Chilean Spanish Your Dictionary Is Missing
Table of Contents
Chile: Top to Bottom, With A Barn For Good Measure
Chile is a study in geographical extremes: dry northern desert, southern glaciers, and a long central valley in between. For U.S. folks, think Washington state to southern California, but reversed. Visitors arriving in the country quickly notice three things about local speech:
- Chileans talk fast. Really fast.
- Local grammar breaks textbook rules without hesitation. Letters are swallowed, omitted, or added randomly.
- Everyday expressions lean heavily on animal references.
The [YOUR LANGUAGE] to Spanish dictionary you packed away forgot to mention these elegant contributions to the Spanish language. If Spanish is what you can call the sounds that Chileans emit from their mouth. Here is a list of common animal-based idioms used across Chile, along with their closest English equivalents.
Grammatical Oddities
| In Chile | Literal Translation | Meaning & Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Al tiro / Al toque | At the shot | Immediately / Right away. A distinctive Chilean temporal expression dating back to the 19th century. |
| Sale pa' afuera | Go out to outside | Go outside. One of a series of common redundancies. |
| Toballa | Towel (mispronounced) | Towel. But with a useless "b" added for no reason. |
| Nadien | Nobody-n | Nobody. An extra syllable added to nadie, widely documented in local speech. |
| Dentrar | To denter | Enter. Prefix mutation turning entrar into dentrar. |
| Emprestar | To lend (with prefix) | To lend. Adding an unsolicited prefix to prestar. |
Action Verbs & Insane Imagery
| In Chile | Literal Translation | Meaning & Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Pegarle el palo al gato | Hit the cat with the stick | To get something right / Hit the nail on the head. |
| Mandarse un numerito | Do oneself a little number | Make a spectacle of yourself / Cause a scene / Embarrass yourself. |
| Valer hongo | To be worth mushroom | To be worthless / Not matter. |
| Patear piedras | Kick rocks | To have nothing to do / Wander around with nothing productive happening. |
| Irse al sobre | Go to the envelope | Go to bed. |
| Hacer chupete | Make a pacifier | To destroy, beat up, or consume something completely. |
| Sacar la cresta | Remove the crest | To beat the shit out of someone / Hurt yourself badly. |
| Quedar con el ombligo parado | End up with your belly button standing up | Being extremely surprised / Stunned. |
| Repetirse el plato | Repeat the plate | Have another serving / Go for seconds. |
| Estar en otra | Be in another [one] | To be distracted, mentally elsewhere, or in your own world. |
| Entrar a picar | Enter to chop | To step in and make necessary modifications or major interventions. |
| Apretar cachete | Squeeze cheek | Get moving / Leave quickly. |
| Arrastrar el poncho | Drag the poncho | Provoking or confronting someone. Poke the bear. |
| Echarle con la olla | Throw it at him/her with the pot | Go all-in / Put a lot into something. |
| Pelar forros | Peel linings | Talk shit about people / Gossip about them. |
| Pisar callos | Step on calluses | Touch a sensitive subject / Offend someone / Hit a sore spot. |
| Saltó lejos el maní | The peanut jumped far | Mind your own business |
Animals & The Absurd
| In Chile | Translation | English Idiom |
|---|---|---|
| Hablar cabezas de pescado | To speak fish heads | Talk nonsense, dumb shit. |
| Durar menos que estornudo de gato | To last less than a cat's sneeze | Short-lived / Gone in a flash |
| Más perdido que chicharrón en pan de pascua | More lost than a pork rind in fruitcake | Out of place / Totally lost |
| Mano de guagua | Baby's hand | Tightfisted / Cheapskate |
| Sacar los choros del canasto | To take mussels out of the basket | Make someone snap / Push buttons |
| Estar pato | To be a duck | Broke / Flat broke |
| Echar la foca | To throw the seal | Chew someone out / Ream or scold |
| ¿Quién te pateó la jaula? | Who kicked your cage? | Who rattled your cage? |
| Estar con el Kino acumulado | To have the accumulated Kino jackpot | Pent up sexual frustration. Little soldier hasn't seen any battles. :) |
| Mojarse el potito | To wet your little butt | Take a stand / Stick your neck out |
| Quedarse como perro envenenado | End up like a poisoned dog | Full, stuffed from overeating. |
| Hacer perro muerto | To do a dead dog | Dine and dash |
So whether the Chilean you've found fails to pronounce half the sounds in each word, adds useless letters, or throws the entire barn in every phrase, you now have a sliiiiightly greater chance of understanding WTF they are saying.
You might also be interested in Doin' It Doggy Style: Chilean Animal Slang
Photo Used: magnific.com
