Use of "aguas" to mean to be careful.
My Mexican Spanish teacher told me "aguas" is a very common way to express "Be careful". I didn't see the definition in SpanishDict. I am wondering if this is used outside of Mexico in other countries??
Gracias, Scott
8 Answers
I doubt it, this expression is very, very Mexican.
Maybe it's understood in neighboring countries in Central America, but outside of that, it's doubtful. "Cuidado" however, is universal.
But that's just my experience/opinon, and I'm far from an expert.
I found this:
México Se utiliza al dar una advertencia. También cuando a una persona le acontece algo repentino, espntáneo y a la vez molesto puede expresar esta palabra.
Ejemplo : ""Aguas con ese chavo que te puede trancear" "¡Aguas! (Esto se grita cuando avientas el balón del fútbol fuera de la cancha, adviertiendo a cualquier transeúnte de tu error)" (Vas caminando y golpeas a alguien sin querer) "¡Aguas! ¡Fijate por donde caminas!""
Sinónimos : Cuidado Precaución
Enviado por : Héctor (Monterrey, México) 28/04/2008 05:39pm
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Es una exclamación para advrtirte algún riesgo o posible precanse.
Ejemplo : "¡Aguas! te vas a caer..."
Sinónimos : Cuidado
Enviado por : Anónimo (México) 19/12/2008 10:16pm
Maybe your teacher meant it like English phrases such as "those are uncharted waters" (which is basically implying that you don't know where you're headed so be cautious). In what context did she use it? By itself, "aguas" does not mean "be careful", but maybe a phrase about waters pertains to an idiomatic way of saying "be careful." Even so, that would definitely not be the most common or concise way to say "be careful." "¡Ten cuidado!" or "¡cuidado!" that you don't believe everything people say about Spanish...even your teacher... haha. Good question, by the way.
This is a Mexican phrase and originated from throwing waste water out of the window. Before throwing the bucket of water out the window you would yell Aguas as a warning so people below would move out of the way.
Interesting. I have lived in Mexico (Baja) for five years and I have never heard aguas used in this manner. Maybe it is restricted to just parts of Mexico.
Its used by Mexicanos. Aguas que se te va a caer la camara al rio!
No, that's hardly ever used outside of Mexico, unless by Mexicans
I´ve definitely heard it too, by itself, to be ¨be careful¨, so in this case. for at least some speakers, you can in fact trust your teacher. 
That having been said, I hear cuidado more too. In what regions is a good question. We have such a broad range of immigrants from a broad range of regions, and I´m not good enough to distinguish a region within Mexico yet, so I have no idea. At this point, I can only divide into about 4 groups (de españa, de argentina, de caribe, de otros lugares incluido méxico) I´d never thought much about it, other than to think maybe it came from warning someone they were about to step in a puddle maybe. Yes, the buckets from above is an interesting derivation. Thanks for sharing that rodneyp. Cool.
