Latin America is like the United States in that the variety of Castellano (Spanish) in terms of the slang and pronunciation changes by geography, even within Argentina. Argentina is known for speaking a Spanish like no other Spanish-speaking country.
Rio Platanese is the variety of Spanish heard in Buenos Aires and other big cities along the mouth of the River Plate, such as Montevideo, Uruguay. One of the most noticeable differences in this dialect is the use of the pronoun “vos”, which is unique to this area. “Vos” basically means “you” and has its own form of conjugation, replacing the “tu” and “usted” from other Spanish dialects. For example, whereas in Colombia or Mexico you would say “¿De donde eres?” when asking where someone is from, in the River Plate region you would say “¿De donde sos?” Argentine Spanish is very informal, especially in comparison to Colombian way of speaking. Another notable difference is the pronunciation of double l’s and y’s as “sha”. In almost all other Spanish speaking countries you would pronounce the word for street, “calle” as ca-yay. In Buenos Aires the say “ca-shay”. The word “vaya” (go) would be pronounced “vai-ya” in Mexico and “va-sha” in here in Buenos Aires. Other parts of the country, like the north for example don’t use this pronunciation.
The Buenos Aires street slang, called Lunfardo, is largely influenced by the influx of European immigrants in the early 1900’s. A lot of the words were developed so that people could communicate without police officers and prison guards deciphering the lingo, and contributes to the streetwise demeanor of the Porteños. There are many slang words with meanings that are literally offensive (there are probably more than 6 ways to say idiot) but most of them are meant endearingly and without harm. One of the funnier slang words is the use of “esteeeeee...” by absolutely everyone. They use it the way Americans say “ummmm...” in the middle of a sentence when trying to think of something, but even more dramatic and clueless sounding. Once you notice it you hear it everywhere.
Here are a few of my favorite or most commonly overheard Lunfardos:
General
bárbaro/¡qué barbaro! - excellent, great / wow! ; Argentines use this all the time, and very casually. For example some waiters and waitresses will say “bárbaro” after you tell them what you want to have for lunch and then walk away to put in your order. I think it has something to do with the word barbaric, as in brutally/crudely awesome.
boliche - nightclub; used all the time. You will never hear anyone calling them clubs or discos like some do in Europe.
cacho - a little piece of something
canchero- a smooth talker
chabón - used very frequently to mean “guy” but also used affectionately or in any random context
che - used all the time and can mean anything and nothing, but more often used as “hey” or “hey you”. Thought to be derived from the native Patagonian Mapuche word for people. This is also where Che Guevara gets his nickname as to distinguish him as from Argentina among the rest of Latin America (his real name was Ernesto).
cheto - snobby
cortado - espresso with a shot of milk
cuchame - listen to me, Lunfardo for “escuchame” and commonly heard.
fisurado - literally means cracked, but is used informally to mean exhausted and dead tired.
forro - literally means a protective cover but is used to describe someone who is a jerk. Learned this one the hard way! (just kidding)
Gardel - literally refers to Carlos Gardel, the man who made Tango famous and brought it to the mainstream from the underground, but is use to mean “the man”, as in “Sos Gardel”, or “You’re the man!”
negro - literally means “black one” but is used affectionately with people of any color
gordo / gorda - literally means “fat/chubby one” or “fatty” but is used as a term of endearment and affection, and people even say it to their significant others! (for the male readers, do not try this at home unless your girlfriend is Argentine, very, very Argentine)
onda - literally means waves or vibes, but people say buena onda to describe a really cool person or situation with good vibes
ojo / ojito - literally means eye or little eye, but is used in conjunction with a hand gesture to mean “be careful” or “watch out”.
pancho - can mean to be happy as well as hot dog.
porteño - literally someone from the port, used to describe anyone from Buenos Aires.
quilombo - a total mess or chaos
Yanqui - someone from America, like Yankee but pronounced “Shann-key”
Ways to Say Idiot
boludo - can mean idiot, moron, man (as in hey man), dude, or nothing at all ; you cannot walk down the street or have meal in a restaurant without hearing someone say this word. They use it all the time. Che boludo can be plenty of things sometimes in the middle of sentences to say hey buddy, or you idiot, or again, nothing at all. Buenudo is a fun variation that describes someone who is sort of dumb or naive, but harmlessly so.
gil - an idiot.
papanatas - an idiot.
paparulo - yet another word for idiot.
pajerto - an idiot, again.
pelotudo - an idiot, in case you were running our of ways to call someone an idiot in Argentina.
pescado - literally means fish, but guess what, you can use it to call someone an idiot too!
zoquete - literally means short socks, but is a way of calling someone an idiot with a z-word!
Borrowed / Derived From Italian
birra - beer (as opposed to the traditional Spanish “cerveza”)
cábala - a gesture that brings good luck; like Italian traditions of eating lentils and wearing red underwear on New Years day that many older generation Ital/Argentines still keep.
chau - goodbye; only used to mean goodbye in Argentina, whereas the Italians greet eachother with this word as well, and spell it “ciao”.
facha - good looks; derrived from the italian word for face, faccia (face in Spanish is “cara”)
gamba - leg (whereas in Spanish the word for leg is “pierna”)
guarda - look out or be careful (means watch or look in Italian)
lungo - means long in Italian but is used to describe someone who is tall and thin. (long in Spanish is largo)
tano - an Italian person (as in a shortened way of saying Italiano)
Borrowed From English
full - to be really into something, finished, or very busy (pronounced more like “fool” here)
sorry - sorry
super - super
And here is a youtube video of a lot of these words, executed in a perfect accent.
Chau,
-Giordano