Added: 02/24/2006 |
Handy Slang For Spanish Night ClubsOkay, so you're ready to hit the Spanish night clubs, eh? You've got your slick clothes and confident attitude. You've got good enough knowledge of the streets to be capable of crawling back to your lodgings and a list of nightclubs. Spanish? Enough to get by, you figure. But wouldn't you like to make a bit more of a splash in the Spanish night clubs? After all, Spanish night clubs see hundreds of would-be Don Juans from all corners of the globe, but you're not fooling anyone. And unless you're throwing cash around, you need more in today's metropolitan Spanish night clubs. Herewith is a nice inexpensive solution: a handful of slang and colloquialisms that are fun to use, necessary to know and just might help you a little with...
An "after" (isn't it nice that even slang words are based in English?) is one of those English words simplified and shortened for ease of speaking. "After" means simply "after-hours," as in a place that opens at dawn, as opposed to closing at sunup. If you're wondering whether people really continue this late (or early depending on how you look at it) in nightclubs, Spanish people sure do.
A "bar de copas" is an elaborate way of saying "pub." ("Pub," pronounced with an eff sound in lieu of the bee sound, means as discussed below, something slightly different.) "Copas" itself literally refers to "glass," the drinking vessel. However, in pub lingo it becomes a synonym for basically any pub drink at all, presumably excepting beer and wine.
Now. Listen up. Be careful with the word "club," which does not mean what the Anglophone is accustomed to. Yes, "clubs" are everywhere, but in Spain, "clubs" are, well, houses of ill repute, i.e. brothels. Use the word "discoteca" for more vertically-fashioned entertainment. There are also ubiquitous, if slightly less showy than the easily noticeable "clubs." A "whiskeria" is similar, but sexual services are slightly more discreet and you are encouraged to drink a lot more.
Proper drinkers have probably had some experience with the Cuba Libre. In Spanish slang, yes, it means "rum and cola," but has mutated in similar fashion to "Coca-Cola" becoming, in the parlance of our times, "coke," as well as a synonym for "carbonated drinks" in many areas of the United States. "Cuba Libre" now can mean any fanciful mixed drink. And the devil-may-care shortened form, "cubata" is even more common.
In the lingo of Spanish nightclubs, "disco-pub" is a late-hours bar with an in-house DJ (sometimes even a garcon serving a double function!). Most countryside towns have no "discoteca" and thus the "disco-pub" becomes a center of town life, much like the British, Scottish or Irish pub.
A bit of an archaic one is "marcha." "Marcha" originates in the word for "action." It is said, however, that the first expression to be learned for party reptiles is "Donde esta la marcha?" which can be roughly translates as "Where's is at?" or perhaps "Where it be?"
Finally: "pub." Again, pronounced "puff," "pubs" in Spanish are likely to open late and close "early," approximately three o'clock in the morning. (Hey, that's early for Spanish night clubs.)
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
