Cool Ways to Say "Cool" in Spanish

OK, maybe not this kind of cool, but illustrating "cool" cool isn't easy!

As I struggled to come up with ways to capture the interest of a group of seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish classes recently, I decided to share some "insider" slang that might resonate with the students. You may have already seen my earlier post, about this, Texting and Instant Messaging in Spanish, so now I'm sharing some more of what I presented. 





We all want to be cool, right? Well, in Spanish — just like in English — there are countless ways to say that something is cool, fly, groovy, phat or (as I learned recently from the students) beastly. In some cases, it depends on the age of the speaker, and in other cases, it depends on the country in which they live. Here are a few ways to say "cool" in Spanish that I've learned during my travels. 





• Bacano (Colombia)

• Bárbaro

• Brutal

• Chévere (Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, coastal Colombia)

• Chido (Mexico)

• