![]() ![]() Of course, many cities in many countries have different nicknames, and Costa Rican cities are no exception.įor example, Escazú, the suburb of San José, is called la ciudad de las brujas (the city of witches), but these seem a bit different. These are nicknames for cities, specifically San José, San Ramón and Puntarenas, respectively. You can almost get a sense for all three meanings in the following exchange between Ana and María:Īna: ¿ Y su novio? ¿Ya no están juntos? (And what about your boyfriend? Are you not together anymore?) This is usually an exclamation that expresses disbelief or confusion, but it can also be used as a pause in the conversation. I get the sense that it’s less common, especially with young people, but that may be wrong. In any case, this word is usually included in the pantheon of Costa Rican slang, but I honestly almost never hear it. Tico costa rica code#In fact, there’s an interesting theory that it’s actually a weird variation on the word bueno (good) that was passed through a process to make it a kind of code word, but it’s also a slightly confusing theory. ![]() No matter what the topic, you’ll likely hear mae more than you’ll hear words like “the.” 4. If you don’t believe me, just eavesdrop on a conversation between two Costa Rican guys in their early 20s. For many of them, it’s like the Costa Rican version of the word “like,” “uh” or “um.” For the other 80%, it’s used mostly by young men as linguistic filler. Check it out to get a better feel for this word.īut that meaning of the word only accounts for maybe 20% of the times you’ll hear mae in Costa Rica. ![]() The short-lived online satirical newspaper El Pejibaye even had a column called “Mae of the Week,” which featured fictional mediocre guys who were generally unemployed and living with their grandmothers or sisters. Friends may use it as a jokingly-insulting term of endearment, but if you say it to someone else, it might cause trouble. I would maybe equate it to the word schlub or schmo in English. At best, it’s neutral, but it can often be negative. Truth be told, if you call a male a mae, it’s also not terribly flattering. If used to talk about a woman, though, it’s not usually a flattering reference. It’s generally used by men referring to other men, but it can occasionally be used to refer to a woman. This is another multipurpose word, but instead of meaning “pure life,” it means something akin to “dude” or “guy.” Still, it can be a bit confusing if you’re looking for a business named Pura Vida, since seemingly every second store in the country is named something like Pura Vida Surf Shop, Pura Vida Pet Supplies or Pura Vida Schoolbook Depository. It’s also a phrase that tourists seem to love, and really, what’s not to love about it? For a country that bills itself as the world’s happiest country and proclaims its lack of a military, it does seem to focus on the good things that make life pure. This literally means “pure life,” and you’ll hear it used as a greeting, a goodbye or a way to say “thank you” or “you’re welcome.” It’s basically like the Costa Rican “aloha.” You’ll hear them in Costa Rica, and you’ll also hear things like chiquitico, which is just another way to describe something that’s apparently incredibly tiny. Anyhow, it seems that people in Costa Rica did that so much that this tendency gave them a national nickname. The point is that, in most places, the suffixes for small things are -ito and -ita. ![]() In other Spanish-speaking countries, people may say chiquito, or literally “little small,” I guess. This comes from a tendency to make things diminutive by adding the suffix -tico.įor example, the word for small is chico. This is a word that means “Costa Rican.” A Tico is a Costa Rican man and a Tica is a Costa Rican woman. (Download) 23 Classic Costa Rican Slang Words 1. Tico costa rica pdf#This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. Regardless of the reason for your visit to Costa Rica, you’ll want to know some good, authentic words that you’ll hear the locals say so you can better understand the conversations and the culture. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it does seem like people who visit Costa Rica return to their home countries with a stellar impression of this Central American country. They say that Costa Rica is “The World’s Happiest Country.” J¡Qué Chiva! 23 Cool Costa Rican Slang Words from the Happiest Place on Earth ![]()
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