Matado

Arguably no term in Chilanguese (Chilango contemporary dialect) carries more sociological content than matado (mah-TAH-though). It literally means "killed". If someone is a matado or matada, that person "kills" his or herself working too hard. It is used as a mild insult, espcially in school context.

In the Chilango (and probably in the Mexican) psyche succeeding by means of hard work is equivalent to cheating. Minimum effort is the most honorable path to success.

Ese guey saca puros dieces pero es bien matado.

[That dude is a straight-A student, but works too hard to get those grades]

No seas matado y vente a chelear.

[Enough work already! Come with us to enjoy some beers]

Banda & Bandera

Generically, banda (BANN-Duh, lit. band) can refer to a group of people or a crowd. One's banda is the group of people that that person holds dearest. Bandera (Bann-THE-rah, lit. flag) is equivalent to banda but significantly more colorful.

Había un huevo de banda.
[It was a darn big crowd]

Traete a tu banda a los quinceaños de mi prima.
[Bring your friends and family to my cousin's quinceanera party]

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.

Fiesta Brava

While in English the term bullfighting evokes a bunch of idiots hurting cattle, the Spanish term fiesta brava (lit. brave party) depicts a festivity that involves as much art as big cojones. The popularity of los toros (lit. the bulls, as fiesta brava is also known) has permeated to Chilango jargon in multiple allusions. Here is a colorful handful.

Hacer la faena (to work the bull) => To complete successfully a hard task

Cambio de tercio (Switch of third) => To go from beer or wine to liquor

Traer media estocada (With half of the spade in) => Not quite drunk but far from sober

Llevarse orejas y rabo (take the ears and tail of the bull) => Grand success

Partir plaza (walking in the middle of the arena) => To catch everybody's attention, in a proudly manner

Vuelta al ruedo (tour around the arena) => Deserved recognition

En barrera (ring-side location) => Right next to action and the blood

Sol general (the cheapest section in the plaza) => Common, not special

In conversation:

Cuando el Licenciado Godínez llegó de la comida ya traía media estocada. Me tocó ver el pleito con su esposa en barrera. La neta que el Lic. se llevó orejas y rabo con tamaño faenón.

[When Mr. Godinez returned from lunch, he was far from shit-faced but drunk. I saw him fighting with his wife from three feet. I swear he did a grand job in the way he worked her.]

Plaza Mexico, "the biggest and most comfortable in the world" according to the Plaza's flyers (right next to the Blue Stadium, home of the soccer team Cruz Azul).

Johny, Miguel, Tiburcio...

Chilangos like to avoid lame, merely descriptive sentences. Every time they can they throw some colorful term to surprise and amuse the listener. Instead of using boring pronouns as yo, tú, mi, ti, Chilangos use Johny, tunas, Miguel, Tiburcio. The substitutions are immaterial in terms of meaning. They are purely ornamental. Here are some examples:

yo (I) => Johny
tu (You) => tunas
mi (me) => Miguel
ti (you) => tinieblas, tiburcio, tiburón
acá (here) => Acámbaro, Michoacán
pa'llá (contraction of para allá, over there) => payaso


In conversation:

¿Quién se chupó mi Viña Real?: Who drank my wine cooler?
Johny (lit. Johny): I did.

¿Para quiénes son los huaraches con carne?: Who are these huaraches with beef for?
Uno es para Miguel y el otro para Tiburcio (lit. One for Miguel and the other for Tiburcio): One for me and the other for you.

¡Hazte payaso! (lit. Become a clown!): Move over!

Tocadiscos

It literally means record-player. Tocadiscos stands for tocado de la cabeza (touched of the head, cuckoo). It is a colorful, almost musical allusion to insanity.

Poncho: Los tocadiscos viejitos son claramente superiores a los reprodutores de MP3. [Old record-players are clearly superior to MP3-players.]
Pancho: Estas bien tocadiscos. [You're out of your mind.]

Ñáñaras

Before trying to pronounce this word, take a deep breath and relax. Ñáñaras (GNA-gna-dahs) is the feeling inside one's belly produced by excitement or disgust. The word is used as part of the expression sentir or dar ñáñaras (to feel or to give ñáñaras), which was popularized by the Hermanos Lelos characters of the Polivoces, a world class couple of Mexican comedians. Watch the segment below from their 1960s show.