Regionalismos

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Marianopolita

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Regionalismos

(In this thread examples of a variety of words with the same meaning used in specific countries and/or regions)

The topic of lexical diversity in the Spanish-speaking world has been discussed in many threads. Some believe it makes Spanish more challenging to learn and understand however; in the same nature it makes the language more rich and flexible due to such a broad variety of options. As noted in a recent thread "Panamanian Spanish" some words are region specific, some are country specific and some are generic in usage.

One of the benefits (IMO) of living in a multilingual community, which I thoroughly enjoy, is the infinite options that I have at my disposal from a linguistic point a view. I have exposure to vocabulary from several Spanish-speaking countries not just one, the French language and if I were interested in other languages the opportunity exists too.

As an example of the diversity that exists in Spanish many words and expressions can serve as an example and one that I find interesting in Spanish and English is the variety of regional words (and slang) used to say "money" and the expression "I am broke". Some people say Spanish is hard to understand because of said variety but I believe the opposite to a certain degree. The meaning of a word in question can often be derived from the context once it's not too complicated.

In English some common regionalisms for money are: dough, bread, bucks, coin etc. of course this is based on my environment and what I most often hear or use.

In the Spanish-speaking world the same variety exists. The two principal words I use for money are: el dinero and la plata. El dinero is the generic word and la plata is used all over South America more so than el dinero. There are many other common ones that you will hear such as: el billete, el chele, el chavo, el efectivo, la lana, el peso, la pasta, la guita, etc.

"I don't have money" or "I am broke in Spanish" can be expressed in many ways ranging from a simple "no tengo plata" to "no tengo ni un real", "estoy pelado/a", "estoy quebrado/a", *estoy limpio/a and many other expressions.

-estoy limpio/a is a good example of how context derives the meaning because it has another significance. Whenever I hear this expression it reminds me of the great merenguero Fernandito Villalona. In one of his songs "Sin cadenas" he states: "que en mi voz ya no hay barreras, que estoy limpio y sin cadenas". If you know about the musical career of Fernandito V. you will understand that "estoy limpio" in this context does not mean, "I am broke".

If you have any more "money" examples in Spanish to add please do so or choose another word or expression and provide examples of the variety used in the Spanish-speaking world.


* No vulgarities please


-LDG.
 

Mirador

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Regionalismos

(In this thread examples of a variety of words with the same meaning used in specific countries and/or regions)

.."I don't have money" or "I am broke in Spanish" can be expressed in many ways ranging from a simple "no tengo plata" to "no tengo ni un real", "estoy pelado/a", "estoy quebrado/a", *estoy limpio/a and many other expressions.

-estoy limpio/a is a good example of how context derives the meaning because it has another significance. Whenever I hear this expression it reminds me of the great merenguero Fernandito Villalona. In one of his songs "Sin cadenas" he states: "que en mi voz ya no hay barreras, que estoy limpio y sin cadenas". If you know about the musical career of Fernandito V. you will understand that "estoy limpio" in this context does not mean, "I am broke".

-LDG.

Although Fernandito Villalona uses the expression in his song ("estoy limpio"), it is not particularly Dominican expression of "I am broke". For this you will have to use, "Estoy arrancado" (more accurately pronounced, "etoy arrancao"
 

Marianopolita

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Good additions-

Mirador-

I think you read my post too fast. I stated in my opening post that in the song by Fernandito V his use of 'estoy limpio' did not mean "I am broke". The usage in the song surely has a different context. BTW- "Estoy arrancao" is also used outside of the DR.

Dragonfly and Maco-

Good additions. La lana was in my original list and Maco the last three you listed are really regional.

There are some more. I will let others have an opportunity to add some if they wish.


Merci beaucoup

-LDG.
 

Marianopolita

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RE: Money terms - "change"

"Estoy pelao" is part of my original list. You gave the colloquial equivalent of the formal "estoy pelado"


I told a friend about this thread and I was asked to add "el bolo" (Ven.) to the list of regional terms for money.

What about loose change?

