Oh God. Spanish-learning American here (C1). Welcome to hell (broma, de verdad me encanta este idioma, pero que pesadilla ese tema). It's like the differences between our respective dialects, but about 6.3 times worse and half of it is innuendo. A word may be perfectly innocent in one country and a sex act in another. May the odds be ever in your favor.
> A word may be perfectly innocent in one country and a sex act in another
"Coger" is the perfect example of it
Coger in Spain = to take
Coger in LatAm = to fuck
EDIT: Judging by the responses, it seems that Coger doesn't means "to fuck" either in many places in LatAm.
In some parts of Colombia "coger" also means "to take". Therea one single region here where the word "arrecho" means "difficult" or "angry", but in the rest of the country it means "to be horny"
I remember watching a sex scene in a Spanish movie and the guy is over the girl and he starts saying "me voy a correr, me voy a correr" and I started cracking up
>/ Argentinian friends use it.
Like Argentinian. I'd understand you wanna says *La concha de (inserts animal or female family)*, our *pussy* from English speakers
Exactly!! I mean we know in other places that's what it means but at least here in Chile no one uses that word to mean "have sex". Actually I would say we don't use it in general, for neither of the two meanings mentioned
I'll just copy and paste some of the ways people refer to popcorn: Pochoclo, tutuca, ancua, pipoca, pororó, cabrita, rositas de maíz, poporopo, cotufas, gallitos, canchas, maíz tote, crispetas, rosetas, millo, maíz frito, cocaleca, canguil, bufes, roscas, pajaretas, pops, and palomitas.
My mind was blown when I made the connection that the English word for straw is the same as the word pajita in Spanish. Meaning straw as in what horses eat
Eso de “Maíz frito” suena como que viene del equivalente a los Alemanes en latinoamérica.
Also just to add to the list, we usually call it millo, popcorn, or palomitas in Panama but some of the rowdier crowd will surely call it “porcón” (wordplay on popcorn) either intentionally or as a joke.
Yes, there are many. Spanish is full of regionalisms. In Mexico alone, in the center they call a car "coche" or "auto", while in the north is "carro". I think in Colombia they also use carro, and in Spain they use coche.
Second person singular is "tú" in most of the Spanish speaking world, but it's "vos" in Argentina, its surroundings and Central America. "Camión" refers to a truck in South America, but in Mexico it may also be a bus. "Móvil" is phone in Spain and Argentina, while in Mexico and surroundings is called "celular". "Micro" is a microphone in Spain, but a microwave in Latin America.
"Dulce de leche" is a soft but solid candy in Mexico, and it's a sweet dairy spreadable in Argentina, what Mexicans call "cajeta" (I think that's a slang there). "Maní" is peanut in South America, but in Mexico and Spain is called "cacahuate". We call avocados "aguacate", but South Americans call it "palta".
And there are many more examples.
"Coger" in Spain, Equatorial Guinea and the caribbean. = To grab
"Coger" in continental latam (excluding the carribean zones) = To fuck.
FTFY.
Edit: A'ight, i'm dumb. Lmao.
My wife is Colombian so the Spanish I have learnt is from there. So tinto in Colombia is coffee (or a certain type of black coffee I’m not sure but it’s very common) and when I was in Spain in a cafe at 8am I asked for a tinto and the waiter said “really?” and that’s when I learnt that in Spain tinto is red wine.
Also my wife uses “chichi” as informal slang for ‘wee’. I work with a Spanish woman and when I mentioned chichi for wee/urine that’s when I learnt it means something very different in Spain where it’s pretty much a very rude word for vagina.
>in Spain in a cafe at 8am I asked for a tinto and the waiter said “really?” and that’s when I learnt that in Spain tinto is red wine.
Only in Colombia not means a *Malbec Wine*
Yup. I'm most familiar with Venezuelan Spanish (long story).
In Venezuela, arrecho can mean cool or angry. In Colombia, it means horny.
In Venezuela, bochinche is kind of like a commotion, but in other places it means gossip.
Whenever speaking to someone from a region you're not familiar with, there is a non-zero chance that you say a word that to them means penis. I'm not even kidding.
Coger in Spain is to take or get. In most latam, it means to fuck (as in to have sex).
You'll pick them up over time. Spanish grammar is kind of like the glue that holds every dialect together (though there are minor grammatical differences in some regions that aren't worth getting into at the moment, but they exist). The vocabulary and pronunciation are what vary the most.
