Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Dienton - big teeth

Barrigón – pot belly
Bizco – cross eyed
Blancucho – very white skin
Bola de manteca – a fat person
Cabezón – big head
Cachetón – big cheeks
Caderón – big hips
Calvo – bald
Cara de cuchillo – hatchet face
Cara de velorio – a sad face
Carón – big face
Ceguetas – bad eyes
Cojo – lame
Corveta – bow legs
Chaparrito – a short person
Chato – pug nose
Chimuelo – a person or child missing teeth
Chumeco – dark skin in Costa Rica
Cuatro ojos – fore eyes
Doble papada – double chin
Enano – a short person or child in Costa Rica
Flacucho – a thin person
Fósforo – a skinny person (a match stick)
Frentón – a big forehead
Gordiflón – a fat person
Greñudo – sloppy unruly hair
Hocicón – a big mouth or face (offensive)
Jorobado – hunchback
Lampiño – a person with little body hair
Larguirucho – a lanky person
Llantudo – a spare tire around the waist
Manco – missing a limb
Manudo – big hands or a fan of La Liga, the city of Alajuela’s soccer team
Mechudo – a lot of uncombed hair
Melenudo – long hair
Nalgón – a big butt
Nariz gacha  or de águila – hooked nose
Nariz respingona – turned up nose
Narizón – a big nose
Ojos saltones – pop eyes
Orejón – big ears
Palidejo – a pale person
Panzón – a big belly
Patituerto – knock knee
Patón – big feet
Pelilargo – a person with long hair
Pelón – bald
Piernudo – big legs
Pinta – appearance
Rechoncho – chubby
Renco – lame
Sindi – withour teeth (short form of sin dientes)
Tartamudo – a stutter
Tetona – large breasts
Timbuco – a big stomach in Costa Rica
Trompudo – big mouth or big lips
Tuerto – one-eyed
Velludo – a lot of body hair on arms, legs and back
Zancudo – lanky

Tiquismos of the week:

• En la tierra de los ciegos el tuerto es rey - the one-eyed man is a king in the land of the blind
• Se broncea en la morgue - to get your suntan in the morgue (used for a person with very white skin)
• La pinta es lo de menos - appearances don’t count
• Por la pinta se conoce - you can recognize him (her) by his (her) appearance
• Más planchado que sapo en carretera - to have no wrinkles
• Cabeza de pollo - dumb
• Tener pinta de… – To look like…
• La estampa - to look exactly like another person
• El hijo de tigre sale pintado - like father like son (to resemble physically or have other traits)
• Más calvo que una bola de billar - as bald as a billiard ball

A la gringa  the American way
Agringarse  to be very Americanized in terms of habits or customs
Aticarse – to become very Costa Rican in terms of your habits or customs
Aticado/a  same as the last one
Caripálida  paleface
Costarricense  a Costa Rican
Gringada  all of the gringos collectively or a typical thing a gringo does.
Gringo de nacimiento, tico de corazón – Gringo by birth, tico at heart
Gringolandia  the United States
Gringorricense  a gringo/tico
Gringuera  a Latin woman who likes to go after gringo men
Gringuerío  a group of gringos
Güero  a gringo or  blond person in Mexican Spanish
Más gringo que pastel de manzana  more gringo than apple pie
Norteño  a gringo
Tiquicia  Costa Rica
Más tico que la maña de pedir fiado to be typically  Costa Rican
Más tico que el gallo pinto to be typically  Costa Rican
Más tico que el agua dulce to be typically  Costa Rican
No se le quita lo gringo ni banándose  always be  gringo no matter what you do
Tingo –  a Tico/Gringo. In the 1980s there was a popular bar in San Pedro by the same name.
Tiquismo or costarriqueñismo – an expression from Costa Rica

Tiquismo of the week: Actually this is riddle (adivinanza) I heard on the street. I will not translate it so you can test your language skills. ¿En qué se parece un gringo tratando de aprender español a una sartén recubierta de teflón? ¿Se da por vencido? Respuesta: En que no se le pega nada. Je, Je, Je

