Saturday, January 17, 2009

Me habíai llamado?

Me habíai llamado? - (Me habíais llamado, Me habías llamado) Did you call me?, literally "Had you called me?"
Chileans do this thing with their verbs...perhaps I'll post more extensively on it in the future.

Christian: Hola, qué tal? Me habíais llamado?
Lucas: Si, vamos a juntar más rato?
...

Christian: Hello, how's it going? Did you call me?
Lucas: Yeah, are we getting together later?
...

Chilenísimo

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

estar de perro

estar de perro - estar bacán, to be awesome

En la playa:
Seba: Puta que rico estar acá weon, con una chela helá, viendo minas ricas.
Diego: Si, weon, está de perro.

On the beach:
Seba: Shit it's sweet to be here, with a cold beer, checking out hot chiks.
Diego: Yeah, dude, this is sweet.

COA

Monday, January 12, 2009

mochilear, a false friend

mochilear - to backpack a la chilena
"mochilear" does not equal "to backpack"
mochilear - comes from una mochila Chilean for "a backpack"
"mochilear" is an inexpensive summer activity that Chilean university students sometimes dedicate themselves to. Mochilear means to hitchhike or take a bus (to either the North or the South) with a backpack, usually during the summer months, and usually in Chile - although exceptions do exist. It's basically a cheap way for Chileans to get to know there country, meet knew people, and party a long way from home. They generally camp in camping areas and drink prolific amounts of alcohol, singing and strumming all night on a guitar with other drunk Chilean university students.

Vero: Qué vay a hacer para las vacaciones de verano?
Seba: Con unos amigos vamos a mochilear al sur por un mes.

Vero: What are you going to do during summer vacations?
Seba: I'm going backpacking a la chilena in the South for a month.

to backpack or to go backpacking - translates as "hacer trekking"
to backpack through a country is a bit more similar to the Chilean mochilear.
Like Chilean mochileros, a gringo who backpacks through a country is also on a budget (generally), and may or may not party a lot, as Chileans do.

Chilenismo, normal register