Pueblucho?

Question

What meaning does it give a word when you add "ucho" to it, like "hotelucho" or "pueblucho"?

Gracias ;D

Answer 1

More than to be a diminutive, I think it is a suffix that gives a despective connotation to something or someone, so here the person who says "pueblucho" might think that this place is not so nice, anything out of the ordinary. I don't know how to translate it to English :( but I hope you get the idea.

Actually, "diminutive" is something that diminishes something, which can be size or value. So here we are saying "ucho" diminishes the value of the noun. Francamente en México nunca lo he oído en la capital, sino sólo en provincia. Eso te da todo ¿verdad? - 005faa61, Aug 22, 2012

I don't think the diminutives give a despective value. Pueblito is the diminutive and this doesn't show a negative value as pueblucho does. - Juliss, Aug 22, 2012

I agree with you that this is how "diminutive" is used even though "to diminish" is to reduce whatever the quality of the thing is (incluso hablar con cariño). Perhaps "diminutive" isn´t the best word to explain "ucho" - 005faa61, Aug 22, 2012

Diminutives can be used to express endearment such as niñito or corazoncito. So it's not a rule that the meanings the convey are all negative. - francobollo, Aug 23, 2012

Answer 2

To complement Julian's answer, ucho/ucha is a pejorative diminutive, which can also mean something of little value of quality. Examples: Casucha ... a little beat up house. Flacucho -- a skinny and unattractive man.

Exactly! "Hick town" is not a positive term - 005faa61, Aug 22, 2012

Answer 3

ucho is a diminutive that makes the noun small in size. It is not normally used to mean endearment, such as ito and illo are. So "un pueblucho" would be "a little town" or even a "hick town."

Makes total sense, thanks! - Jenita7, Aug 22, 2012