Читать книгу Cubanisms - Pedro García-Menocal - Страница 20

needs to be wiped. “Who does that mocoso think he is?” Fiñe is an Afro-Cuban word for a very young adolescent, the same as “kid” in English. To be fiñoso is to act like a child. A rowdy group of mocosos may cause a regazón (disorder or a disruption), from the Spanish word reguero, or mess. Regarse is the act of becoming messy and disorganized. Pepito’s mom may say to him, “Limpia la regazón en tu cuarto ahora mismo!” (“Clean up the big mess in your room right now!”).

A grown-up mocoso, spoiled and conceited, is a niño bitongo. This is what you would call a rich, spoiled brat. A niño bitongo is often used to describe a spoiled young society boy, a young adult that is still a child into his twenties. You know the type. They love to hang around at exclusive clubs and pretend that they’re famous or important. Bitonguería is the act of behaving like a rich, spoiled brat.

A mojón is a boundary stone or a piece of solid excrement, but is most commonly used to refer to a person who is very young or very small, or both. In other words, a brat. Not quite as harsh as “You little shit,” though it basically means the same thing. A mojón is also, often, majadero, which is a Spanish word that means stubborn or foolish. However, in Cuba, majadero is usually applied to children when they are disobedient, unruly, undisciplined and misbehaving. In the rest of the Spanish-speaking world it means anyone, child or adult, who is acting rudely, lacking manners or simply being a nuisance. Majadería is the act resulting from such behavior.