Thread: malespín

¡Hola, foreros!

¿Alguna vez han oído hablar del malespín? ¿Piensan que es cierto que algunas palabras derivan de este código? Por si les interesa el tema, les paso el link de un artículo que escribí sobre esto.

¡Saludos!

Ni idea tenía. Muy interesante tema.

Gracias,

Xóchitl

Buenísimo, elenaarguedas. Muy buen artículo.

I am so, so lost. Kind of like the chiquito de la llorona. Where do I read about "malespin"?

Thank you, Guadalupe.

The malespin explanation of tuanis makes more sense than the commonly accepted story it comes from "too nice". Many words in Costa Rican Spanish do indeed have roots in English, but who can cite the wide spread use of "too nice" among native speakers? No, there has to be another explanation. On the other hand. I do not believe (and I can be wrong) that tuanis is an old expression. I was not in Costa Rica between 1982 and 2006. Upon my return, tuanis certainly seemed to me to be new slang. Mae (dude, guy, you) is relatively recent. Some believe it comes from "maje". Mop and mopri (friend, buddy) are also new. Commonly believed to be from Panama (it is said it comes from "primo") and very common in Costa Rica, I don't recall hearing it used in Panama. Strange. Chingo is still used for short and naked, but it is not commonly used currently to call attention to something. (¡Chingo de camisa! It's a very attractive shirt! ¡Chingo de carro! Wow, what a set of wheels!) Chompo was once commonly used as the name for the typical canvas campesino hat in CR, but not now. I don't recall hearing San José called Chepe when I was last in CR in 1982. A lot of the old pachuco (lower class person) words have disappeared. It has been years since I last heard lata for wristwatch or bus, lengua for necktie, caramelo for sugar, etc.

And "ka"? ¿Kakokamo kavas? This Pig Latin a la tica. It's how kids used to talk. Perhaps it is still used. I will have to try it out on some of the brats in my barrio. In Chile I believe they would have said "¿Cópomopo vapas? And then there is verse in Argentina, reversing the order of syllables.

I was wrong: "tuanis" is an old expression.

I have talked with some Ticos about Malespin, but nobody has heard of it. Nevertheless, they are using it.

As for "Ka", older Ticos say their children don't use it, but the parents do when they want to say something they don't want their children to understand. They must speak quickly, however, to make the message unintelligble.