Saturday fun - Mexican slang translation!
Sometimes Mexican slang really cracks me up... Here is a quote from an email I received yesterday.
Take a try at translating it, but... Tagging along with Heidita's quidelines for her "mystery sentences", please don't use reference materials...and - no native speakers, please!" (unless you are guessing).
This is a comment about the social situation in Mexico.
"Los polis entraron con sus cuernos de chivo, y le hicieron al pollero colgar sus tenis"
Try to provide the standard Spanish translation, as well as the English translation.
I'll post the answer in a few hours.
5 Answers
"Los polis entraron con sus cuernos de chivo, y le hicieron al pollero colgar sus tenis"
The police entered with their machine guns, and killed the coyote/smuggler.
La policía entraron con sus armas y mataron el coyote.
"Colgar sus tenis" I guess this might refer to hanging shoes on phone lines to signify someone going to jail or getting killed.
OK, here are the meanings of the slang words:
"los polis' - the police...."cuernos de chivo" - AK47's...."pollero" - person who smuggles illegals into the United States..."colgar sus tenis" - to die.
"Los polis entraron con sus cuernos de chivo, y le hicieron al pollero colgar sus tenis". Standard Spanish: "Los policías entraron con sus metralletas AK47 y mataron al contrabandista de ilegales."
These are all common phrases in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. In fact, it is not unusual to see the first three used in news articles in respected news publications; I haven't seen "colgar sus tenis" in the paper (yet!).
Another name for pollero is "coyote" I think. I hadn't heard the colgar los tenis (tenis shoes) but the others are very common en el norte.
..."colgar sus tenis" - to die... how interesting :o
Mountaingirl...keep your mystery sentences coming...I think if we're travelling in Central or South America, this is the language we'll come across in the taxis, on the buses and in the cafes....good job.
And at first blush I would have said, "The police entered with their loudhailers, and captured the chicken farmer while he was playing tennis."
"Los polis entraron con sus cuernos de chivo, y le hicieron al pollero colgar sus tenis"
At first I would say it looks like it says, the police entered with their blow horns and made the gambler hang up his tennis shoes.
Thanks for supplying the slang, Mountaingirl!
The police came with their AK47s and killed the person who smuggled illegal aliens
La policía vino con sus AK47s y mató a la persona que era el contrabandista de inmigrantes ilegales
