Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

(Continued from last week)

Caballo means horse but is sometimes used for pants. Rucos is also used for pants in Costa Rica since it is also local word for horse.
Cabra means girlfriend but actually is a female goat
Cabro is used for boyfriend but really means a male goat
Caite is an old shoe
Cajón means box but is often used for coffin. The correct word for coffin is el ataúd
Cambiarle el agua al pajarito means to change the bird’s water or to urinate. Orinar is the correct way to say urinate. Mear is also used but is considered vulgar.
Le canta la gallina is literally “the hen sings to you” but in this case it means that a man’s wife wears the pants in the relationship
Capa caída means to be depressed or down. José anda de capa caída (Joe is down, depressed or sad). Andar con el moco caído means the same thing here.
Carajadas are “things.” The word Chunches is also used here. The correct Spanish word for things is “cosas.”
Carbonero is an agitator, trouble maker or person who adds fuel to the fire
Caribarro means a muddy face but is used to describe a “shameless” person.
Carnemolida is a person who messes up or ruins everything he or she touches or attempts to do.
Cáscara is nerve ¡Qué cásacara! What nerve! Cáscara is actually the skin or outer part of a piece of fruit
Cerote means excrement but is used for an evil of bad person (vulgar)

A grito pelado – shouting
Acois – Synonym for así (like this or like that). ¿Cómo se hace esto? Acois (Así)
Ahorcarse or echarse la soga al cuello – to get married. Literally, to hang yourself. Dar el sí is also menas to get married. Casarse is the correct verb to use to express this idea.
Apuntarse – to join others in an activity. Vamos al cine. Let’s go to the movies ¿Quién se apunta? Who wants to join us?
Bagaces – lazy.
Bases – feet. Pies is the correct word. Patas an animals feet but are also used to refer to people’s feet in jest.
Bañazo – shame or foolish act
Bate – a man or penis
Bateador – a person who is uncertain and guesses
Bochinche – a fight or quarrel A bocnichero is a person who gets into fights
Bombeta – a conceited person
Bote – jail. Tavo or tarro are also slang for jail in Costa Rica. The correct Spanish word is la cárcel.
Brumoso – A fan of the city of Cartago’s soccer team.
Burra – sounds like female donkey or burro but refers to the lunch that one takes to work.

A toda madre – fantastic (used in México)
Dar en la madre or romper la madre – to hurt someone or get injured seriously
Futura madre – mother to be
Importarle madre or valerle madre – to not care about. For example, me vale madre means I don’t give a damn. This term is used mostly en México. Me vale un comino or me vale un bledo is more common here. I have also heard Me vale picha (very vulgar). Don’t use it!
Lengua materna – mother tongue
Madre patria – the motherland
Madrazo – a nasty blow or bump (mostly used in Mexico)
Madrear – to insult
Madreperla – mother of pearl
Mentar la madre – to sware at someone by saying hijo de puta (Costa Rica) or to insult their mother
Niño sin madre or huérfano - motherless
Suegra – mother in law. Here they say the best suegra is like a star. The farther away she is, the more beautiful she looks.
¡Qué madre! – An exclamation of disgust, disappointment or anger. ¡Qué madre alguien se llevó mi libro – Crap! Someone stole my book.
Tarjeta madre – the mother board of a computer

“Madre solo una y como ella Ninguna” -You only have one mother and nobody can ever be like her.

A friend just emailed me this and I thought my readers would enjoy a good dose of tico humor.

Enjoy!

Memorandum
To: Costa Rican Employees
From: Human Resources Department

Subject: New Policy using the Spanish language during working hours.

1. Words like “picha“, “ijueputa” and other such expressions will not be
used for emphasis, no matter how heated the discussion may get.

2. Non-important matters should not be addresses to as “mierda“.

3. You will not say “la cago” when someone makes a mistake, or “lo
cagaron” if you see someone being reprimanded. All forms and derivates of
the word “cagar” are inappropriate in our environment.

4. Lack of determination will not be referred to as “falta de huevos” or
“playadas“, not will a person with lack of initiative be referred as
“maricon“, “playo” or “come mierda“.

5. No manager or supervisor, under any circumstances, will not referred
to as “ese carepicha” or “ese maricon“.

6. When a good proposal is presented, the term “que pichudo” must not be
used.

7. Unusual or creative brainstorming meetings will not be referred to as
“diarreas mentales“.

8. Do not say “como jode” if a person is persistent, or “se jodio” if
somebody is going through a difficult situation. Furthermore, you must not
say “que hijueputa” or “que dolor de picha” when matter become complicated
in your line of work.

9. When asking someone to leave you alone, you should not say “vayase
pa`lamierda“, nor will you substitude “que putas queres?” for “May I help
you?”.

10. When leaving the office, using the term “voy jalando malparidos” is
not proper.

11. When any office equipment fails, it must be reported as “it broke
down”, not “se despicho” or “se jodió esta mierda“.

12. Last but not least, after reading this memo, please do not say “me
voy a limpiar el culo con esto“. Just keep it clean and file properly.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Human Resource Department.
Merlin Industries.

Here is a good Spanish dictionary with pronunciation. See www.spanishdict.com. Hopefully this will help a lot of beginners.

For advanced students I was just given a copy of the manual “Nueva gramática de la lengua española.” It is published by the Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española) and the official book for the language