History of Lunfardo and Glossary

[Aqualung]

A few of pics of Chantecler.

http://chatelet-theatre.com/2013-201...ntecler_g4.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...xqWgEGOkKiSt6w

http://jantango.files.wordpress.com/...chantecler.jpg

[Aqualung]

I always find vesre amusing. Using it to an extent "smooths" some words. Japi sounds less rude than pija, Chacon less than concha. To-or sounds better than orto.

[Aqualung]

This is a Milonga and not Tango (A very quick explanation of the difference between Milionga and Tango is that Milonga is faster. It's in a two by four time while Tango is four by four). -.

Chantecler was a cabaret, dance hall, brothel opened in 1924. It was on Parana street number 440 - that is between Corrientes and Lavalle. Carlos Gardel was said to be one of the usual patrons. It closed it's doors in the mid 1950's and was demolished in 1960.

Aldo Saravia is an invented character though during the later years existence of Chantecler there was an Aldo Saravia member of the renown folk group Los Chalchaleros. Others say that Saravia was someone Rivero met in Rosario.

The wet towel is commonly used for giving a beating without leaving marks. (For this reason the "salty" wet towel doesn't make sens. For the salt to be of use there must be an open wound and if you use a wet towel the idea is that thee are no visible wounds or marks.

Nocheras isn't exactly a Lunfardo term. It's a play on the word noche (night).

There was no sort of glen on Parana street even in the early 20's. I have a feeling that Rivero makes reference to it for some reason. Probably students of the history of BA will know why.

Shacadores = thieves or robbers. This word is hardly used today and most people wouldn't know it's meaning.

Minas = Almost a household name for women. Some Lunfardo words like Pibe (boy) are now accepted by the Real Academy of Spanish. I'm not sure about Mina but if it isn't, it soon will.

Malandras = Lowlife or criminals. Still in use today.

Escruche = Crook, usually a lock picker (Me escrucho la puerta) He picked (the lock) on my door.

Peca = A game (of cards) fixed.

Copera = Strictly a copera is a woman working at clubs only for the commission on her drinks. Some years back it was very clear the difference between boliche de copas and puterio. The women working at a boliche de copas were not hookers and made sure everyone knew this. Today the boliche de copas has evolved into scam joints that many here have had the bad luck of experiencing.

Mancada = This was a difficult word to translate in this song. The modern use of the word comes from mancar - (Err, mistake) and it probably comes from a horse racing term. Un manco is a person with only one hand or only one usable hand. In horse racing when a horse goes lame it is said (se manco) - It went one handed or lame. This didn't make sens to me in this context. I searched around a little and found it has an older meaning: To know or to comprehend. I have never heard it used in this way before.

Chichi = Girl, woman. Still in use.

Toyufa = Is an interchange of letters (vesre) of the word fayuto meaning false, two faced. Still very much in use. Here Rivero capitalizes both Chichi and Toyufa making us think it was the real name or at least the nickname for a specific woman.

Pinta = Good looks. Very much in use.

Labia = from labio (lip) smooth speaker. Still very much in use.

Shomeria = Ordinary, bad quality, cheap. Not much used today but you may come across it now and then.

Taquero = Police commissar and by extension policeman. It comes from taco (heel). The police use the military style hand salute and click of the heel before a superior but in a much less strict fashion. So a click of the heels is often enough without the hand salute. (It can be difficult saluting a "comisario" walking into his office with a kettle of hot water in one hand and a mate in the other).

Papelitos = little papers. Today many would think it's about the little paper squares that drugs like cocaine are sold in but I'm more convinced it is about the little papers with numbers scrawled on that a "quinelero" would carry in his pockets. Bets he'd pick up from clients for the clandestine quiniela (numbers game similar to the lottery). Drugs are not part of the Tango culture. Minas, chupi, escolazo. (Women, drinks and betting) are often found in Tango lyrics but you won't come across mention of drugs.

Fajada = from Fajar (to beat up, to punish).

Of course, this is my interpretation. I could be wrong.

[Spassmusssein]

A veces.

Estoy tan triste, que no alcanza el vino para mojar mis lagrimas.

A veces.

Estoy tan alegre, que casi, casi puedo iluminar el sol.

Asida that, allways liked "chabomba" and ñabo and jermu= jabru))).

[Aqualung]

It was a murky night atmosphere.

Near the glen.

There was a milonga, The Chantecler.

Or better know as The Wet Towel.

It was a male environment.

