Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

*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.

A tomar porque el mundo se va acabar – Let’s drink because life is short
Toma – a wall socket
Toma – a take when filming a movie
Toma y daca – give and take
Tomador – a drinker
Tomar – to drink. Beber is also used
Tomar a la ligera – to take something lightly
Tomar a mal –mto offend
Tomar aire – to get some air
Tomar algo con un grano de sal – to take something with a grain of salt
Tomar asiento – to sit down
Tomar el rábano por las hojas – to take the bull by the horns
Tomar fuerzas – to get strength
Tomar puntes – to take notes
Tomarle cariño a – to become fond of someone
Tomar como cosaco – to drink like a Cosac (to drink a lot)
Tomar con calma  - to take it easy
Tomarle a alguien el pelo – to pull someone’s leg
Tomar en serio – to take seriously
Tomar forma to take on a shape
Tomar la delantera – to take the lead (literally and figuratively)
Tomar las medidas – to take measurements
Tomar por esposa – to take for one’s wife (marriage ceremony)
Tomar por idiota -to take for a fool
Tomar por sorpresa – to take by surprise
Tomar precaucioes – to take precautions
Tomar sobre  sí una cosa – to take something upon oneself
Tomar su tiempo – to take one’s time
Tomar un curso – to take a class or study something
Tomar un respiro – to take a break or breather
Tomar un taxi, tren, autobús, avión – to take a taxi, train, bus, plane etc.
Tomar una calle – to take a street
Tomar una ciudad – to take a city (besiege)
Tomar una curva – to take a curve
Tomar una foto – to take a photo
Tomar una pausa – to take a break
Tomar vacaciones – to take a vacation
Tomar vuelo – to take flight
Tomarse las cosas a la tremenda – to take things  too hard

Tiquismos:

• ¡Tome chichi! – Take that for being a know it all!
• ¡Tome papito! – means the same as the last one
• Tomadera – the act of drinking a lot
• Tomar a pecho una cosa – to give importance to something
• Tomar café con lengua – to drink coffee without anything else
• Tomar y manejar, con el diablo pasear – don’t drink and drive

Cabildero para Cabilderos

Alcalde: mayor
Alcaldesa:  female mayor
Aprobación:  approval
Apoyo:  support
Aprobar:  to approve
Cabildear:  to lobby
Cabildeo:  lobbying
Cabildero:  lobbyist
Congreso: congress
Conservador:  conservative
Debate:  a debate
Debatir:  to debate
Derechista:  rightist
Destituir:  to impeach
Dimes y diretes:  arguing
Diputado: like a congressman or senator
Elección:  election
Elegir:  to elect
Escaños:  seats in congress or another political body
Exrema derecha: extreme right
Extrema izquierda: extreme left
Gobierno:  government
Izquierdista:  leftist
Liberal:  liberal
Libertario:  Libertarian
Moderado:  moderate
Partido político:  political party
Poder:  power
Político:  politician
Politiquear:  to do politics using dishonest tactics
Politiquería: to do shady politics
Politiquero: a person who looks out for his own political interests
Politizar: to politicize
Presidir:  to preside over
Proyecto de ley: a bill (legislation)
Rechazar:  to reject
Respaldo:  backing or support
Sesión extraordinaria:  a long political meeting of congress
Socialista:  socialist
Vetar:  to veto
Votación:  voting
Votar por:  to vote for

Tiquismos:

• Hijueputado is word play on diputado. See if you can figure out what it means.

Abue, deja de morderte las uñas!

These shortened forms are used in everyday speech

Abue is short for abuelo/abuela of grandfather/grandmother
Bici is short for bicicleta or bicycle
Cole is short for colegio or high school
Cumple is short for cumpleaños or birthday
Doc is short for doctor or doctor in English
Fut is short for fútbol or soccer
Guate is short for Guatemala
Hospi is short for hospital or hospital in English
La “U” is short for universidad or university
La muni is short for municipalidad or municipality
Nica is short for nicaragüense or Nicaraguan
Pana is short for panameño or Panamanian
Papi is short for padre or father. In Costa Rica Papi can also be used as a term of endearment for one’s husband, boyfriend or small boy.
Peni is short for penitenciaría or penitentiary
Poli is short for policía or police
Porfa is short for por favor or please
Presi is short for president
Profe is short for profesor or teacher
Prosti is short for prostituta or prostitute
Refri is short for refrigeradora or refrigerator
Tele is short for televisión or television
Tico is short of costarricense or Costa Rican
Guachi is short for guachiman or watchman

There are many more.

Tiquismos of the week:

• Tener más colmillo que un elefante – to be astute
  
• Tener más concha que una tortuga - to be shameless
• Tener más fe que San Roque - to be optimistic

Algo huele mal - something smells fishy. Hay un gato encerrado or me da mal espina - are similar expressions
Andar de pesca – to go be fishing
Ballena - a fat person
Camarón - literally means a shrimp but is used for an odd job in Costa Rica
Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la coriente - if you snooze you lose
Camaronear - means to work odd or occasional jobs
Estar como el pez en el agua - to feel at home
Estar como el pez fuera de agua - to feel out of place. Also estar fuera de lugar or Como gallina en corral ajeno – mean the same thing
Enredarse - literally to get caught in a net like a fish but figuratively can also mean to get mixed or up in something
Ir de pesca - to go fishing
Ojo de pescado - a fish eye lense for a camera
Por la boca muere el pez - keep your mouth closed to avoid problems. En bocas cerradas no entran moscas means more or less the same thing
En río revuelto ganan pescadores - some people can profit in bad times
La pesca es buena - the fishing is good (literally and figuratively)
Pescado - a caught or dead fish
Pescar - to fish
Pescar - to catch someone doing something usually bad
Pescar un resfriado - to catch a cold
Pescar a mosca - fly fishing
Pescar de altura - deap sea fishing
Pescar de bajura - fish from the coast
Pescar en rio revuelto - to fish in troubled waters
Pez - a live fish in the water
Pez gordo - a big shot

Tiquismos of the week

• El que va para viejo va para pendejo or entre más viejo más pendejo - There is no fool like an old fool