Palabrotas o no?
I just returned from a 3-week Spanish Immersion program where one of the teachers showed us a few videos in class that contained the words "puta" and "cabron". I was under the impression that these are both never ever to be used but he didn't say anything and he usually points out words that are not to be repeated. Are there contexts or places where these words are not offensive (the professor in question is from Argentina and the use of 'puta' was Colombian and an adjective not a noun like I've heard before, if that makes a difference), or did he just forget to remind us not to use them?
3 Answers
the use of 'puta' was Colombian and an adjective not a noun like I've heard before
Used as an adjective in Mexico and in street language, "¡Puta madre!" is an exclaimation meaning "Wow!" or "Son of a ****!" At times, "¡Puta!" alone is used for the same comment. In this usage, no one is being called anything, so it is not offensive except possibily to the ears of those who don´t use street language. It should also be noted that "puta" in the literal sense does not mean "prostitute," but "whore."
"Cabrón" can also be used in Mexican street language to mean "güey" (guy) when addressing a male. But if you say, ie: "Él es un cabrón," then you are saying "he is a son of a ****" and of course only the guy being being talked about would be offended.
Street language is very idiomatic and can vary greatly from region to region, but I would guess that your professor forgot to mention that both words are course language at best.
The words are palabrotas but we argentinos (mainly portenos) are muy mal hablados, what it means we use curse words all they long and nobody gets offended, if you use it in the right context but if I was you I was never using those words till I was very, very confident with my spanish
As Julian says, "puta" can be used in a variety of ways expressing which are not derogatory. "genial", "horror", "muy mal" and "va a ser difícil". Below are some examples.
¿Que te parece si vamos al cine? ¡De puta madre! (genial, that would be bloody great)
Lo pasamos de puta madre. (genial, we had a bloody brilliant time)
De puta madre, ¿ahora qué hacemos? (qué horror, bloody brilliant, what are we supposed to do now?)
Mis padres las pasaron muy putas después de la guerra. (muy mal, my parents had a bloody rough time of it after the war.
Las vamos a pasar putas para aprobar el examen. (va a ser difícil, it's going to be bloody tough getting through the exam.
I hasten to add that the above are used mainly in Spain.
Cabron used in Spain is generally derogatory.
