Ever since 50 Cent became popular, it’s cool to be a P.I.M.P. (or simply ‘pimp’ for the people out there that hate spelling everything). So when @voicesenespanol proposed today’s word, I thought chulo only meant ‘pimp’ as I only knew one form of it; that in Lorna & La Factoria’s song “Papi Chulo“. The fact is, however, that it has a load of meanings.
Yes, a common meaning is, indeed, ‘pimp. Still, in Spain and Mexico it can also mean ‘neat’ and ‘lovely’, where in Mexico it means ‘good-looking’ or ‘cute’ as well. I don’t know what meaning it carries in other parts of the hispanosphere, but accoring to some latin friends of mine, chulo is pretty negative (they’re from different parts of Latin-America). For example, in Chile it means something like ‘tacky’.
Sentences
Tu primo me pareció un chulo.
Your cousin’s a bit of a show-off.
Se puso muy chulo con nosotros.
He got all cocky with us.
Llevas un collar muy chulo.
That’s a great necklace you’ve got on.
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Esto me hace pensar en otra palabrota, o más que palabrota, palabra malsonante: Polla.
Su significado vulgar es pene.
Y me hace pensar porque en inglés la mejor traducción es “cock”, así pues: “Chúpame la polla” es “Suck my cock”… Pero la similitud es asombrosa ya que “cock” a su vez significa “gallo” que no deja de ser un pollo adulto, y el femenino de pollo es polla y está aceptado por la RAE.
El camino que siguen las palabrotas es asombroso…
Todo esto venía por lo de “cocky” que a la vez se puede traducir como “gallito”, que es lo mismo que chulo pero quizá algo más agresivo, ya que el gallo busca pelea, pero el chulo quizá no.
“Chulo” and the term mentioned by SpanishOmelette, “polla,” are good examples of how words vary in meaning from country to country. In parts of Latin America, a “polla” is a bet, and in others it means “young woman.” I vaguely recall an old joke about a South American woman who moves to Spain and runs around praising her son’s girlfriend by telling her friends something like “¡Mi hijo tiene una polla tan linda!”
Padrote = Pimp (Mex)
Padrotear = The act of pimping
I thank the spanish audio track of the documentary “American Pimp” for expanding my vocabulary