Can't wait! (fotos de Santiago de Chile)

Chilean phrases/slang

Some of these are awesome! They're taken from the book Gringo's Culture Guide to Chile.

¡Adónde la viste!

Literally: Where'd you see that?

Implied meaning: No way!, yeah right! (No te creo)

Al tiro

Literally: Upon throwing

Implied meaning: Immediately (ahora mismo)

Amermelada

Literally: marmalade

Implied meaning: a stupid person (una persona tonta)

¡Bakan!

Implied Meaning: Ultra cool (muy bueno)

¡Buena onda!

Literally: Good wave!

Implied meaning: Cool, great (un buen tipo de persona)

(no) cacha ni uno

Literally: He doesn't catch a single thing

Implied meaning: He doesn't understand a thing (no entender nada)

¿cachai?

Literally: catch?

Implied Meaning: Do you understand? (¿comprendes?)

capo

Implied meaning: good at something, smart, cool (un buen tipo de persona)

cara de palo

Literally: stick face

Implied meaning: boldly, frankly (ser franco)

¡Chao pescado!

Literally: bye fish

Implied meaning: See you later, alligator (Hasta luego)

chueco

Literally: crooked

Implied meaning: a person who doesn't follow the rules, liar (uno que no sigue reglas, mentiroso)

cuestión

Literally: question, matter

Implied meaning: thing, matter (cosa)

dejar la escoba

Literally: To leave the broom.

Implied meaning: to cause a mess or disaster (causar un disastre, dejar todo desorganizado)

echate al pollo

Liteally: throw it to the chicken

Implied meaning: get out of here!

encachado

Implied meaning: good looking, cool (ser bonito(a))

¡(no) estoy ni ahí!

Literally: I'm not even there.

Implied meaning: I don't care! (no le importa a uno)

fome

Implied meaning: dumb, boring, refers to something that you don't like (tonto, aburrido, algo que no te gusta)

gamba

Literally: a shrimp

Implied meaning: refers to the foot, or a 100 peso coin (el pie, o una moneda de 100 pesos)

guagua

Literally: baby, infant

Implied meaning: a baby (un bebé)

harto

enough

Implied meaning: many, a lot (mucho)

lolo(a)

Implied meaning: teenager, young person (un joven)

luca

Implied meaning: 1000 peso bill (un billete de mil pesos)

malulo(a)

Literally: 'mal' in Spanish means bad

Implied meaning: mischievious (malicioso)

medio(a)

Literally: middle, medium

Implied meaning: very big (bien grande)

monitos

Literally: little monkeys

Implied meaning: cartoons (dibujos animados)

pata de vaca (said "pate vaca")

Literally: foot of a cow

Implied meaning: to act badly or to have bad intentions

pato malo

Literally: bad duck

Implied meaning: bad boy, hoodlum (chico malo)

pega

Literally: hit

Implied meaning: work, job

pegar en la pera

Literally: hit the chin

Implied meaning: to mooch, to eat and socialize (conseguir comida gratis)

pesado(a)

Literally: heavy

Implied meaning: mean, rude, bothersome (rudo, molestoso)

pescar + "algo"

Literally: to fish + something

Implied meaning: to pay attention to, to notice (darse cuenta de algo, fijarse)

pintar el mono

Literally: paint monkey

Implied meaning: to goof off (dejar las responsibilidades y jugar todo el tiempo)

pololear

Implied meaning: to be dating, have a boyfriend or girlfriend (tener novio, pero no significa que se van a casar)

pucha

Implied meaning: disappointment when something didn't go your way

pulento

Implied meaning: cool, as in a person (ser un buen chico)

¡Que choro!

Implied meaning: entertaining, worthy of attention

sacar la mugre

Literally: To take off, or out, the filth

Implied meaning: to beat up (pelear y ganar)

(no) salvar a nadie

Literally: To not save anyone.

Implied meaning: to be worthless, useless (ser de ningún valor)

sapear

Literally: 'sapo' is spanish for toad

Implied meaning: to be nosy, eavesdrop (escuchar secretamente a otros)

se cree la muerte

Literally: you think you're death

Implied meaning: you think you are better than everyone else (se cree mejor que todos)

tener el diente largo

Literally: To have a long tooth

Implied meaning: To be very hungry, so hungry I could eat a horse... (tener mucho hambre)

tirar un chancho

Literally: to throw a pig

Implied meaning: to belch, to burp (eructar)

(hacer) tuto

Literally: to make 'tuto'

Implied meaning: to sleep, take a nap (tomar una siesta o dormir)

weón

Implied meaning #1: To be an idiot

Example: ¡Oye que eres weón!

Implied meaning #2: Something you'd call a friend

update.

So again, here I am with this blog.  It's been a long time, longer than I've anticipated.


Now that I'm a college graduate, I find myself with possibly less free time than I had when I was in school, but it's spent doing things I enjoy, for the most part.


I'm headed to Chile next month...I'm beyond excited about it, I can't wait to see another culture completely different from my own and meet some incredible people. I've heard nothing but good things about the people, the scenery, the food, and the capital city, Santiago, is surrounded by the Andes mountains and pristine beaches.


I'll definitely be updating through this blog while I'm there.  I find it easier to blog when I'm away from my regular life and in a new place...partially because I don't have a very exciting life in general, and when I do, it's usually not anything even worth posting.  Taking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course might be the most challenging thing I've had to do yet, since the course is 140 hours in a month! I'm ready for the challenge!!!