Expresiones Colombianas

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity of leafing through an old traveling notebook. I had left it in Romania back in August due to luggage limitations, and while I was there in October I took the chance to look through all the chaotic lists, cluttered ideas and random phrases scattered on the pages throughout it. Need I say I re-lived past situations and laughed over funny memories? I found some treasures in there and tore several pieces of papers so that I could take them back home with me.

One of these treasures was a list of Colombian expressions I wrote down during my stay in Colombia. The ladies and the girls I spent my time with during my trip there used idioms I had never heard of before, or idioms that I had only heard from my Colombian friends. I started writing down the ones I didn't know, and one day I had Raquel sit down with me over a cup of tinto and define them for me. I ended up writing a small dictionary of Colombian idioms, a small sample of which I leave you here.

• BACANO: palabra que indica que algo es divertido, que gusta, que "mola".
• CHÉVERE: ver bacano.
• CHINAMENTA: conjunto de chinas.
• CHINO/CHINA: muchacho o muchacha.
• CHUSCO: de buen parecer.
• ¡GUÁCALAS!: expresión de asco ante una cosa desagradable.
• HECHO UN OCHO: caótico, confuso.
• ¡PREPÁRESE UN TINTO!: expresión de aviso de que lo que sucederá a continuación será impresionante o impactante
• SACAR LA PIEDRA: hacer enfadar, dar rabia.
• SARDINA: muchacha adolescente.
• SALIR CON UN CHORRO DE BABAS: hacer el ridículo cuando algo sale mal.

I pray that someday I will be able to go back and continue discovering expressions...