Some differences

(Concepcion, Chile)

I think I’ve been in Chile for two months now, and I’d like to write about some of the differences between Chile and Argentina. For one, they like to point out the differences between themselves. Chilenos always describe the food of Argentina as being very dry, with their meta, pastas and pizzas. Chilenos are fond of soups and stews. Lomito is a steak sandwich in Argentina, here it is pork. The language is one thing they use to establish a local identity and differentiate themselves. There is a lot of vocabulary and even grammar that changes as soon as one crosses the Andes. Here are some Chilean vocab words I’ve picked up on.

I was with my Patagonain family when I started employing Chilean dialect so these words are related to children and body parts, which apparently come up a lot with the niños.

Cabro/ Cabra = literally means “goat” but is used to describe young people. Kids?

Guagua = baby

Guata = belly

Poto = butt

Pololo/ polola = boyfriend, girlfriend. I think it has some relation to a fly that buzzes around and bothers one.

Po = a syllable that just seems to show up in almost every sentence. It’s a derivation of of “pues” or “pos” which is just a sentence-filler like “then” or “dontcha know”. I’ve started using it pretty much every time I answer a question. “Would you like mustard on that?” “Si, po.”

Cachar (cachai?) = to get it, to understand. I love this word, but I can’t get myself to use it very much, and every time I do I laugh, or the person I`m talking to laughs. It’s usually used like “Ya know?” or “Ya know what I’m sayin’?” This word is so Chilean that if you go into Argentina and say it, you will be instantly identified as being infected by Chile, cachai?

Hacer tuto = sleep. I was once asked if I needed to hacer tuto. I had no idea what that meant. And with the tone of voice being used, I really thought I was being asked if I had to use the bathroom, like with a little kid. “Necesitas hacer tuto?” But I guess I looked tired, not constipated.

The vos form, which Lou and I have mastered, or are at least functional with, is useless here. I spent the first few weeks trying to rid it from my vocab, and instead using the tu exclusively. When I accidentally whip out the vos form, I am always mocked with an Argentine-mocking “che” accent. And there is also this other bizarre, almost vosotros form used here. It seems to be mostly used with questions. “Tenei cambio?” "Como estai?" “Querei hacer tuto?” I know people are going to make fun of me when I get back to speaking Spanish with Mexicans and Central Americans. Even here, people sometimes can’t figure me out, with my gringo/Argentine accent, baseball hat, Ramones shirt, drinking a mate. “Are you from Uruguay?”