Slight sneer words?

Question

I would like to know is there a word sounding similar to "mantequilla"? My friend heard it once in conversation and from the context I understand that this word may have been used as a slight sneer. Probably it's mexican slang.

Answer 1

Could he have said "mariquita"? That means ladybug but can be slang for gay.

Answer 2

The ONLY thing I can think of would be a mix of English and Spanish: "Man, tranquilo." It could mean something like "Hey, calm down." If saying it to a woman, it would be "tranquila."

But that's all I can think of without a little context.

I also know just a bit of context, a person (man) was called somehow sounding similar to that with a sneer when talking to another person about him. Thanks for your answer :) - swing, Jun 16, 2010

Answer 3

It also could have been: "¡Man, qué {unknown sneer word}!"

Just as a non-sneer example: "¡Man, qué barco!" means "Man, what a boat!"

I don't think you'll ever be able to know for certain what was said...not even if you come up with sneer-ful phrase that seems to match really well...there'll still be no way to know for sure what was actually said.

Hopefully you are asking out of academic curiosity. Hopefully you or your friend are not still angry about it after all this time.

Sure, that's why I accented "slight sneer" :) just that situation aroused interest about sayings, here - how simple words in this situation can have other meanings. Thanks for your answer :) - swing, Jun 16, 2010

Answer 4

The most similar sounding word I know is "pesadilla". Are there others?

Answer 5

mantequilla = butter

I know what it means. The question is maybe there is even a bit similar sounding word expressing sneer. Because I know no sound or rhyme dictionaries. - swing, Mar 23, 2010