There are some regionalisms that are commonly used. The common ones I hear and/or use are:

(tener) suelto, (tener) cambio, (tener) sencillo.


-LDG.
 

Chirimoya

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More slang for money - 'cuartos' (DR), 'reales' (C. America), 'pelas' (Spain) and 'pavas' (Gibraltar).
 

Marianopolita

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To avoid repetition-

* please read my examples in my first post to avoid repetition. El chavo was mentioned there. Thanks everyone.

Here's one more used in Cuba that I learned from reading books by Pedro Juan Guti?rrez. A Cuban writer known for his series of books about Cuba that give the real perspective of the country post the fall of the Soviet Union. In books such as Trilog?a sucia de la Habana, El Rey de la Habana and Animal Tropical he uses "fula" to refer to money. The etymology of the word explains why its usage is popular in Cuba.


-LDG.
 
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Stodgord

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"Estoy pelao" is part of my original list. You gave the colloquial equivalent of the formal "estoy pelado"


I told a friend about this thread and I was asked to add "el bolo" (Ven.) to the list of regional terms for money.

What about loose change?

There are some regionalisms that are commonly used. The common ones I hear and/or use are:

(tener) suelto, (tener) cambio, (tener) sencillo.


-LDG.

menudo for loose change.
 

Marianopolita

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RE: un poco de historia-

Regionalisms and slang in Spanish (or any language) have a history attached to it. They come into usage for a particular reason or occurrence in history and become ingrained in the popular speech of a country's population. A few of the "money" regionalisms in this thread evidence the interesting diversity that the Spanish language exhibits and the diversity that makes the language a continuos interesting etymological study due to the history of each country where Spanish is the official language. Latin America is an interesting area for linguists, philologists, grammarians, teachers and students because of the linguistic diversity offered in the Caribbean, Central America, South America and Mexico therefore it makes for interesting research. The diversity principally is due to the history of each country, geographical location which influences language and movement of the people. Going back in time as people moved to different lands or immigrated to a Latin American country they took their language and culture with them. This can be evidenced by Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, Spanish spoken in Panama, or in Cuba just to a name a few countries that stand out for their vocabulary, regional accent or sentence structure.

In this thread I mentioned "no tengo ni un real" and Chirimoya mentioned "reales". The "real" was the old Spanish coin used at one point in time as currency thus carried over by colonialists to Latin America. The word "fula" is of African origin. As you may know Cuban popular speech has quite a large number of words of African origin which is due to the influence of the African popular religions in Cuba. If you read Cuban literature or have exposure to Cuban Spanish you will note that there are many words of African origin in Cuban vernacular speech. Lastly "el bolo" that I mentioned earlier has an interesting history as well. My friend was kind enough to explain to me that "bolos" refers to the Venezuelan currency "el bol?var" (bol?vares) and that the usage of "bolos" is "bien campesino" as he stated. He said, that it's the term for money you will hear in the campos mostly and not particularly in larger cities like Caracas, Maracaibo or Barquisimeto.


-LDG.
 

asopao

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"toy arrancao" meaning I'm broke.

" toy en una olla", this is worse than being " arrancao", this is that you are in a serious situation. This is not just that you don't have money, but that you have to pawn your stuff or even sell your house.

One expression that I use , when things are not going the way i want is " mi feng shui ta malo".

" toy frenando en el aro" means " i'm just making ends meet", or " i'm just getting by". These expressions are common in a poor country like DR.
 

Marianopolita

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RE: Regionalismos- Asopao

Thanks for your contributions to the thread. I like the fact that you expanded on the underlying meanings of estoy arrancao and estoy en una olla so that those who are reading the thread can understand how to use and interpret these expressions correctly.

Regarding frenando en el aro I know you like merengue and that you listen to Los Hnos. Rosario. Remember their album/cd Bomba 2000 and song # 6- Frenando en el aro? To my knowledge this an authentically Dominican expression. When I read your post I immediately thought of the song by Los Hermanos Rosario. Actually you inspired me to listen to the cd since I have not in a while.


Chao

-LDG.
 