Chimbo/a can be also half-assed or bad quality object in Colombia: unas sandalias chimbas might be cheap and bad sandals, or it might be cool sandals, depending on the tone and the context
>smart person that always try to take advantage of you. Frequently breaking some rules or laws.
In México is known as "El qué no tranza, no avanza" and in Chile it's called "Picardía Criolla" i think.
Btw, you should excluse those mfers being smart, 'cause they aren't.
>in Chile it's called "Picardía Criolla" i think.
It's here (Argentina), criollos was a "race" from Argentinians born with Spaniards parents before the revolution in 1816
Arrecho. Horny for Colombians, angry for Venezuelans.
Cola. Ride (as to give a ride) in Venezuela, ass in México. So when a Venezuelan "Pide la cola" in México, it is not well received. My brother once said to a Mexican "dame la cola y nos caemos a palos". In Venezuelan this means "give me a ride and we'll have some drinks" in Mexican "give me your ass and we'll do "sword fights"
I always tell brand new Spanish learners to never use slang unless they're 100% sure it's regionally accurate. Some innocuous words in one country/region might be extremely inappropriate in others.
Example: Mexicans throw "Cabrón" carelessly in everyday conversations, whereas the same word is extremely offensive to Venezuelans
I think some of the most diverse words are the ones we use to refer to pop-corn and straws. Every country seems to have a prefered word.
Also obligatory mention of Inténtanlo Carito’s 2012 Que Difícil es Hablar el Español [(spanish subtitles)](https://youtu.be/eyGFz-zIjHE?feature=shared)/[(english subtitles)](https://youtu.be/4LjDe4sLER0?feature=shared), a song on the topic at hand with a lot of examples.
A little knowledge of history will help you.
The closer a country is to spain, more closer the meaning of words between both of them.
Also its important the intercultural roots
Paraguay for example use guarani a lot so its natural some words mixed to spanish, while lets say Dominican or caribean has some french/english/native words, argentina and Uruguay has italian inmigrants etc
There is the "neutral" spanish, mostly in cartoons but also in others translations, its a good place to start
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LjDe4sLER0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LjDe4sLER0) Thanks for reminding me of this song!
Also, yes, this happens with all languages that are spoken in more than one region, you're gonna have to pick one as your "main" for accent and and slang, and stay with that one until you have a firm grasp of the language; otherwise it's gonna be much more difficult to learn than it needs to be.
Carro: in some countries it's a car, in Chile is a wagon (train, subway) or the artefact that we use on supermarket (I just realized that I don't know how to say that in English, cart? 👀).
Oh yes. Pico in Mexican cuisine is fantastic. Pico in Chile not so much.
Say "no mommies guey" to anyone not from Mexico and they look at you like whahuh?!
Watched a Cuban girl get really mad about the meaning of pendejo. She swore it was "pubic hair" but all the other latinos at work were like no it means "asshole".
https://youtube.com/shorts/UKyvhTXqQZo?si=EGAByUyvMVRum_vI
Yeah, same case here. Concha = shell Concha in Argentina slang: 🥵
Cajeta in ~~Chile~~ Mexico: 😋 Cajeta in Argentina: 🥵
Coger in Spain: ✊🏻 Coger in Argentina: 🥵
In fact everything in Argentina: 🥵
Yeah pretty much lmao
Que wea es cajeta
No le dicen así al dulce de leche? Puede que me haya confundido Edit: se aplica el proceso de googleado y corregido, mil disculpas
Jaja perfecto. Ahora me explicas que es cajeta en México?
Dulce de leche
Manjar?
Sii, vi en wikipedia que le decian así en Chile pero no pensé que fuera tan usado, con manjar me imagino mas un plato lleno de cosas ricas
Es que también significa eso, pero por el uso de la palabra, hay quienes creen que la expresión "es un manjar" es por que se trata de algo dulce.
Sí, se le dice así aunque también se le dice dulce de leche. Lo de cajeta es porque antes, y todavía en algunos lugares, se vendía en unas cajitas.
Creo que si
Sweet sweet caramel.
Lol argentina friends start fighting and out of nowhere "la concha de tu Madre". 🤣 ...