Abismo – abyss
Agrietarse – to crack
Albergue – shelter
Búsqueda y rescate – search and rescue
Aislado – cut off or isolated
Comportamiento – the behavior of a volcano, ocean etc.
Cráter – crater
Damnificados – homeless as a result of a disaster
Dañar – to damage
Daños estructurales – structural damage
Daño total or quedar inservible – totaled
Derrumbe – landslide
Deslavar – to wash out (road)
Deslave – washed out road
Deslizamiento – landslide
Devastar – to devastate
Donativo or donación – donation
Epicentro – epicenter
En pie – still standing (structure). La casa todavía está en pie
Esterrar vivo – bury alive
Escala Richter – Richter scale
Escombros – rubble
Grietas – cracks
Hacer erupción – to erupt
Ileso – unscathed or unhurt
Incomunicado –cut off
Intensidad – intensity
Inundación – flood
La Cruz Roja – Red Cross
Lava – lava
Magnitud – magnitude
Maremoto – a tidal wave
Mecerse – to sing back and forth, sway or rock. Roquear means to rock like rock nd roll
Ondas de expansión – shock waves
Ponerse a salvo – to reach safety
Primeros auxilios – first aid
Registrarse – to record (intensity of quake)
Réplica –aftershock
Rescatar – rescue or salvage
Rescatista –rescuer
Restos – remains of a body
Río de lava – lava flow
Sacudir – to shake
Saldo de muertos – death toll
¡Sálvese el que pueda! – every man for himself
Sisimógrafo – Seismograph used to measure earthquakes
Sismólogo – seismologist
Sobrevivientes – survivors
Soccorista – rescuer
Temblor secundario – aftershock
Terremoto – earthquake
Tienda de campaña – tent
Umbral o marco de la puerta – door frame
Volcán – volcano
Vulcanólogo – a volcanologist (person who studies volcanoes)

Tiquismo of the week : Mira lo que tiró el volcán means look what the tide brought in. Said when a friend shows up unexpectedly.

Spanish has a lot of ways to refer to stupidity. Below are some of the most common ones.

Aguacate – stupid in Costa Rica
Baboso – a slobbering fool
Bruto – stupid or rude
Burro – donkey or dumb-bell
Cabeza de cajón – a hollow head like a drawer
Cabeza hueca – a hollow head
Caído de la cuna – fallen from the cradle or dopey
Cerrado – stupid
Cretino – a cretin
Idiota – idiot . El es un idota (He is an idiot). Ell es una idota (She is an idiot)
Infeliz – a klutz
Jaibo – dumb in Costa Rica
Maje – also stupid in Costa Rica
Más cerrado que una bombilla – have your head more closed than a light bulb
Más cerrado que culo de mula – a vulgar Costa Rican form of the last expression
Necio – a jackass
No tener dos dedos de frente – to be brainless
No tener sal en la mollera – not very bright. La mollera is the soft spot on a baby’s head.
No tiene para un derrame – someone doesn’t have enough brains even to have a stroke
Payaso – a clown or stronger word for fool
Ser más corto que las mangas de un chaleco – to be shorter on brains than a vest’s sleeves
Simplón – a simpleton
Tarado – idiot
Tonto – fool
Torpe –  a klutz or clumsy

Tiquismo: Agüizote – is a belief or superstition. Agüizotes are also rites or rituals that are done to bring good luck for the new year. They originated in Spanish and were adopted by the people in Latin America. For example, some people eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve to bring them prosperity I the coming year. While others grab their suitcases and walk several times around the block in order to be able travel a lot in the coming year. Another ritual is to bathe in the closest river to say good bye to being single and find true love.  Finally, another one is to  use yellow underwear to attract good energy or red underwear to attract love. There are many more agüizotes.

Happy New Year

Año nuevo, mujer nueva – a new year, a new woman (humorous version of the next one)
Año nuevo, vida nueva – a new year, a new life
Comenzar el año nuevo con el pie derecho – start the new year with a bang (on the right foot)
¿Cuál es su propósito para el año nuevo? – What’s your New Year’s Resolution?
Despedir el año viejo – see out the old year
El día de año nuevo – New Year’s Day
¿Dónde va a recibir el año nuevo? – Where are you going to spend New Years Eve?
Fiesta de año nuevo – New Year’s party
Cuesta de enero – after-Christmas slump
Goma – hangover
Gomón – a bad hangover
Gotera – hangover
La cuenta regresiva – count down to  the New Year
La noche vieja – New Year’s Eve
Propósito – New Year’s resolution
Recibir el año nuevo – see in the new year
Un año para recordar – a year to remember
Víspera de año nuevo - New Year’s Eve

Tiquismos:
Las pintas de enero are the weather forecasts that are made for each of the twelve months of the year in Costa Rica. They are based on the changes in the weather at the beginning of January of each year. During this time the weather can vary a lot from day to day. For example, January second represents the month of February. January third represents the month of March, etc.  Pintar is the verb that is used to predict the weather in this case.

Pintas – is also a term for “criminal” in Costa Rica