Chile Forum

This is the spot for sayings, slang and colloquialisms. Myths and legends from Chilean history, old wives tales and general lore.

Please post only one saying, myth or tale per post. It can be something you experienced, were told or read about. Don't hesitate to attach any comments and corollarys to any of the posts...Chile is a long country and it should be interesting to perhaps see the differences on say a myth about "la pincoya" in the Antofagasta as opposed to Chiloe...Everyone should participate whether you have ever been there or not.

Lets try and stay away from sayings of a rougher nature like:

te saco la c++++a!
viejo cu+++++, paco cu+++++
ch+++ lo que c++++a!
co+++a tu m+++e!

I think that a dicussion on, perhaps the most widely used chilenismo, the venerable guevon, huevon...including how it should be spelt, are well in order....

so lets go post !!!

Please write out the literal meaning...
Use it in a sentence...
Explain in your own words the meaning and relate any history or background you might have...


(and if you are afraid or wondering if yoshould post it, post it anyway and let us decide....que sera lo peor que te pasa...hmmm?? te pelamos no mas...)

Please do not post UFO sightings, Yetti, Chupa cabra, Crop circles in this topic...We'll have another topic for that soon...


ciao, el puelche

DEJAR LA ESCOBA.

This is a saying that means literaly "to leave the broom behind"

Used in a sentence:

Yaaaa!!! Hicimos todo super bien y los vendedores dejaron la escoba..

Ohhhhh!!!! We did everything really well and the sales guys left the broom...

The idea is that you go to do something and you get it done and it turns out great or at least "a completed job " and then it happens that after sweeping up at the end of the task ...all is perfect , perfiect, perfect ...except that the last detail...the broom...is left behind...and so what could have been an A+ is now, with the broom, an A-....so literaly the feeling is that for nothing, a small insignifigant detail, the total effect of a task or effort is reduced to just good instead of excellent...


ciao, el puelche

Or... quite the opposite.In a negative way.

Like in :"pinochet dejó la escoba con los derechos humanos"
I think that you can use this , after a negative fac, in which you needed a escoba(broom) to clean up the mess.

after 5+ years in chile I still have no idea how to use "po" or "wevon" correctly, so I don't.

That is why moved to southern chile. you almost will not ever encounter the jargon of the central region in southern chile. Examples would be "po" and "wevon" (not sure how to spell it). They are much more formal and slow as you go south. Start in the south and work your way north. Much better for learning spanish.

¡Chucha!

My pareja makes fun of me ever since she figured out my propio cursing in proper ingles when something frustrates me. Specifically "shit!".

"¡Chucha!" is the chileno equivalent. I also like the creative ways they modify it to curse others - "¡Andate a la chucha!"

Enough for now...Buenos Noches po

pinga

adjective describing a person, usually from the socio-economic lower range, that is a "grease ball"...mesh shirt, overly jewlried, not well groomed but overly groomed...ie...wild hair cut, strong mannerisms, overtly makes his prescence known in public...strong, marble mouthed, intense, slushy accent when speaking and extreme heavy use of standard street slang and crime-slang...

mish, ese pinga alli ...y la media radio que tiene...

look!!!....that grease ball and the sweet radio he's got!!!

The myth I get a kick out of from Chiloe is the mysterious creature called the Trauko that knocks-up young girls and wives while dad is away at sea.

Funny that it happens so much in the Chiloe's culture that they had to invent a myth. Plenty of other cultures have loose lonely women, but very few come up with a mysterious creature to cover for it. Now it is sold as a tourist attraction as the "Routa de Trauko" I see painted on buses and signs near Chiloe.

I found this excellent site on Chiloe, although it may be a bit antiquated. The site is digitally streamed video and audio. There is a section on the history and mythology of Chiloe.

cutandpaste: http://www.chiloestories.org/home.html

For those who listen to shortwave I will post a site for Art Bells SW receiver with streaming audio. I am not sure if they transmit in Chile's direction. It would be interesting to know if you are able to receive Art in Chile or for that matter any world wide reception. I know there is a web site for Art Bell listening, however he is a licensed ham radio operator which is one of my hobbies. There is just something about receiving a signal from thousands of miles away that has always appealed to me. Just wanted to mention I like to build my own shortwave receivers and they are my own design - keeps me out of trouble.

cutandpaste: http://www.smeter.net/pahrump/audio.php

Later

I thought art bell was dead. I use to listen to him when I lived in Las Vegas. Last sighting was with Elvis at Caesar's Palace.

I think the CIA is rebroadcasting him just to keep all the conspiracy theorist entertained to save money on their UFO hot line.

I did'nt know he was dead. I really do not keep up with the UFO thing. I do not believe in them. However I did find some of the topics several years back interesting that he presented or was presented to him.

I do not believe we have been visited by exterrestrials however I do believe in the existence of life on other planets. The distances between the stars are so great that the technology required to travel within a reasonable amount of time would almost be impossible.

I do like the extraterrestrial photo and it does look like Beavis, I got a kick out of that.

Later

Further speculation.

Who said UFOs were primarily ET? Could be very earth based since very ancient times and/or hyper dimensional. This would explain some of the ancient legends of gnomes, trolls, dwarves, fairies, little people, giants many with "magical" powers (very advanced tech?) and flying carpets, wheels, chariots, etc.

ET travel is possible if you read up on quantum physics. Both time travel and transport from anywhere in the universe could be done in an instant.

I agree though that Art Bell was mostly disinfo (gov sanctioned even) along with most of Rense and others. Research and discernment is key in today's flood of information.

Another thing to compile would be the many beliefs that are just taken for granted. Food is a good example. I need to compile the list but one off the top of my head is the admonishment you are not supposed to drink beer with pork and the many hot/cold food issues brought up by my pareja. Don't remember most as I ignore/bah humbug them and do what I want to do.

Those is the know, chime in.

It is difficult to refute that which cannot be proven to exist. So that to say evidence is proof does not complete an argument without a conclusion. Therefore I would say the claims are beliefs or speculation.

My background is Physics and that is why I believe the way I do. First the distances are to great without spending centuries in travel perhaps losing direction for whatever reason (lack of objective or objectives lost or changing objectives). To harness any quantum mechanical knowlege to travel in an instance requires knowledge we do not understand, but with what we do understand the energies would be enormous.

When I was young I was caught up in the UFO fad of the time. This interest led me into physics not the sole reason. Now I am not a subject matter expert I have not been working physics. These are beliefs I developed and concluded over many years. There are scientist the late Carl Sagan who I had read that influenced these beliefs amoung others. I do know that amoung the worlds elite physicist of all branches it is not well accepted the fact that we have been visited.

It is interesting about the hot/cold thing you mentioned I get this from my wife (South America) also.

Regards

Oh well, I didn't want to continue to stray off topic on this but I will end by saying the proof is not "out there" but has been here on this planet for a long time and is known of by the PTB and many common folk who feel it best to remain quiet rather than upset their lives and livelihoods. May one's future searching be enlightening.

Regards and back to the subject at hand...

lunares or birthmarks are thought to be caused by the full moon in CHile...Pregnant women that go out during a full moon are very conscious to cover thier belly as the rays of the full moon will cause a birthmark on the baby in the area that is exposed to the moon beams...also a pregnant women should never look directly at the moon as the moon rays will transfer somehow to cause a birthmark on the un-born.