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10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out.
| Expression | Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) | Explanation |
| una caguama (MX) | what? | Caguama is a BIG sea turtle species. In Mexico, caguama is also a BIG family size beer bottle. The common phrase vamos a echarnos unas caguamas means let’s have a few BIG beers. |
| la neta (Mx) | what? | In México it means the absolute truth. It used to be only teen and street language, but now it is used also on TV shows. |
| así mero, aquí mero, eso mero (MX) | what? Mero (in Mexico) has many different meanings depending on the sentence. | In this case, mero means exactly. así mero is exactly like that!, aquí mero is right here! eso mero that’s right! exactly that! Así mero is proprio così in Italian. |
| amigo de lo ajeno, amante de lo ajeno. | friend of what? | ajeno is a word that means someone else’s, like altrui in Italian. Egoista is a person who just cares about him/herself. Altruista is a person who cares about others. So, amigo de lo ajeno, in Mexico, ironically refers to a friend of somebody else’s belongings. A THIEF! The phrase lavar ajeno means to wash somebody else’s laundry (for some extra money) |
| cotorreo, cotorrear (MX) | Cotorra is some species of parrot. | de puro cotorreo = I’m just kidding. Cotorrear could be to joke around. Cotorrear could mean to gossip. Cotorreo could mean nothing serious, a laid back conversation. Es de cotorreo, it’s just a joke. |
| ningunear | ninguno = none, no one. | to look down on someone, to treat someone like sh*t. |
| el borlote (MX) | what? | This is an informal noun that means ruckus, disturbance, scandal, and usually nonviolent.Ya se armó el borlote. Te gusta el borlote, you like gossiping, you like trouble. Another similar word is el mitote (MX) |
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La chamba, chambear (MX) |
what? |
chambear is an informal Mexican verb that means to work, and la chamba means work or job. Voy a chambear, I’m going to work. Estoy buscando chamba, I’m looking for a job.
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| ¡qué poca! and ¡qué poca madre! (MX) | What little? What few? | This is a Mexican swearing phrase short of ¡qué poca madre! meaning you have no mother,or you have little mother. It’s strange but in Mexico, you have to be careful with the word madre, mother., So if you use this phrase it means that you are upset or angry at some situation or person. You totally disapprove. For some reason in Mexico, not having enough mother is an insult. |
| borrón y cuenta nueva. (probably MX only) | erase and new count? | el borrador is the eraser. Borrar is to delete or to erase. Borrón is the action of erasing or its mark on the paper. You notice when a document has traces of corrections like scrapes. those are borrones. Borrón y cuenta nueva means to restart the counter. To erase whatever happened in a situation and start from zero again. It means to forget about the past and start over on good terms. |
Ésta es una tortuga caguama.
Ésta es la cerveza caguama. Una cerveza muy grande para toda la familia.
This is a brief explanation about caguamas,
Una de las cervezas más populares en México, por su precio y tamaño es la “caguama”, y aunque muchos la conocen, pocos saben por qué tiene ese nombre y de dónde nace. Conoce eso y más sobre la caguama y su historia. #Cerveza 🍻#Caguama 🐢 #EnVidrioSabeMejor 😋 pic.twitter.com/eQL7jpxYE1
— Vidrio 100% Reciclable (@vidrio100R) April 23, 2021
Originally published on 20220524 (spanishNY.com)
