Costeñol Lección Número 3
Welcome to Costeñol lesson #3 !
In case you’ve forgotten, or in case this is the first Costeñol blog post of mine that you’re reading, Costeñol is the dialect of Spanish spoken on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I have been a student of the dialect from the day I arrived in Cartagena, and while it was quite difficult to follow at the beginning, I was confident that I would be able to learn with time. Eventually I caught on (for the most part jajaja) and was able to communicate well and surprise a handful of people with my knowledge and use of the dialect! The words and accents vary from city to city within the Coastal region, so the way people speak Costeñol in Cartagena is different from how they speak in Barranquilla, in La Guajira, in Montería and so on. Today I want to share some commonly used vocabulary words in Cartagena. Let's get started with a quick review of some elements of the dialect…
Velocidad: People speak Costeñol with haste
Golpeado: Words are sometimes pronounced in a “hard hitting” or “forceful” way
Se comen las letras: Ss and Rs, and Ds in words that end in -ado are pronounced very faintly or not at all
Tutear: People speak informally most of the time, and address each other using “tu” rather than the formal “usted”
Diminutivos: People frequently add an -ito, -ita, -cito, or -cita at the end of words
Nicknames: From flaco (skinny), to gorda (fat), to morena (brown-skinned), mi reina (my queen), mi vida (my life), mija (my daughter) and more, people affectionately use nicknames and call you as they see you
Gestures and facial expressions: There are a ton of them, as people express themselves not only with their words but also with their body language and sounds too
In a previous post I shared a couple sayings in Costeñol, so today let's move on to some words and expressions:
Expresiones
Ajá - THE expression of the coast that is used at the start of many phrases and many times throughout conversation because it means sooo many things. Ajá is used as a greeting, when you’ve realized something, when you’re explaining something, to agree and much more. Used to say things like “ajá y entonces”, “porque ajá”, and “Ajá, y tu que?”
Eche - an expression of anger, frustration, or regret. “eche! No puede ser”
No joda - an expression of disbelief, or an expression of annoyance or frustration to say “leave me alone”
Ñerda - an exclamation of surprise, disbelief, or realization
Anda - an expression for communicating surprise or pity
Aiwe - an expression of agreement
Ve - used all the time to say things like “mira pá ve”, “aquí ve”, “así ve”, or simply “ve ve”, and all of these are used to direct someone to look at something
Unas Palabras
La Ñapa - an add-on, a little bit more (juice, cheese, etc) from a vendor for their customer
Bacano - cool, awesome
A la orden - used by vendors to get your attention and make a sale, something sort-of like “at your service”, and also used to say “your welcome”
Rumbear - to party, to go out
Compa - short for compadre, used to refer to a friend
El Bololó - hubbub, confusion, a fight or a crazy party
Bulla - noise
Foco - lightbulb
La Pluma o El Grifo - the faucet, the tap
Abanico - a fan
Maluco - used to describe something that is ugly or difficult and challenging
Un chicharrón - literally fried pork belly, but also use to refer to a very big a problem or difficult situation
Menudo - change or coins
Un Chance - a free ride
Pupi - used to describe someone who is snobby, stuck-up, or of high socioeconomic status
Pesado - used to describe something difficult, dangerous, annoying “el tráfico está pesado a esa hora”
Picó - a huge speaker system
Barras - similar to the word “bucks” in english to describe money “me puedes prestar diecinueve mil barras?”
Lukas o Ka - one thousand pesos “tienes diecinueve lukas?” “cuatro ka”
Un Pelao/Una Pelá - a boy or a girl
Cule - used to show excitement or emphasize something abstract “tengo cule hambre”
Tronco - used to exaggerate tangible things, something that is big, impressive, or excessive “tronco de casa tiene ella”
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