Thread: Lomos de burro

SPEED BUMPS OF LATIN AMERICA (A COMPREHENSIVE LIST)

acostado (shortened version of policía acostado)
Boyas

A row of “boyas” – another of the many forms of Latin American speed bump.

badén (a ‘dip’ in Latin America; a ‘bump’ in Spain)

banda sonora (like a vibrador)

bordo

boyas (a row of small metal domes)

chapa, chapa acostado

durmiente

guardia acostado/durmiendio/muerto (C. Am, Caribbean)

giba (Per)

lomada (Ury)

lombada (Brz)

lomo de asno (Spain)

lomo de burro (Arg, Ury)

lomo de toro (Chi)

muerto (Ven, DR)

muro (Ecu)

murito (ESv)

policía acostado (Col, DR)

policía durmiendo (C. Am, Caribbean)

policía muerto (Caribbean)
Tope

A rural “tope” in Mexico.

reductor (widely understood)

reductor de velocidad, reductor (widely understood, seldom used on signs)

redutor de velocidade (Brz)

resalto

rompemuelles (Bol)

rompespalda

tope (Mex)

túmulo (ESv, Gtm, Hon; in some areas this term is reserved for the wider bumps)

vado



*The verb coger, which simply means to catch or grab, is used in Spain and in much of Latin America without issue. But in parts of Central and South America (most notably, in Argentina and the Southern Cone) it refers to sexual intercourse and is considered vulgar (and sometimes hilarious). It’s roughly equivalent to chingar in Mexico or fuck in English, but lacks the versatility of these terms.

The classic example is the gallego (Spaniard) who visits Buenos Aires and asks a porteño (Buenos Aires native) where he can “coger el autobús,” to which the porteño replies, after careful consideration, “por el caño de escape” (in the exhaust pipe).



Feature image (top of page): Sign warning of an upcoming “giba” in Cajamarca, Peru.



© El Pedalero, 2013.