A new friend of mine asked me how old I was (he is 86). When I told him that I was 40 he replied with “¡Eres un pibe todavía!” Or, “You are still just a kid.” Pibe seems to be quite Argentine in its use according to a forum thread. It can mean a child [...]

A couple of weeks ago I heard someone talking about chistes verdes. I did not know what that expression meant, but I gathered from the way it was said it meant off-color jokes, or dirty jokes. What little research I did on this phrase (I have to admit I really did not want to find [...]

Pochoclo is the word used for popcorn in Argentina. It seems to be uniquely used here. In the rest of Latin America (as far as I know) the word for popcorn is palomitas.

When something is of low quality or a fake ripoff in Argentina they call it trucho. This can be used for something that is not what it seems; i.e., a pirate taxi company. Apparently this word is used in Uruguay in the same way. Does anyone know of other countries that use trucho like this? [...]

The word marcha has many meanings, most of which have to do with either marching or motion. The one meaning I learned this week, which is not in the dictionary I most often consult, is for a car starter motor. The word I most often seen written is arranque to mean a starter, but locally [...]

We had a pipe break in the street in front of our house recently. While trying to figure out who to call  we found the phrase fuga de agua. Literally it means a flight of water but is used to refer to water escaping accidently.

Instead of a word today, I wanted to share another resource that I found on the net. At Colloquial Spanish the author teaches meanings for idiomatic expressions. I spent quite a bit of time reading there today and look forward to reading the site in the future. When you come to Discover Spanish With Us, [...]

Tocar means to touch. One would say tocar la puerta to indicate knock on the door. Also when you play an instrument you tocar el instrumento.

A llaga is a sore or wound. I have seen it used in literature to mean a sore that one would have with leprosy. I have heard it used  idiomatically in the phrase, “poner el dedo en la llaga” twice in the last week. It means “to rub salt in the wound,” or “to hit [...]

Foro is a word I learned from Internet surfing. It means a forum. This can be an online forum, or it can be a round table discussion group. It can also be where you make your position known in a court room. All of these are a place for your voice to be heard. Strangely, [...]