- One of my favorite things about being Latino
or Latinx whatever you prefer,
is being able to communicate
with so many people across the globe.
Although we all technically speak the same language
we have so many words in our own cultures
and our own communities that mean
so many different things to other people.
Often time the communication between us
can be a little confusing but also super hilarious.
For example, in El Salvador and Salvadorians
all over the world, we love the word bicho or bicha
which means boy or girl but for some of my
Puerto Rican friends it means something
completely different.
- Bicho, for us Puerto Ricans, bicho is just simply a (beep)
Bicho's not necessarily like a curse word
but it's not a word that you want to just throw out there
especially in a workplace or in school.
- A word that we use as Dominicans,
that we feel is a normal word not a curse word
nothing like that is the word coger.
(laughs)
- So for us, coger is just to grab something.
(foreign language)
- Coger, yo, the word coger means to grab.
- What you talking about, that's vulgar.
Coger means (bleep) for us.
- I'm working and I go to the back of the house,
which is the back of the restaurant,
and a lot of the back of the house were Mexicans.
I'm talking to them and I'm like (foreign language)
and one of the guys just stopped in his tracks.
- I went to go pick up a ex-girlfriend,
her family is Mexican.
And they juyst got here to California.
I thought, let me take you out on a date,
I'm gonna meet the family.
And the mom needed a ride somewhere,
and I was like, "Oh, no worries."
Yeah, I talked to the dad and I was like (foreign language)
- And he's like, (foreign language)
And I'm like, (foreign language)
And he's like looking at me like every time I say the word,
he's like...
- I looked at the dad, I was like, he had this look
on his face like he didn't like what was going on,
I was like, "Maybe he's more excited because I'm
"being generous."
I was like, "How about this?"
(foreign language)
- He goes (foreign language)
- Yeah, I never ate with them again.
- So in Chile, pendejo just means a little kid.
And I heard it's kind of offensive to say pendejo over here.
- For me, concha is part of my childhood.
It's pandulce and you always had it with (foreign language).
- One day I was talking to my husband, he's from Honduras,
and he said, some random car, (foreign language).
And I'm like, "That's not a little kid."
Because in my mind, pendejo is just a little kid.
And he's like, "No, he's an idiot."
- Sometimes I would just be like,
"You know what, (foreign language)".
And apparently according to Argentinians, that means vagina.
So this entire time, while I was in New York, I was saying,
(foreign language).
- For us, dominicans, there's a word that if you
type in Google, it means leather.
- Lo cuero, hey, cuero, hey.
- And to us, you better not ever call me that
a day in your life.
And that's the word Cuero.
- Dominicans, we do use the word cuero as leather,
but we also use cuero as (bleep).
But we chant that shit.
We'll go in a parade and we'll be like...
- Lo cuero, lo cuero.
And the girls are screaming, but that's because
their amongst familia or they're amongst friends
and it's funny, but don't try that shit at home,
especially if you ain't dominican
and you don't know the girl, you'll get snatched.
- There's so many words that mean different things
for different cultures.
If we missed any of the words, leave them in the comments.
Let us know what's up.
What are words that we might say that are regular for us
and might offend you.
Or what are some words that you've used
that offend other sorts of Latinos,
or other sorts of Latinx folk.
The culture's beautiful, Spanish is beautiful.
We love it, we embrace it.
Let's keep learning from one another.
Adios my little papita fritas.