Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Suave

Suave (soo • AH • veh) literally means soft. It's an old school expression that means cool. Suave is used almost exclusively by Mexicans born before 1966. Its equivalent for younger cohorts are chido (utterly recommendable) and padre (if you want to sound as a 8 year old).

Example:

Hijo: Jefe, vamos a darnos unas caguamas para celebrar que ya tengo chamba.
Papá: ¡Suave! Yo invito. Dile a tus carnales.

Son: Pops, let's get some 40-ouncers to celebrate that I got a job.
Dad: Coolio! I'll buy them. Tell your bros.

The cohorts of Mexicans that use suave roughly coincide with those that read La Familia Burrón comic books in their childhood (drawn and created by Gabriel Vargas).

2 comments:

  1. Corrección. Sería más bien: "Jefe vamos a ECHARNOS unas caguamas para celebrar"

    ¡Ponte trucha, mi chavo!

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  2. There is a difference between "echarse" and "darse unas caguamas". "Echarse" means "to have", whereas "darse" means "to grant oneself", and it typically implies that what is consumed or purchased is a reward, real or imaginary.

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