Echele bonito
Buenos días, I am trying to work really hard to get myself ready for an upcoming missionary trip to Nicaragua. I have studied Spanish some in an academic environment and have lived and worked for a couple of brief periods in Mexico (all of it years ago), so I am not a beginner, but definitely not fluent, either. Anyway, there is this expression I hear all the time on one of the radio stations in my area as the announcers banter. It is "Echele bonito", which, nearest I can tell means something like, "get down with your bad self." 
Am I on the right track? Would I be right to assume that this is probably ONLY a Mexican (perhaps only Northern Mexican) idiom that has made its way into the US? Or is this a general idiom that would be understood in Nicaragua, do you think?
(I searched for previous answers with no luck. I apologize if this duplicates a previous question. I get the feeling that is quite frowned upon here)!
4 Answers
"Echele bonito" is a common idioms between regional mexican music singers and "Mariachis". It is a call for musicians to begin to play them instruments and make the best perfomance ever. y asi se oiga "bonito". nicaraguan people do know what it means, however this phrase is not common.
Well I am really going to stick my neck out on this one, not being a native speaker.
We could spend many hours explaining this but to be short lets try this.
Lets begin with "échele ganas"
This is a very common phrase in Mexico, not slang, and we hear it often so I would suggest the clue here is "échele" and then add the second part to the phrase "bonito" in this case.
Now, échele ganas is typically used to say put some positive attititude, good vibrations or passion into something, your life or your work for example.
Of course "echar" is to toss in or throw in something, so échele is to throw something.
The second word of the phrase can change to whatever a person wants to express like échele esperanza, échele pasión, échele calma, etc.
Échele bonito, we have never heard, and it would likely be a made up phrase, it is very likely the person that said it is distinguishing himself from others by using it. You could safely assume he is saying put good vibrations, nice thoughts or positive attitude into the day with that phrase.
I have never heard that expression, but If someone were to say that to me I would understand: "Be nice about it".Then again if you are talking to some musicians, it could be rendered; "Play it nice!" But then I could be mistaken.
I am mexican, and I am not fluent in English, but I agree with Pacofinkler.
It is likely that "Échele" is a short of "¡Échele ganas!", a phrase of encouragement.
And maybe "Bonito" is used here as a form of vocative; a vocative is used in addressing or invoking a person or thing.
"¡Échele, Bonito!"
But it is just a guess.