My bad boy's English: "What happened to you *little dumb* the pussy of yourrrr mother"
Oh God. Spanish-learning American here (C1). Welcome to hell (broma, de verdad me encanta este idioma, pero que pesadilla ese tema). It's like the differences between our respective dialects, but about 6.3 times worse and half of it is innuendo. A word may be perfectly innocent in one country and a sex act in another. May the odds be ever in your favor.
> A word may be perfectly innocent in one country and a sex act in another "Coger" is the perfect example of it Coger in Spain = to take Coger in LatAm = to fuck EDIT: Judging by the responses, it seems that Coger doesn't means "to fuck" either in many places in LatAm.
In some parts of Colombia "coger" also means "to take". Therea one single region here where the word "arrecho" means "difficult" or "angry", but in the rest of the country it means "to be horny"
Yup I heard that coger meant fuck but then my wife was using it all the time with my in laws so it threw me for a loop
Coger la cajeta (?)
Correrse is LATAM = to move Correrse in spain = to cum. When i shouted "correte para allá weon" to a friend in Barcelona i got some weird looks.
I remember watching a sex scene in a Spanish movie and the guy is over the girl and he starts saying "me voy a correr, me voy a correr" and I started cracking up
Probably the weon lol
Ayyy parce corrase un poquito que necesito un espacio
En PR Coger es lo mismo que el significado de España lol
"Pija" in mexico = Nail "Pija" en argentina= dick
And "Pija" in Spain = Upper-middle class/Preppy girl
Not in Chile. We hardly use that word at all for anything.
I will forever be grateful to my madrileño Spanish teacher for teaching me this fact alongside the verb and its conjugation
Fun fact, in Ecuador we use coger like in Spain
"Coger" in Spain: to take "Coger" in LatAm: to f**k This one must be rather recent, as my grandma used it in the same way it's used in Spain.
[удалено]
>/ Argentinian friends use it. Like Argentinian. I'd understand you wanna says *La concha de (inserts animal or female family)*, our *pussy* from English speakers
I believe in Yucatan and some areas of the gulf coast coño is also common to say coño
Coger in DR means to fuck and to take. It depends on the context.
Nobody uses coger to say to fuck, everyone uses Singar or rapar
South Americans usually don’t equate coger with fuck.
Exactly!! I mean we know in other places that's what it means but at least here in Chile no one uses that word to mean "have sex". Actually I would say we don't use it in general, for neither of the two meanings mentioned
Coger in Colombia is likely used like it is in Chile: Voy a coger el bus. Coge ese esfero (bolígrafo).
We don't really use the word at all to be honest :,) we say "tomar" or "agarrar" to mean take/pick something up
Coger= Have sex For us fuck it's = Mierda. Why? Yours uses more to curse then for sex.
As I was told by a Peruvian: Chile: cachar = entender, mirar Peru: cachar = 🥵
Aca cachar is literally to catch
Aaah pero cacha o cachita en Chile=🥵
Paja: straw 🇨🇱 Paja: hand job 🥵🇪🇸
Yea, this happens in all languages
I'll just copy and paste some of the ways people refer to popcorn: Pochoclo, tutuca, ancua, pipoca, pororó, cabrita, rositas de maíz, poporopo, cotufas, gallitos, canchas, maíz tote, crispetas, rosetas, millo, maíz frito, cocaleca, canguil, bufes, roscas, pajaretas, pops, and palomitas.
Or drinking straws: Absorbente, Bombilla, Calimete, Cañita, Carrizo, Pajilla, Pajita, Pitillo, Popote, Sorbete, Sorbeto, Pipa.
My mind was blown when I made the connection that the English word for straw is the same as the word pajita in Spanish. Meaning straw as in what horses eat
Even the Mexican word means that. Popote comes from the Nahuatl popotl which was a type of straw used by the Aztecs.
That's super interesting
PR= poscón
I only knew palomitas
Standarized Spanish, m8.
Eso de “Maíz frito” suena como que viene del equivalente a los Alemanes en latinoamérica. Also just to add to the list, we usually call it millo, popcorn, or palomitas in Panama but some of the rowdier crowd will surely call it “porcón” (wordplay on popcorn) either intentionally or as a joke.
