Animal Slang in Chile

Chileans have a reputation for having one of the worst Spanish dialects in the world--and for good reason!  Chileans eat or cut letters out of words, slur words, pronounce poorly, and use a lot of slang.

One famous item that all gringos should get and read 10 times is the little green book How to Survive in the Chilean Jungle 2 ($10) by John Brennan (American) and Alvaro Toboada (Chilean). It contains about 3,000 words and sayings that are used in Chile and most of which are not used anywhere else in the world. Natives of other Spanish-speaking countries even have trouble understanding what Chileans are saying. So get the little book and it will help.

One notable thing about Chilean slang is that Chileans are preoccupied with animals in their language. The describe people and actions in animal terms, for whatever reason. 

For instance people are called mono (monkey) for acting strangely, gallo (chicken or rooster) for "guy", galla for "gal", gata for a astute or maybe even a "hot" woman, a perra (female dog) is a bitch (like in English), a gallina (chicken or hen) is a coward (like in English), a burro (donkey) is used negatively of a stupid person or positively of a male with large sexual organs like a donkey's, a burra (female donkey) is an old or antique auto, a caballo (horse) is a good man, a gusana (worm) is a lowlife person (similar to English), a sapo (toad) is a lookout man who watches for the cops while his pals commit a crime (but be careful since the term is also used to describe the female sexual organ), a mula (mule) is an "imbecile" who always does or says something stupid, a diuca (little bird) is a word used for penis, a peuca (another bird) is a word used for a common woman one sees in the street, a loro (or parakeet) is either mucous or someone who often repeats what he hears, a pajarón or pajarona (big bird) is an absent-minded person, and an oveja (sheep) is a weak person who has no incentive to act.

Here are a few other expressions of interest:

trabajo aperrado = "work like a dog"

pulga en oido (flea in the ear) = screwed-up or bothersome

hacer una vaca (make a cow) = to get some money together or to ante up

hijo de tigre (son of a tiger) = "That'a boy!"

parecer pulpo (to seem like an octopus) = to be "all hands" in the sense of trying to fondle someone

volverse mono (turn monkey) = to lose one's mind or more commonly to act erratically or strangely

There are many more animal expressions not listed here. So when in Chile, don't be surprised when you hear so much commentary and talk about animals.