I was kinda confident about having a basic conversation with portenos , because I took some classes for better right before my trip . However, my Argentinean friend gave me some tips when I first arrived in Buenos Aires: greeting friends with “che chabon”; picking one sunny afternoon and enjoying people watching in san telmo’s vintage feca; dancing the night away with gomías to the most popular boliche; and having a delicious Sunday morfi with local porteños; I know I was in serious trouble when I heard these unfamiliar words. In the beginning of the stay in Buenos Aires, visitors and students are usually very confused and tortured by this Argentinean slang, but NO TE PREOCUPES, now we are going to have an authentic learning experience of the porteno’s own language: Lunfardo.
History of Lunfardo:
Lunfardo was widely spoken in the blue-collar class back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries inBuenos Aires with the influence from Castilian of Argentina and Uruguay. Nevertheless, it had begun to spread among all social classes, and with flow of the immigrants, lunfardo also traveled to the neighborhood countries such asChile, andParaguay.
And your door to Lunfardo is opening NOW :
Verb:
cerebrar – to think something up
Amarrocar – to treasure
Amasijar – to kill
Junar – to know
Pescar – to know
Garpar – to pay with money
Morfar –to eat (Morfi is the food)
Laburar – to work (laburo is a job)
Afanar – to steal, to be ripped off
Apoliyar – to sleep
Ligar – to get punished
Pirar – to go to, to get to
Calentura – to observe
Zafar – to escape
People:
Fiaca – lazy person
Gomías – friends
Chochamu – young man (vesre for muchacho)
Percanta – a young woman
Pibe – like “kid”, a common term for boy, young man, guy as well
Bacán – a rich man who looks after a woman
Che – hey dude/friend
Che boludo – hey stupid/ dude (use only with friends!)
Chabon – dude
Copado/a – someone or something cool
Mina – woman, girl
Cheto – rich, snobby person
Bombon, Diosa – hottie
La cana – the police, a cop
Chanta – cheater
Chorro – a thief
Piola – someone or something smart and cool
Yeta – someone or something with bad luck
Most Used Words:
Telo – a pay by hour love motel
Boliche– dance club
Pilcha – cloth
Feca con chele – coffee with milk
Lorca – hot ( verse for calor)
Guita – money
Quilombo – disorder, mess
Gomas – woman’s breast, tits (offensive)
Una birra – beer
Bondi – bus
Boludo – stupid
Gil – Stupid/silly (pronounced as ‘hill’)
Pucho – cigarette
Trucho/a – fake
Buena onda – good vibe
Macanudo – nice
Un Bajon – very bad news
Berreta – cheap, cheesy
Un cacho – a bit
Fulera – ugly
Guarda – watch out!
If you want to know more about Lunfardo, please have a look at our previous blog : http://www.expanish.com/blog/2011/09/expanish-guide-to-lunfardo/