Mis nuevos trapos

Question

In an attempt to see what I could do with a bit of somewhat colloquial English (and to use chillin’ in English and chillón in Spanish), yesterday I wrote:

There I was, rockin’ my new duds, chillin’ out to the tunes, when I heard a shrill voice say: Dang dude your clothes are loud.

Ahí estaba, pareciendo chévere en mis nuevos trapos, relajándome con la música, cuando oí un voz chillona decir: Caramba güey tu ropa es chillona.

To avoid using ropa twice in close proximity, I sought other options:

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/duds

(clothes) prendas (f) de vestir; trapos (informal) (m)

And went with trapos as the informal option. So Heidita put:

• trapos no pega...pero no se me ocurre nada mejor. ponlo en el foro - Heidita2 14 hrs ago flag

In retrospect, combining “rags” with “nuevo” may not have been the brightest idea. As I think about using “my new rags in English” sounds a bit off as well.

Were I to do it again, I would choose prendas, but maybe that is a little too formal (I think garments with that word). Though I did not achieve the level of informality in the Spanish as a whole that I did in English, I think.

So any better options?

I would have liked to have also put in the picture I used, but that now seems impossible despite several attempts. - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

All you are asking about is highly regional. To my ear "pareciendo chévere en mis nuevos trapos" bridges Caribbean with 1950s, so, all these questions are to be clearly localized (in linguistic terms) in order to avoid further confusion in the reader. - aleCcowaN, Oct 11, 2017

"everything you are..." "all you are has a different sense. Melds or combines might be better than bridges. Regionalized over localized (again a different sense). I might say must be over are to be. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 1

I mean, bosque, trapos also means: rags..sounds off to me.

Alec, ¿a ti te suena bien?

No entiendo lo que has dicho en el comentario.

To my ear "pareciendo chévere en mis nuevos trapos" bridges Caribbean with 1950s,

Huh?

To me it's a mix of Caribbean language with all fashioned 50s local talk. By the way I'm surprised English speaking pals may imagine 22 countries' colloquialisms and slang may match when a Brit has troubles hearing mofo and a Yank has troubles with chav - aleCcowaN, Oct 11, 2017

He is saying I am mixing slang from different regions/eras and so that is why it sounds off. Of course even my regular Spanish mixes regions, and sometimes I remember the right word for the right place and sometimes no. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

"with old fashioned"- "English speaking people" (or my... pals"), might, might, has trouble, has trouble. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

wow, so you understood that? great, lol, no idea what he was saying - 006595c6, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 2

On my side of the world, "mis nuevos trapos" would be perfectly understood. You would not always use that expression, of course, but in the context I think it's appropriate. I agree with aleCcowaN's assessment.

I have more of an issue with "pareciendo chévere".

I would suggest "Ahí estaba, chévere en mis nuevos trapos..." instead.

Thanks, Gekkosan. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 3

In my área, the best colloquial word could be pilchas.. In the sentence above trapos sounds weird The problem Is we do not use the word "chévere". Example.

Me puse mis pilchas nuevas y salí a exhibirme por todo el barrio. Me sentía la reina del mundo.

We also use the word trapos but not in this sentence. It Is true that very informal words are haré todo use.

Example.

A Ana le encantan los trapos. Se la pasa yendo a los shoppings.

Gracias, Polenta. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

Pilchas is new for me. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

I didn't know "pilchas" either, but that's how slang works: if you want "authentic", then you need to choose something region-specific. - Gekkosan, Oct 11, 2017