The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang: 5,000 Expressions to Spice Up Your Spanish

by Mary McVey Gill

If someone called you a tragaldabas would you be insulted or flattered? If you shouted ¡Mota! in the street, would you expect to get a cab or get arrested? Thanks to The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang and Idioms, you'll always know your tejemaneje (scheme) from your merequetengue (mess) no matter where you find yourself in the Spanish-speaking world. Five thousand words and phrases - plus helpful hints as to what's cordial and what's vulgar - keep you in sync with Spanish slang.

Genres: Language, Spanish Literature, Reference

448 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2006

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spanish is neither my first nor second language, but it is considered the local language of California, so one hears it on a normal basis. Also, one hears a combination of English and Spanish (“Spanglish”) so often that it becomes a part of one’s daily communications, whether that is watching a futbol game on a Spanish-language channel or talking with the manager at the local launderette. This book aims to provide popular expressions in Spanish that may not show up in a learning course, part of the ever-changing world of language.

The first part of the book is Spanish, broken up by country with the phrase meaning and the difference per region, along with an example of the word/idiom/phrase in a full sentence.

tener mambo en la cabeza = to have mambo in the head
¡Qué ruido! Tengo mambo en la cabeza = How noisy it is! My mind is soup.

paso de Tortuga = at a turtle’s pace/at a snail’s pace
La construcción del nuevo hotel marcha a paso de Tortuga = The construction of the new hotel is going at a snail’s pace.

el ratón de biblioteca = library mouse/bookworm
Es un ratón de biblioteca, y su cuarto está lleno de libros = He’s a bookworm (library mouse) and his room is full of books.

retorcer el higado = to twist one’s liver/to get angry
Se me retorcío el higado de coraje cuando lo vi = I had an attack of anger when I saw him.

los perros = dogs (applied to humans)
Me siguieron los perros = The cops followed me.

The second part of the book is English, so that you can find the phrase you want to use and then its Spanish equivalent. Some of the info also justifies the “red-hot” of the title with cuss words and phrases sprinkled throughout (but I won’t share in this review). I certainly found this all very helpful, although my efforts at remembering remain poor. A few years ago, I was learning Spanish at night and was part of a local group putting on bilingual plays at the local night school. Then I moved into a Spanish-speaking neighborhood where the parents made it clear they wanted me to only speak English so their children could pick it up quicker! So much for my daily immersion, but then my mother was the same way, making sure her children made English their daily language.

I would recommend this book to anyone learning Spanish, especially for some of the phrases one wouldn’t normally hear everyday.

Book Season = Year Round (levanter el ánimo)

[Sydney Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had a paper copy of this book for many years. I got it on Kindle now that I teach ESL since most of my students' primary language is Spanish. We all use very different slang and idioms depending on our country of origin. It's easy to refer to this so we can truly understand each other.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful. I reference it a lot. Can't always find what I need, but it is very extensive and I've learned a lot.

[Marnie S. Angulo Delgado, B.A., CMI]

This resource forms part of my Interpreter/Translator library.

[Jennie]

It's not dirty slang. I don't know why the title is Red Hot.