Culture Shock! Chile - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

202 CultureShock! Chile

Chilean Slang English Meaning

rasca

in bad taste, tacky, of bad quality or

poorly made; or a low-class person

or someone without manners

regalón/ona

the pet or favourite person, one that

is spoiled or pampered

regalonear to pamper

regio super, great, excellent

rico excellent, good, referring to food or

drink, or an attractive, sexy person

roto/picante an unrefined person

salvaje

an upper-class (cuico) term

meaning great

si po’ an abbreviated form of si pues, yes

or of course

sinvergüenza

a person who is unafraid to say

what he/she thinks; a crook

suche lowly worker

taco traffic jam or the heel of a shoe

Te fijas?/Te fijai? Get it? Did you understand?

tintolio red wine

tucada great sum of money

Other Language Considerations

Voseo

If you have studied Spanish formally, you may remember

the informal second person plural form is vosotros. We say

‘may’ because many textbooks omit the form completely,

since, for the most part, it is not used by the great majority

of Spanish speakers. In Chile voseo may be considered a sign

of poor education. While the textbooks claim it is the second

person plural, most people use it as the informal singular, in

other words, replacing the tú form with the vosotros form.

For example Cómo estáis? Or, in Chile, the abbreviated

Cómo estái?, a common expression when talking to one

person, when theoretically it should be used for more