Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Amortization – Amortización
Annotation: Anotación
Appraisal: Avalúo, tasación
Appraiser: Valuador
Appreciation: Plusvalía or apreciación
Architecture: Arquitectura
Assignment: transferencia
Auction: Remate or subasta
Bank: Banco
Bond Mortgage Section of the National Registry: Cédulas Hipotecarias
Borrower – Prestatario
Boundaries: Límites
Broker: Corredor
Building Pemit: Permiso de Construcción
Cadastral Map: Mapa Catastral
Certificate of Title: Certificado de Título
Client: Cliente
Closing: Cierre
Closing Costs: Costos de Cierre
Closing in Escrow: Cierre Depósitario
Collateral – Garantía
Commercial Section of National Registry: Mercantil
Commission: Honorarios
Condominium Section of the National Registry: Condominio
Contract: Contrato
Convey: Traspasar
Corporation: Corporación
Counteroffer: Contraoferta
Credit Rating: Historial crediticio
Declared value: El valor declarado
Deed of Transfer: Escritura
Deposit: Depósito, Prima
Depreciation: Depreciación
Document Summaries: Diarios
Due date: Fecha Límite

*I wrote these off the top of my head. I am sure there are a lot more.

Aliento de dragón – bad breath
Baboso – an idiot
Bola de billar – a bald person
Bola de manteca – a fat person (butter ball)
Bruto – stupid
Bueno para nada – a good for nothing
Burro – a dumb person
Cabeza hueca – no brians (a hollow head)
Chiflado – nuts (crazy)
¡Cierra el pico! – Shut up! (shut your beak)
Comemierda – a fake or snob (offensive)
Cretino – a cretin or idiot
Cuatro ojos – person with glasses
Cuerpo de gallina – a bad body without hips
Don nadie – a nobody
Enano – a short person (literally dwarf)
Espantapájaros – a skinny person (literally means scarecrow)
Feto – an ugly person (fetus)
Fósforo – a skinny person (match stick)
Gordiflón – a fat person
Hijueputa – S.O.B. (very offensive)
Huelepedos – an ass kisser or brownnoser
Mal parido – bastard, jerk, motherfucker or S.O.B. (very offensive). Mal nacido is also used
Menso – fool
Nieto de puta – worse than hijueputa (literally means grandson of a whore and insinuates that all of the past mothers in the family have been whores)
No tiene dos dedos de frente – stupid or dumb
No tiene ni para un derrame – dumb ( not a enough brains a stroke)
Pelón – a bald person
¡Vete al diablo or demonio¡ – Go to hell!
¡Vete a freir espárragos¡ – Go to hell! A nicer way of saying it. Estar hecho un espárrago means to be very skinny.

Related Tiquismo

Animal – dumb asshole
Banano – homosexual
Bostezo – a boring person
Buchón- a selfish person
Camote – a person who acts strange or oddly
Caripicha – dick face or dick head (very insulting)
Ceguetas – a person with bad eyesight
Cerdo – a person with bad manners (hog)
Cerrado – stupid
Chapa – a stupid person. A chapa is also a coin.
Chepito – a nosey person
Cuatro culos – a person with a big butt
Jaibo – an idiot (offensive)
Jetón – a liar
Limpio – a person with no money
Maje – dumb or stupid
Mama pichas – a despicable person (very, very vulgar and insulting…literally means someone who performs oral sex on a man)
Más feo que ver morir a la mamá – ugly
Momia – an ugly person (mummy)
Mongolo – an idiot
Pega – a person who is a pain in the butt
Perra – a promiscuous woman (literally a female dog or bitch)
Perro – a promiscuous male or womanizer
Playa – a lesbian in Costa Rica (offensive). It is also the proper word for beach.
Playo – a gay man (offensive). However, this term is used a lost in jest among males in Costa Rica.
Rata – a selfish or inconsiderate person
Se broncea en la morgue – a person with very white skin Literally means they get their tan in the morgue.
Sorompo – idiot
Tarro – an ugly face
Zaguate – a promiscuous male or womanizer. It also means a mutt.

Andar con el pelo parado – is to be upset
Cana – a grey hair
Canoso – a lot of grey hair
Con pelos y señales – with minute details or all of the details.  Escríbeme con pelos y señales. Write me with all of the details.
Entresacar el pelo – to thin out one’s hair on purpose.
Escaparse por un pelo – to be a close shave
Faltar a las canas – to show a lack of respect for one’s elders. A cana is a grey hair
Faltó un pelo para que se cayera – He nearly fell.
Greña – a mop of hair
Greñudo – to have disheveled or uncombed hair
Línea de pelo – hairline
Librarse por un pelo – is to have a narrow escape. You can also say salvarse por un pelo.
Melenudo – to have a lot of hair like a lion’s mane
Montar a pelo or en pelo – to ride bareback.
No aflojar un pelo – to not yield an inch..No ceder is also used
No tener ni un pelo de tonto – to be no fool
No tener pelos en la lengua – to be outspoken
Pasar el examen por los pelos – He scraped through the exam.
Pelo ralo – thin hair
Pelo tupido – thick hair
Pelado – to be broke or empty (a place)
Peludo – a hairy person
Por los pelos – by the skin of one’ s teeth
Se me pusieron los pelos de punta – My hair stood on end. You can also say Se me erizó el pelo.
Ser de pelo en pecho – to be a he-man. You can also say Es todo un hombre.
Ser del mismo pelo – to be the same
Soltarse el pelo – to let it all hang out or drop all restraint
Tomar el pelo – to pull one’s leg. Creo que me estás tomando el pelo. I think you are pulling my leg.
Velludo – to have a lot of body hair
Venir a pelo – to be to the point. Lo que me dijo no venía a pelo. What he said wasn’t to the point.
Venir a pelo – also means to be just what the doctor ordered.

