# El Habla de la Calle



## modeeper (Mar 21, 2015)

Is the title of a book I once bought at the DF airport. It means, Street Talk. Very good to know this stuff because Mexican males (some females) are master slangsters, the terms run wild. Those who do it well are revered. 

The correct word for slang is, calo, sounds like Frida Kahlo the famous artist and wife of whom you see as a self-portrait of the beloved Diego Rivera on the 500-Peso note.

So like slang everywhere, there is nice slang like _golly gee wiz _or_ H E double hockey sticks_, and the harsher like _go play rummy with your mother_. 

Anything pertaining to the mother is waaay taboo. You usually never even use the word, you'd say, mama, never madre.

The verb _Chingarr_ is as common as broken glass on a Mexican beach. In Spain it means, to bother/molest. Here it's something close to, thrash. It has a number of uses and meanings. _No chinggas! _ .. don't mess with me/you're pulling my chain. To the more serious, like, _Chiggate_, go F... yourself. Put these two mentioned taboos together and you'll hear things like, _Chinggada Madre!_. 

Chinggar also refers the what you could call, the land of the f..ked. _Hijo(a) de la chinggada_ is a person born and raised in that land. I don't want to be one of those.

_El culoo_ is another popular no no. It's the anus. Since it's considered a not-so-lovely part of the body, any phrase containing culoo and putting something into it is ... what's that word we use, er, um, filthy! Since the suffix ero(a) is somebody who does something or sells something (zapatero=shoe maker), cuulero is what you you might guess.

Mexicans (men mostly of course) are usually anti-guy. Gays are the brunt of a thousand jokes. _Un gay _is a person like Elton John, he has class, money, talent. _Un jjoto _ is the guy biting the rug as two men do their mating ritual. The one on top is not a jjoto nor a gay, he's a maiyate, or maillate. I don't know if I've spelled it correctly, never seen it written. Anyway it means, dragonfly. You know how they look as they mate in flight.

The pitfall for an outsider using slang is as true in Mexico as it is in your country; it's jargon, it's clique-oriented. Once it leaves you mouth you're professing to be of the group. And that seems odd to many folks. Now if you do it well you're a hero cause it has the effect you are, or are at least, at ease with being Mexican-like. 

That should do it for now.

Anything to add?

.

.


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## Rod L. (Apr 5, 2015)

I received 2 warnings, in the Computer section, unbelievable , related to your last tirade. Keep up the good work, this is better entertainment than the hockey game I'm watching, < snip>, might have to crack a bottle of wine. RBL


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Most of the info in that post is wrong
Just in case someone reads it


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

GARYJ65 said:


> Most of the info in that post is wrong
> Just in case someone reads it


Well, Gary, help him out here. We value your expertise !


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

coondawg said:


> Well, Gary, help him out here. We value your expertise !


It is not my favorite subjects, but most of that is very wrong
Even the book's title
El habla de la calle? Come on! That is not everyday Spanish


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

The post that started this thread violated a forum rule prohibiting profanity. Consequently, I am closing it.


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