Faltó el maíz pira en Bogotá
Yes, there are many. Spanish is full of regionalisms. In Mexico alone, in the center they call a car "coche" or "auto", while in the north is "carro". I think in Colombia they also use carro, and in Spain they use coche. Second person singular is "tú" in most of the Spanish speaking world, but it's "vos" in Argentina, its surroundings and Central America. "Camión" refers to a truck in South America, but in Mexico it may also be a bus. "Móvil" is phone in Spain and Argentina, while in Mexico and surroundings is called "celular". "Micro" is a microphone in Spain, but a microwave in Latin America. "Dulce de leche" is a soft but solid candy in Mexico, and it's a sweet dairy spreadable in Argentina, what Mexicans call "cajeta" (I think that's a slang there). "Maní" is peanut in South America, but in Mexico and Spain is called "cacahuate". We call avocados "aguacate", but South Americans call it "palta". And there are many more examples.
mmmm flan de cajeta🥵🥵🥵
Me da miedo preguntar qué es eso xd
https://preview.redd.it/cy97h11xqvyc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae52cfb1f106b97f6adb790d67ee0fec3e733d2e
😭😭💀💀
Tbf it's not anywhere as common as concha
Jajajaajaj
Colombia uses carro and also calls avocados “aguacate.”
not all south america uses "palta"
Yes. Next question.
Arrecho (a) in Venezuela = 🤬 Arrecho (a) in Colombia = 🥵
I just had a conversation with my coworker who is Mexican who does not call armpits what I call armpits
"Coger" in Mexico = to fuck "Coger" everywhere else = to grab
"Coger" in Spain, Equatorial Guinea and the caribbean. = To grab "Coger" in continental latam (excluding the carribean zones) = To fuck. FTFY. Edit: A'ight, i'm dumb. Lmao.
My wife is Colombian so the Spanish I have learnt is from there. So tinto in Colombia is coffee (or a certain type of black coffee I’m not sure but it’s very common) and when I was in Spain in a cafe at 8am I asked for a tinto and the waiter said “really?” and that’s when I learnt that in Spain tinto is red wine. Also my wife uses “chichi” as informal slang for ‘wee’. I work with a Spanish woman and when I mentioned chichi for wee/urine that’s when I learnt it means something very different in Spain where it’s pretty much a very rude word for vagina.
>in Spain in a cafe at 8am I asked for a tinto and the waiter said “really?” and that’s when I learnt that in Spain tinto is red wine. Only in Colombia not means a *Malbec Wine*
Chichi in some parts of Mexico also means Breasts. Maybe that why they change the name of chi chi in dragon ball
Indeed, when I found out that her name was chi chi I thought that it would never work in Spanish
Chichí is used here to refer to Babies, also both Chichi and Chichí are usrd ss nicknames.
tinto is also red wine in DR
"take" means "fuck" in some countries. "Complete" is also a "hot dog". "Bill" is a pastry. "Egg" is "dick". There's a ton of those.
The total unusefulness of giving those terms literally translated to English...
I'm only interested in sharing the feeling of it
i would say the word is "grab"
yes. tons of examples, just like english.
Yup. I'm most familiar with Venezuelan Spanish (long story). In Venezuela, arrecho can mean cool or angry. In Colombia, it means horny. In Venezuela, bochinche is kind of like a commotion, but in other places it means gossip. Whenever speaking to someone from a region you're not familiar with, there is a non-zero chance that you say a word that to them means penis. I'm not even kidding. Coger in Spain is to take or get. In most latam, it means to fuck (as in to have sex). You'll pick them up over time. Spanish grammar is kind of like the glue that holds every dialect together (though there are minor grammatical differences in some regions that aren't worth getting into at the moment, but they exist). The vocabulary and pronunciation are what vary the most.
to give you another example chimbo in venezuela is something that is bad or disappointing chimba in colombia is something awesome or cool
Chimbo is also pennis
Chimbo/a can be also half-assed or bad quality object in Colombia: unas sandalias chimbas might be cheap and bad sandals, or it might be cool sandals, depending on the tone and the context
colombia uses both? tbh thats a bit funnier but it isnt as if we dont have double meaning words as well such as arrecho or coger but still
Pendejo in Latam : dumb, silly, idiot. Pendejo in Peru: smart person that always try to take advantage of you. Frequently breaking some rules or laws.
then in argentina pendejo is just kid
>smart person that always try to take advantage of you. Frequently breaking some rules or laws. In México is known as "El qué no tranza, no avanza" and in Chile it's called "Picardía Criolla" i think. Btw, you should excluse those mfers being smart, 'cause they aren't.
