Our character Condorito,
We Chileans are fun, we love jokes and we take serious things lightly—especially when it comes to work—renaming everything, especially people. It´s part of our idiosyncrasy, our burlesque culture, sometimes a bit mediocre, allowing us to leave things hanging and rely on humor to "save."
And although I personally believe that humor is one of the best tools for confronting life, I don't think it should be an excuse for irresponsibility or thoughtlessness; however, Chileans have a spark of mischief and playfulness, which is well reflected in the way we express ourselves, either with the typical language deformation—most often we do not pronounce the "s" at the end of plural words, i.e. instead of saying "Los autos," we say "Loh autoh"—or with idioms, inherent wisdoms belonging to each culture, just as it is Cuba´s case, which has such complex expressions like their pronunciation.
This is how we´ve developed words, sayings, "Chilenismos," as some like to call them, based on our own indigenous and foreign influences. One of the most common examples derived from the English verb "to catch"—which means to understand, to grasp—that ends up as the "verb" Cachar, which we use daily and with a great deal of frequency. Other examples are words incorporated with the native Mapuche language, Mapudungún, of which form an indissoluble part of our colloquial vocabulary: Pololo for "novio" (boyfriend), guata for "estómago" (stomach), piola (relaxed, tranquil, quiet) copucha (rumors, gossip) and so many others.
Chilean slang vocabulary is so extensive that there have even been books published for them, especially made for foreigners, as is the case of How to Survive in the Chilean Jungle, by John Brennan and Alvaro Taboado. It is a type of dictionary, which had such success that they made a part two. Expressions are many and ever-changing, for this we´re going to show you some of the looser chilenismos, certain expressions that could be useful when venturing into this fascinating world of language, culture and communication.
For example, when Chileans say "lo hago al tiro," we´re referring to doing something immediately. It´s taken from a shot´s (tiro) rapidness or a gun shot, and it is one of our country´s most common chilenismos.
Also there is "irse a la punta del cerro," or "frier monos al Africa," used to express that one disagrees with what the other needs or says; so it´s normal to hear, "Andate a la punta del cerro" o "Anda a freir monos al Africa" (literally "Go climb to the top of the hill" or "Go fry monkies in Africa.") Also common, though much more "old school," is to hear someone saying "Chao Pesca´o" (Chao Pescado) (literally "Goodbye Fish") which denotes something like indifference; if I don´t care about what you´re saying or the conversation becomes absurd, I then say "Chao Pesca´o" or "Chao no más."
La Hora de Once, is another chilenismo frequently heard, as it refers to English tea time, which means, between 6 and 8 p.m., the time in which generally, instead of eating diner, you drink a tea or a coffee accompanied with sweet or salty snacks.
One less orthodox, but highly popular and funny, is making a reference to the various connotations of chucha —a very vulgar word that can represent ANYTHING. Hence, "me gusta más que la chucha" would mean, I like it so much! Also, "Me dolió más que la chucha," meaning it hurt too much. So, "A la chucha," means far, distant or it could also mean, "Who cares?"
Donde la viste is used to say that one doesn´t believe what the other is saying and Voy Vuelvo is used to say one will be back soon.
There are tons of expressions, some older, others more modern, generally updated by urban groups, who add to this list from North to South; because depending on the geography, the sayings and idioms in our own language will change, making them complex and interlaced. Because of this, we left the second part of this article to discuss other issues related to language, very particular to Chilean culture: Diminutives and Nicknames. Stay tuned!
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