Marianopolita

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RE: Regionalismos- "hangover" variations

The subject of regionalisms in Spanish continues to be of great interest to me for various reasons. The lexical diversity of the Spanish language dates back centuries starting in Spain when the language was spoken with variations in different regions and subsequently when the language journeyed over to the other side of the Atlantic then a whole new process of lexicalization began. In the world of Spanish academics at a historical and professional level meaning those who have studied the language such as philologists and grammarians as well as linguists and other specialized designations know how difficult it is when beginning to analyze Spanish spoken in Latin America.

The first level of separation is Spain vs. Latin America. The second level is breaking down Spanish spoken in Latin America, which, I have done many times in other posts- Caribbean, Central America & Mexico, South America and the third level is breaking it down by region within each region. For example the category South America is too broad. It can be broken down further as follows: The Coastal North, the Andean Region, Chile and R?o de la Plata (Argentina, Uruguay).

In a recent discussion among friends I asked: "what do you think is the most generic word in Spanish for hangover" and my purpose for asking was to get a feel for the diversity that exists for describing what people experience next day after having had too much to drink. I always knew a few common expressions however; IMO "la resaca" is the most generic word in the Spanish-speaking world. As my friends started to reply I just smiled and said to myself what an amazing language. The replies were: tener guayabo or estar enguayabado- Colombia, estar enratonado- Venezuela, tener la cruda (or tener cruda)- Mexico, estar de goma- Nicaragua, tener la mona- Chile.

All of these expressions I knew but what I found interesting is none of them heard of "la resaca". The above examples are true regionalisms only "la goma" is common to more than one Central American country. In English, I am sure there are many varieties but I only know "hangover" and among my circle of friends I have never heard anything else. What is interesting is some of the expressions listed above have a different meaning completely depending on the context. For example "tener guayabo" has a different meaning in Caribbean Spanish (I will let curious minds do the research). As well the word "guayabo" is a type of tree.

Another related question I asked them out of curiosity since we are discussing "la resaca" was "what about "la juma"? As expected only the Caribbean based speakers in my group of friends knew what it meant. "La juma" generally means the state of being drunk synonymous for "la embriaguez". However, "la juma" is very colloquial, very Caribbean and common among Spanish-speaking countries classified completely or partially under that umbrella.

IMO simple words such as money and hangover exemplify how diverse the Spanish language is and certainly there are more ways to express each word other than what I listed. This is why I always encourage people not to limit their knowledge when learning Spanish. Learn as much a possible and then classify the vocabulary accordingly. There are some regionalisms that are common to many countries, just one country or just one region within a country like Colombia. As mentioned in another thread Colombia is one of the Latin American countries that has the most linguistics regions or divisions. You will be understood. Someone will decipher what you said and they will say " bueno, nosotros decimos xxx".

____________________________________________________________

Before I conclude I thought of a few more money expressions from Cuba:

divisa
and verde. I mentioned fula in a post above.

As well other expressions for "to be broke" are:

estar en la ruina and no hay billete.


-LDG.


* Feel free to add more "money" and "hangover" variations or choose another word or expression and show the diversity across the Spanish-speaking world. Once again no vulgarities please.
 
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Mirador

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....

Another related question I asked them out of curiosity since we are discussing "la resaca" was "what about "la juma"? As expected only the Caribbean based speakers in my group of friends knew what it meant. "La juma" generally means the state of being drunk synonymous for "la embriaguez". However, "la juma" is very colloquial, very Caribbean and common among Spanish-speaking countries classified completely or partially under that umbrella.

....

Lesley, just wanted to add that I suspect "la juma" is derived from the noun "humo" or smoke, with the silent "h" converted to the sound of "j", as was customary with the Taino pronounciation, still very prevalent in the DR. To be "ajumado" means to be light-headed, dizzy, faint, and as such it is related to drunkenness.
 

azabache

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You are right. Guano is another word used in Cuba to refer to money. I have read it comes from the native word guan?, which meant money.

Interesting.........guano in Cuba also is the excrement for a certain kind of water fowl and it is used for fertilizer.
 
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