Simply Spanish – Tico Expressions

Karl Kahler - FEB 01, 2018
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agüevado — bored, bummed out, sad, dissatisfied, driven to distraction.

agüevazón — a situation that makes you feel agüevado, like waiting in line at the bank for two hours: ¡Qué agüevazón!

A eso voy — “That’s what I’m getting at,” “That’s what I’m saying.”

agarrar de maje — to trick someone. Me dijo que su hermana era bonita, pero me agarró de maje porque no tiene hermana. — “He told me his sister was pretty, but he tricked me because he doesn’t have a sister.”

al chile — literally “to the chile.” Usually this means fast, right now, right away, but it’s also used to mean “really.” ¿Al chile? — really? ¡Al chile! — really!

al final de cuentas — “at the end of the day,” in summation, to sum it all up, end of story.

comehuevos — egg eaters. Refers to frugal Costa Rican families who take cheap vacations on the beach, bringing boiled eggs to eat so they don’t have to pay for restaurants.

¡Güácala! — Yuck!

le patina el coco — literally “her/his head is skating,” this means someone is crazy.

manda huevo — literally “send egg,” this means, “It’s easy, just do it, what’s the problem?” Tienes 10 mil dólares y quieres comprar un carro usado? ¡Manda huevo! — “You have $10,000 and you want to buy a used car? Just do it!”

me extraña — “I’m surprised.” Sometimes used sarcastically to mean “Obviously,” as when something expected happens and you’re not really surprised.

me pega el ombligo a la espalda — “My navel is sticking to my back,” meaning, “I’m hungry.”

meter la pata — literally “to stick your foot in it,” this means to screw something up. Ya metió las patas means a woman has gotten pregnant by accident.

por dicha — Luckily, thank goodness. An unreligious way of saying Gracias a Dios, “Thank God.”

Qué pereza — What laziness. An expression used when you’re feeling lazy and don’t feel like doing anything.

¡Ufa! — Expression used when something smells back, like when you smell a skunk.