Effective command of Chilango slang will allow you to react promptly to precise driving indications in Mexico City. One of them is en uñas (en OO•gnass), which literally means "in finger nails." En uñas is used in the expression darse la vuelta en uñas, which means to make a U-turn.
Darse la vuelta en uñas shall not be confused with ser uña, which literally means "to be a finger nail." Ser uña means to be a slimy stealing rat with long nails serving that purpose, i.e. to be a thief, un amigo de lo ajeno, a friend of someone else's belongings.
Another pertinent distinction should be made with the expression en 20 uñas (on twenty finger nails) which conveys a body position in which one partner in sexual intercourse has twenty nails on the ground.
Example:
Joselo: Echale lámina a la micro y date vuelta en uñas ahí donde está la señal que lo prohibe.
Quique: Bamba.
Joselo: Let the bus know your switching lanes and make a U-turn where the 'no U-turn' sign is.
Quique: All right.
Posts
All this fingernail talk has me remembering that someone once told me being called a “cuticle” is very insulting. Will you elaborate?
ReplyDeleteI've never heard 'cuticle' used as an insult but I can imagine being used in lieu of 'culero' (see entry in this blog). That is certainly insulting. Sometimes people create their own substitutions for fun, using the first syllable as a cue to the underlying meaning.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this cuticle reference...
ReplyDeletehttp://carolinainmerida.blogspot.com/2009/02/very-naughty-language.html
Susan,
ReplyDeleteProbably that´s something specific to Merida, the city where the blog you reference is from.
Will try and ask around, but remember we specialize in Mexico City slang.
Armando
Me encantó lo "Tacubo" de los personajes del ejemplo
ReplyDelete