Learning how to curse the porteño way...

As a foreigner it is hard to know the level of “slang” when learning a new language. And when it comes to a language that is spoken in so many different countries as Spanish, even a person (me) that has learned Spanish in lets say Spain, need to relearn when they move to another Spanish-speaking country such as Argentina (obviously me again…). I would say that the “porteño” spoken here in Buenos Aires is very different from other Spanish “dialects”, especially due to the Italian influences and the voseo. I had to learn a completely new vocabulary and even new grammar when I arrived here. However, due to natural reasons, the curses are somewhat more sensitive than other “normal” words and therefore deserve some special attention here… When you are not a native speaker it is hard to know the level of ugliness of curses. It is difficult to recognize when it is ok to use a certain curse and when not. From my experience the best way to find out is by trial and error. Just be very observant of the reactions of the people around you. One problem with this strategy though, is that the people you meet are not always the same and some words that are ok in one situation are not at all ok in another. A better strategy might be not to use curses at all, but this obviously never occurred to me. My idea here is to describe some of the most common porteño-curses, how they are used and what concepts they are based on in general; evidently from an immigrant’s perspective! As you can all understand I have made some serious mistakes during my years here using these words…

In Swedish most curses have to do with the devil, hell and “dark stuff” in general. When we get really upset we say stuff like: devils! Hell! Devil! Satan! Baaaad words according to us, but still they are sort of ok to use. They sound badly when spoken, but not nearly as horrible as the “latino curses” do when translated into Swedish. The latino curses seem to be based mostly on genitals, mothers’ sexual habits and so on. Let us start with the ones based on genitals and the most known Argentinean curse: BOLUDO. The origin is genital, ie it comes from the word for “balls” – “bolas”. It is a very commonly used word among friends that can be used in a friendly manner, sort of like saying “hey you” – “ey boludo”. More or less… Or they just put it in as a friendly way to say “idiot/stupid” – “noooo, boludo!” My boyfriend for example, when he speaks to his friends he says boludo in more or less every sentence. He would never use the word in front of a client though, or say it to someone outside his inner circle of friends. Nor to me – except for this once when we were in a rental car on the “autostrada” in the north of Italy. I was reading the map while he was driving and we could not find the signs telling you how far it was to the next town. In that stressed situation a “boludaaa” escaped and I was so chocked that I just started laughing. It goes without saying that we missed the road we were looking for… This is an example of how you can use the word in negative way. Here it is clearly meant “idiot” in the most off-putting manner ;o)

This next word is quite more offensive and it feels strange to write it, but here we go: pelotudo. The origin of this is also genital, but from another synonome of balls: pelotas. I have chosen to illustrate this word with the cover of a well-known book that describes different types of pelotudos argentinos. Again, it is another way of saying that someone is an idiot, but I do not think there are so many positive connotations to this one. Let us move on now to a “omni-hispanic” curse, the well known hijo de puta – you guessed it - son of a bitch. Here the connotation is the role of the mother and how you need to protect her image. It can be very offensive to use this word and you need to master the language to be able to use it with a positive connotation. Warning – do not trial and error this one! A friend of mine did with bad outcome!

To move further down the mother (and sister) lane we start approaching some really dark waters. However, they are quite commonly used in certain situations and in groups of well known friends. I am not sure how to put this next one… Let us say that it is a strong suggestion to someone to go back to where they come from, from the very start, literally. Hm, think birth moment and you might know where they mean. In other words you can be asked to go back to your mother’s or sister’s XXXX (sorry, I can not write it =). This is most often used when you really want someone to “get the h--- out” or more subtly when stuff does not go your way, like the f-word in English I would say. The expression can also be used with the word “parrot” instead of mother or sister, ie “go to the xxxxx of the parrot!”. I heard that the history behind this was that the foreign prostitutes in the port in the beginning of the 20^th century were called parrots since they did not speak the language and only repeated what was said to them…

There are so many many more expressions to be discussed, but I do not want to wear you out. A too long post can really be a “patada en las bolas” – a kick in the balls =)