Thursday, July 22, 2004

Cheles and Chavalos

Nica slang time!

chele: white or foreign person. Sort of like gringo (which is also used here), but without the negative connotations. As in "Hey, chele, want to buy some bootleg CDs?"

chavalo: guy, dude. Only applied to other Nicaraguans. Use: "Oye, chavalo, dame el numero de tu hermana."

I met a Singaporean girl (a backpacker, but cool nonetheless) on the bus last week, and she mentioned that people here assumed she didn't speak English, much less Spanish. I didn't think to ask her what people here call her, but I'll hazard it's china.

(And because I'm so good to you, here's one last word:
chinelas: flip-flops. Ubiquitous, and very necessary.)

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