Titipuchal

(tee-tee-pooh-tchull)

Whether we ponder on the number of fans who attended the Clásico at the Estadio Azteca on Sunday or the amount of cars stolen monthly in D.F., ‘very many’ will always be a reasonable estimate. Titupuchal recognizes the difficulty to measure large quantities precisely and the impossibility to quantify the ‘unmeasurable’ (like love, effort, talent, guts). Invoking an inevitable helplessness to know for sure, titipuchal is never the right answer but always a good guess. The term is always preceded by “un” (one) to emphasize the use of measure units.

Dimas: “Y como cuánto te gastaste en la peda ayer?”

(How much did you spend yesterday at the cantina?)

Melitón: “No pus un titipuchal!”

(I was too drunk to know for sure, but it was quite a lot.)

Synonyms for un titipuchal:

* Un chingo (a lot)

* Un madral (very much)

* Un chingomadral (very fucking much)

* Un putero (a whole lot; also denotes a whore house)

* Un putamadral (uncountably many)

One of the most ancient puzzles of mankind is to know the number of stars in space (see photo). Although it is unlikely that the word was first used by Mayan astronomers, un titipuchal is to date the best estimate we have.