas [papers].

But the worst was thirty years ago when I was in Costa Rica for Christmas visiting my first Tica girlfriend. We were attending an engagement party for her sister and her father gestured to me that I was next. I told him, "Estoy embarasada" which you figure out what I though it meant. It means, "I'm pregnant".

Jim

Interesting topic, Doc. Every instructor I’ve ever had for formal instruction in Spanish (at least in the last 20 years) was Mexican, and when I throw out various words (or indicate a fondness of Mexican cuisine, particularly the spicier dishes), my wife refers to me as "manito". That seems to be her term for "Mexican." My wife has indicated that she doesn't see it as particularly pejorative, but doesn't recommend using it in the presence of Mexicans, either. That means a majority of the people where we live. I've made a couple of discrete inquiries with local hispanohablantes, and their only association was a shortened version of "hermanito".

You indicate "over 35" for "señora". Among the bogotanas I've talked to (admittedly a small and decidedly non-random sample), it seems to be any woman beyond her early 20s, unless she's working as a waitress or retail clerk in which case she's señorita unless she has gray hair and wrinkles.

[HonkyTonk]

Some great slip ups here! Maybe someone can explain what is is I said to get the reaction I did once because I'm still not sure. Keep in mind this happened in Bogota:

I'm about to meet my fiancee's family for the first time. One problem, I had just kept their innocent daughter out all night the night before at my appt. I had already arranged for a translator to come with us because I was warned I was about to get grilled by her very strict father. 2 women who knew him said they felt sorry for me that I had no idea what was in store for me, especially since she never made it home the night before. Where did we all meet? LaFragatta's of course, my fiancee's favorite restaurant, even for lunch

Tonk is still feeling pretty loose...all nighters seem to do that for a man. My fiancee was scared to death and sat in total silence as the grilling started. The mother sat in silence too but always had a very warm smile, her brother was cool as hell and spoke some....her father; very stern. Soon the drinks arrive and all loosened up a little, or so I thought. I was rubbing my fiancees beautiful jet black curly hair when I said, or I thought I said in Spanish "Your daughter has very beautiful pelo." You couldn't have stunned them more if you'd floated a 20 second air biscuit during prayer in church. All mouths dropped in total disbelief. At the exact time I uttered the now infamous line, Adrianna, the interpretor hollered.."NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! You just told her family their daughter has beautiful pubic hair! It's cabello!!" Everything was in slow motion at that point with all eyes on me. I told her in English that's not what I meant to say then I started laughing like hell Very nervous slight smiles started on her mother's and brother's face but not her father's. Pretty soon even he smiled and I was in. What a great family she had!

I never brought that up again with anyone who was there that night. I took one on one Spanish lessons up here from a woman from Cartagena and she said I said nothing wrong. A couple weeks later she said she had been thinking about it and maybe I said something like pelo with the ll 'J' sound that could be taken as pubic hair. I never heard of that one.

I really don't know how I said a simple word so wrongly to cause that kind of reaction. Do any of you fluent Gringo's know? I really don't have a clue except a good memory on a very good night in my favorite other country.

[Clay]

HT are you sure that wasnt a Fruedian slip, since you seem to have such an obsession for hairy little things