Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Agarrar con las manos en la masa – to catch red handed or with your hands in the cookie jar
Amigo de lo ajeno – a thief
Antisocial – a criminal
Arrebatamiento de bolso – a purse snatching
Asaltacasas – home invader
Asalto en casas – home invasion robbery
Asesino en serie – a serial killer
Bajo mundo – underworld
Bajonazo – a carjacking
Bolsear to pick someone’s pocket
Cadenazo – theft of a gold or chain snatching
Carterista – a pick pocket
Chatajear – to blackmail
Dehuesadero – a chop shop for stolen car parts
Dejar limpio – to take or rob everything
Esponjazo – the robbing of a bus driver’s sponge coin holder
Esposas – handcuffs but more commonly used for WIFE
Gatillero – trigger man or assassin
El hampa – the underworld
Estafador  - a swindler
Fechorías – bad acts
Hurtar – to rob or steal
Ladrón de corazón – lady killer
Ladronería – stealing
Ladronzuelo – acommon thief
Llevar preso or levantar – to arrest
Limpiar una casa – to clean out a home during a robbery
Lo que se hereda no se hurta – what you inherit isn’t stolen
Malhechor – a bad guy
Matar a golpes  - to beat to death
Matar a puñaladas – to stab to death
Matar a tios – to shoot to death
Meterse a robar – to burglarize
Paliza or golpiza – a beating
Perrera- paddy wagon
Pillo – a thief
Pinta – a thief
Ratero – a thief
Rehén – hostage
Robacorazones – a heart throb (man)
Robamiradas – to rob looks or attention (an attractive woman)
Robadera – robbing
Robamaridos – a husband stealer
Robaesposas – a wife stealer
Robaganado, ladrón de ganado or cuatrero – a rustler
Robar – to rob
Robar en casas – to burglarize
Robar el santo y la limosna – to rob everything
Robo en casa – burglary
Robar hasta la manera de caminar – used in Costa Rica to mean everything is fair game for the bad guys
Robar todo lo que no esté clavado – rob everything that isn’t nailed down
Secuestrador – kidnapper
Secuestrar – to kidnap
Secuestro – a kidnapping
Secuestro express – a short kidnapping now in style in Latin America
Soltar o dejar en libertad – to let out of jail
Sopa de muñeca – a beating in Costa Rica
Tarro –can (jail) in Costa Rica
Timador – thief, swindler
Topador – a person who sells stolen merchandise or fence
Violador – a rapist
Sicarios or asesinos a suledo – paid trigger men

Tiquismos (Costa Rican expressions)

• Piensa el ladrón que todos son de su condición – tendency to suspect of others we we do ourselves
• Cada ladrón juzga por su condición – Sam as the last one
• Ladrón que roba al ladrón 100 años de perdón – a thief who robs another thief gets forgiven for 100 years (Spanish proverb)