Of robbers, of women and of lowlife.

There was a carver and they called him.

By the name of Aldo Saravia.

There wasn't a robbery, a fixed game or a hooker.

That he didn't know of.

And he used to beat the unfaithful girls.

With his wet towel.

For this reason he was famous in that Milonga.

That's why Aldo Saravia.

Carver of life and of his own Business.

With his good looks and his sweet speaking.

And never bad quality in his actions.

That no cop got a slice.

When he ventured with the little papers.

Without taking a beating.

That's why I liked the Milonga.

Of The Wet Towel.

Because it was the atmosphere I love.

And the macho Aldo Saravia.

Who beat even the name off Chantecler.

With his wet towel.

[Aqualung]

It's a very interesting song. A milonga and not a tango. It has some very good lunfardo terms worth analyzing. I'll translate it tomorrow.

TL. Where did you get the salty part from? It's just a wet towell!

Era un ambiente turbio de nocheras.

Cerca de la cañada.

Había una milonga, El Chantecler.

Alias Toalla Mojada.

Era un ambiente espeso de varones.

Shacadores de minas why malandras.

Había un tallador why lo llamaban.

Por nombre, Aldo Saravia.

No había escruche, ni peca, ni a copera.

Que no diera mancada.

Why a la Chichi Toyufa la fajaba.

Con su toalla mojada.

Por eso era famosa esa milonga.

Por ese Aldo Saravia.

Tallador de la vida why de sus cosas.

Por su pinta why su labia.

Nunca hubo shomería en sus acciones.

Ni taquero que sacara tajada.

Cuando él incursionaba papelitos.

Sin darse la fajada.

Por eso me gustaba la milonga.

De la Toalla Mojada.

Porque estaba el ambiente que yo quiero.

Why el macho Aldo Saravia.

Que le fajó hasta el nombre al Chantecler.

Con su toalla mojada.

[TejanoLibre]

2 minute Tango in Lunfardo talking about the pimp that would pop his girl with a salted wet towel.

Sings about a place that was near Corrientes and Parana I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n87EybdCZKU

Lyrics in Spanish but our teacher can translate them for us.

http://www.todotango.com/Spanish/las...a.aspx?id=paUW+Eek1 p0=.

Keep it Up!

TL.

You can Always get a crash course of Lunfardo in Jail down here .

[Gandolf50]

Very interesting! Keep it coming please!

[Aqualung]

The main reason Lunfardo is often uniquely related to crime is because the first appearance of a vocabulary or list of Lunfardo words appeared in the La Prensa newspaper on the 18th of June 1887. It was penned by an unnamed police comisario as a warning to the readers that if they heard the listed words being pronounced they were undoubtedly in the presence of a criminal. Amongst these words are "Marroca" (chain – as in handcuffs), "Mina" (woman), "Bobo" (watch) and the word itself: Lunfardo (crook).

In the 6th of April number of the La Nacion newspaper, Benigno Baldomero Lugones wrote an article titled "The Gentlemen Of Industry" where he mentions many Lunfardo words with their meanings. Amongst them we can find: Angelito (fool), Atorrar (sleep), Bolin – today changed to Bulin (room), Brema (playing card), Bufosa and Bufoso (pistol and revolver), Vaiven (knife).

So, Lunfardo was born, a hybrid of gaucho terms incorporated into the Porteño's speech and foreign words in many cases deformed to be almost undistinguishable from the original. A great many of these foreign words come from one Italian dialect or another; many of the words relative to prostitution or pimping originated from French and finally words borrowed from the black (Portuguese speaking) slaves and local aborigines.

Adding to these principal roots there are also an important amount of words invented by the locals. Some of these are the result of interchanging the position of letters in the word such as "Feca" for "Café". Others are of an uncertain origin – "Trolo" for homosexual and finally the redistribution of meaning; "Marróand" (brown) for anus.

Over the years Lunfardo has extended to all social stratus. It is no more an exclusive set of words or synonyms used by the lower class or criminals. This is due to many reasons: The tango lyrics, the theatre, magazines and newspapers, social mobility and free public schooling.