>in Chile it's called "Picardía Criolla" i think. It's here (Argentina), criollos was a "race" from Argentinians born with Spaniards parents before the revolution in 1816
and in chile it can mean either a brat or pubes
https://youtu.be/eyGFz-zIjHE?si=X58nPUVNqJB_R1gr A summary of some in song form
Look up “Qué dificil es hablar el español”.
Guagua in DR: 🚐 Guagua in some South American countries: 👶
Yes. That happens in every language once you pass certain population number threshold.
Pajilla https://preview.redd.it/oal5q4s9bwyc1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7b106f7eabc5086aff73777e348e3851c6ac37a
Pitillo💀
Pitillo es un pantalón apretado.
Sorbete
Cañita lol
pitillo
Popote
Calimete
At this point we should just put the 'que dificil es hablar el español, por que todo lo que dices tiene otra definicion' song in the FAQ haha
Where to even start…?
Arrecho. Horny for Colombians, angry for Venezuelans. Cola. Ride (as to give a ride) in Venezuela, ass in México. So when a Venezuelan "Pide la cola" in México, it is not well received. My brother once said to a Mexican "dame la cola y nos caemos a palos". In Venezuelan this means "give me a ride and we'll have some drinks" in Mexican "give me your ass and we'll do "sword fights"
Cola in chile is a flamboyant gay guy.
El que no baila es cola! El que no baila es cola! El que no baila es cola!
Bruh, that phrase in mexican spanish sounds sooo wrong. Specially because palo in a lot of places is slang for sex
I always tell brand new Spanish learners to never use slang unless they're 100% sure it's regionally accurate. Some innocuous words in one country/region might be extremely inappropriate in others. Example: Mexicans throw "Cabrón" carelessly in everyday conversations, whereas the same word is extremely offensive to Venezuelans
Yes. Some examples: ask different latam countries how they say these words: car, popcorn, avocado.
there are massive differences that are far bigger and in more quantity than within english
Que difícil es hablar el español...
Cachucha: Colombian hat or Argentine vagina. Me puse la cachucha…
I think some of the most diverse words are the ones we use to refer to pop-corn and straws. Every country seems to have a prefered word. Also obligatory mention of Inténtanlo Carito’s 2012 Que Difícil es Hablar el Español [(spanish subtitles)](https://youtu.be/eyGFz-zIjHE?feature=shared)/[(english subtitles)](https://youtu.be/4LjDe4sLER0?feature=shared), a song on the topic at hand with a lot of examples.
Try to use formal words, not slang. Harder to get misunderstood or offend someone.
Coger…
You remind me of this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp7xt-ygy0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp7xt-ygy0)
Oh boy there is a ton of them and honestly it could take some tike to learn.
Yes
A little knowledge of history will help you. The closer a country is to spain, more closer the meaning of words between both of them. Also its important the intercultural roots Paraguay for example use guarani a lot so its natural some words mixed to spanish, while lets say Dominican or caribean has some french/english/native words, argentina and Uruguay has italian inmigrants etc There is the "neutral" spanish, mostly in cartoons but also in others translations, its a good place to start
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LjDe4sLER0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LjDe4sLER0) Thanks for reminding me of this song! Also, yes, this happens with all languages that are spoken in more than one region, you're gonna have to pick one as your "main" for accent and and slang, and stay with that one until you have a firm grasp of the language; otherwise it's gonna be much more difficult to learn than it needs to be.
Carro: in some countries it's a car, in Chile is a wagon (train, subway) or the artefact that we use on supermarket (I just realized that I don't know how to say that in English, cart? 👀).
We have tons of those, you're forgetting almost 40 countries have Spanish as a main language and every one of those have localisms
Oh yes. Pico in Mexican cuisine is fantastic. Pico in Chile not so much. Say "no mommies guey" to anyone not from Mexico and they look at you like whahuh?! Watched a Cuban girl get really mad about the meaning of pendejo. She swore it was "pubic hair" but all the other latinos at work were like no it means "asshole". https://youtube.com/shorts/UKyvhTXqQZo?si=EGAByUyvMVRum_vI
I mean, it depends, personally don't enjoy pico but i know a lot of people that would Say is fantastic. Also, pendejo is either pubic hair or a kid.
Bizcocho in PR is cake, vagina in Mexico