Related Tiquismo

• Andar con la peluca parada – to be upset (literally to have your wig standing up)
• Dejar pelos en el alambre - to scrape through something or just get by. Rozando is also used to express this idea. Pasó la prueba rozando..barely passed the test
• Echar una cana al aire – to have a fling. A cana is a grey hair
• La pelona – death
• Las arrugas son seguras y las canas son vanas..about getting old
• No arrancar un pelo sin sangre – to charge every last cent or take advantage of someone
• Pelota – a group of friends
• Por un pelo de rana y la rana no tiene pelo - by the skin of one’ s teeth
• Pelarse el rabo – to make a big mistake or screw up
• Pelo de elote – ugly hair
• Pelo de gato – drizzle
• Pelón – a party or a bald person
• Solo con un pelo del mismo chancho se quita – an example is if you lose your mate you can only make up for it finding someone else. Or if you have a hangover, you need a shot of whatever you had last night before to get rid of it. The y also say “Un clavo saca otro clavo” to express the same idea.

In Spanish many nouns are turned into verbs. Below are some of the parts of the body which can be changed into verbs.

Bracear - Swimming

Bracear - to stroke as in swimming or swing one’s arms and comes from the word brazo which means arm
Cabecear – to move one’s head, nod off or hit a ball with one’s head and comes from the word cabeza which means head
Codear – means to elbow someone. Codearse means to hobnob or rub shoulders with people. Both  versions come from the word codo which means elbow.
Colear - means to move or wag one’s tail or is used when the back part of a cars skids from side to side. It comes from the word cola which means tail.
Culatear – is used when a gun kicks (recoil) and comes from the word culo which means butt. The butt of a rifle is la culata
Dedear – means to move a finger and come from the word dedo which means finger.
Dentar – means to teethe and comes from the word dientes which means teeth
Hociconear - means brag and comes from the hocicón which is an animal’s snout or an insulting name for one’s mouth
Hombrear – to shoulder or to help and comes from the word hombro which means shoulder
Lengüetear – to lick or stick out one’s tongue and comes from lengua which means tongue
Manosear – means to fondle and comes from the word mano which means hand
Nalguear – means to spank which comes from the word nalgas which means butt
Ojear - means to stare at and comes from the word ojos which means eyes. Don’t confuse this with hojear which means to leaf through a book or turn pages.
Palmear – means to pat or clap and comes from the world palma which means the palm of the hand
Patear – means to kick and comes from the word pata which is an animal’s foot. El pie is the proper term for a person’s foot.
Parpadear – means to blink or flicker which comes from eye-lid párpado
Pestañear – to wink or blink or flutter one’s eyelashes and comes form the word pestaña which is eye-lash
Respaldar – means to back or support someone and comes from espalda which is a person’s back
Talonear – to walk fast or hurry. Comes from the word talón which means the heel of the foot or shoe.
Vergear - means to beat with a rod  or hit someone (very vulgar) and comes from the word verga which is a vulgar word for penis. In Costa Rica we say pichacear to beat someone up (vulgar). Madrear is also used occasionally.

Related Tiquismo

• Culear or culiar (vulgar) - to fornicate and comes from culo which means butt. Volar rabo is also used in Costa Rica.
• Jetear – means to talk a lot of crap and comes from jeta which is a slang word for mouth in Costa Rica
• Sin pestañear - without batting an eye
• Estar vivo y coleando – to be alive and kicking

A pesar de todo – in spite of everything
A toda velocidad – at full speed. A toda máquina and  a todo trapo are also used.
Ante todo – in the first place
Después de todo – after all
Es todo un héroe - He is a real hero
Jugarse el todo por el todo - to go for bust or stake it all
Sobre todo – above all, especially
Todas las semanas – every week
Todo el santo día – the whole day long
Todo lo que necesite – all that you may need
Todo un hombre – to be every inch a man. We also say Un hombre hecho y derecho.
Todo poderoso – almighty
Todos los que quieran – all those who want to….

Related Tiquismos of the week:

Agarrarla toda – to be lucky
Barrer con todo – to take everything or hog something
Estar en todo or estar en todas – to be well informed or know what is happening
Irse con todo - to get deceived
Tener todo el huevo - to have a lot of money
Toda laguna tiene su desagüe - Everyone has a way to spend money
Toda vela arde mucho, pronto se apaga - This means that many things don’t get finished despite being enthusiastic at the beginning
Todo buchón muere pelón - every greedy person ends up with nothing. Three similar expressions are: Todo cepillo muere pelón, El que todo lo quiere, todo lo pierde. El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta.
Todo buen soldado guarda el último cartucho - Have to be cautious
Todo entra por la vista - The first impression is the one that counts
Todo pasa en esta vida - most things are forgotten sooner or later
Todo se paga en esta vida - Everything has its price
Todo se termina en esta vida – All things must end