A great deal of Lunfardo words have fallen into disuse. Actually Lunfardo itself almost died. In the mid 20's many tango lyrics stopped using Lunfardo. Homero Manzi and Discepolo are two well know tango composers who extremely limited the use of this vocabulary; In the 40's the radio prohibited the use of Lunfardo though towards the end of the decade Peron lifted this prohibition; and finally during the 50's Tango itself lost much of it's popularity. This was mainly because many of the iconic places mentioned in the lyrics were being torn down. Tango stopped talking about places in existence and became a historic reference of no interest to the young men of the day. A new skyline also brought new characters to the city. Some of the upward social mobile European immigrants who wanted to disown or forget their past considered the "compadres", the "cafishios" and the "fiolos" as embarrassing skeletons to hide deep in the closets of their new modern World of apartments.

Despite this the Lunfardo never completely extinguished. Though many words have died or gone into disuse others are still in common use almost a hundred years later; "Cana" or "Yuta" (cops), "Pete" (Blow job) for example. Others have changed their meaning like "Grela" (woman has changed its meaning to dirt or filth). Others such as "Fumanchero" (smoker) have changed from a cigarette smoker to marijuana smoker.

Today, many consider Vesre (interchanging vocals) as not really Lunfardo but as another Porteño slang unrelated to Lunfardo.

There is also another slang mainly used by children as a game but which can be extremely difficult to understand if spoken quickly. It's called jeringoso. This means separating words into syllabus and adding the letter P and the last vocal of the syllabus. For example Canto would be Canpatopo – The first syllable CAN plus P and the vocal A and then the second syllable TO plus the P and the vocal O.

Both vesre and Jeringoso can be combined with Lunfardo making it almost impossible to understand. For example: Cop is Cana in Lunfardo. Vesre changes it to Naca and then Jeringoso to Napacapa.

[Aqualung]

I must begin by making it clear that Lunfardo is not considered a language or a dialect. It's a vocabulary. Those who use Lunfardo simply replace the correct Spanish words for ones understood only within their circle so that outsiders to this circle won't. Thus, the ultimate meaning of the speech does not change, but takes a different nuance.

Lunfardo and Tango go hand in hand. As, is needless to say, prostitution and crime. Today as Tango has lost a great deal of its popularity so have many of the original Lunfardo terms. Though, as in any language, this vocabulary is a live dynamic thing that changes and evolves so many new terms have been adopted. Many of these words are as result of the Pop culture from the 60's and 70's and many more from the more recent Cumbia generation.

Lunfardo could be defined as a vocabulary composed by voices of a different origin that inhabitants of Buenos Aires use in opposition of general speech.

Another important aspect is that the speaker uses Lunfardo in absolute awareness. By that I mean the speaker knows perfectly well the word "mujer" (woman) but chooses to use "mina". This is opposed to Argentinisms where, for example, the speaker uses the word "manteca" for butter while most of the Spanish speaking World uses mantequilla – a word unknown to most Argentines.

In the last decades of the 19th century and in the early 20th century (approximately between 1875 and 1914), three million three hundred thousand immigrants reached Argentina, which in a great percentage settled in the growing city of Buenos Aires, especially in its suburbs, or in tenements (conventillos), where only the lower classes lived. 38% of these immigrants were of Italian origin. As can be expected these left their imprint on the language.

Many of these immigrants were single men and they ended up going to the brothels where they mixed with the native youth, the "compadritos" These immigrants went there as clients while the natives went as pimps (fiolo). As time went bye many of these immigrants also got involved in the business, especially the French and Polish Jews.

Contrary to common belief this vocabulary didn't have it's origin in crime. Most of the words are of common day use and only a percentage is related to crime or criminals. This error is due to the journalists of the day baptizing it as "Lunfardo" from "Lunfa" which means / meant crook or criminal. Apparently this word comes from the word "Lombardo" a Roman dialect meaning criminal. The transmutation of the letter O for you is quite common (Comparsa for Cumparsita) due to the Criollos misunderstanding or mispronouncing Italian words. The Lunfardo term "Acocolichado" (meaning in the style of those immigrants) comes from the surname of an Italian working in the Jose J, Podesta theatrical company: Antonio Cuccoliccio.

[Aqualung]

I'm no expert on Lunfardo but I have always had an interest in it. This short history of Lunfardo is just scratching the surface but I hope it'll help those here who are interested. All I post here is open to discussion and anyone who can add to it is welcome and so are any questions.

In the coming days or weeks (depends on how lazy I am) I'll post a glossary of Lunfardo terms translated to English. I'll do this alphabetically but if anyone has a word he doesn't understand just shoot away. There is no need to wait for the right alphabetical moment!

I'll also try to put the more relevant words into a sentence.

PS - I hope the board allows multiple postings from me one beneath the other. I know some boards don't as they are considered spamming.