You don't wanna deschavar yourself when you travel to Argentina, letting everybody know you're not local. Don't know what deschavar means? OK, continue reading (and listening to the examples) and you will know.
Wow, already on the fourth letter of the alphabet! It's a lot of work compiling this dictionary, but it is truly rewarding. Hope you enjoy reading it as much (or more) as we do writing it. So, on with the argentine words starting with letter D.
Dar (verb)
The official meaning of dar is to give. But in Argentina, if something da it means that it is perfectly adequate or timely for something. It usually applies to a situation, for example, the phrase da para una birra means that the current situation is perfectly adequate to have a beer.
Example: re da para una siesta.
Meaning: now, a nap would be more than adequate.
Note: the term re in the example above gives emphasis to what follows, as we will explain later.
Denso (adjective)
Officially: dense. Also, something or someone so boring that it becomes annoying. A guy who talks too much, always repeating himself, that calls you many times a day to remind you of something, is undoubtedly very denso.
Example: estábamos hablando lo más bien, hasta que empezó a hablar de su ex y se puso muy denso.
Meaning: we were talking really well, until he began talking about his ex and he become annoyingly boring.
Depto (noun)
Short for departamento (a departamento is a flat). The abbreviation depto has been used years ago to minimize the text in real estate ads in newspapers, in order to reduce its costs. The abbreviation gained such popularity that it became common in everyday conversation.
Example: estoy alquilando un depto en el centro.
Meaning: I'm renting a flat downtown.
Desbarrancar (verb)
Officially, fall of a cliff. But it is often used metaphorically, meaning to make a big mistake, mess things up real bad, or say something really stupid or completely out of context. For example, to say something that is clearly politically incorrect.
Example: desbarrancaste mal cuando le dijiste que esas cosas le pasan por ser judío.
Meaning: you made a terrible mistake when you told him that those things happen to him because he’s a jew.
Descansar (verb)
The official meaning is to rest. But in argentine slang, it also means to mock or to make fun of someone without him or her knowing it.
Example: a mí me parece que te estaba descansando cuando comenzó a hablar con acento cordobés.
Meaning: it seems to me that he was making fun of you when he start doing cordobes accent.
Deschavar (verb)
To uncover someone's plans or to reveal a sham.
Example: se deschavó cuando dijo que nunca había ido a la universidad.
Meaning: he revealed his sham when he said he has never gone to the university.
Diego (noun)
Ten / ten percent.
Example: me tenés que dar un diego de esa guita.
Meaning: you have to give me ten percent of that money.
Note: the particular expression El Diego always refers to Diego Maradona.
Duro/dura (adjective)
If you look it up in the dictionary, you'll find that duro means hard. But in Argentina, when applied to a person, it means he or she is wasted because of drugs or alcohol.
Example: se fue a una fiesta y volvió re duro.
Meaning: he went to a party and came back completely wasted.
Off-topic example: ¿Lo viste al Diego en la tele? ¡Estaba re duro!
Meaning: Did you see Diego Maradona on the TV? He was completely wasted!
Stay tuned for the next installments of BDAW! We will be posting letter E very soon, and also adding more words with the letters we already covered.
If you find any particular argentine words you don't know the meaning, please let us know by writing in the comments section below or sending us a mensaje by filling the fields at the right, and we will add it to our dictionary as soon as we can.
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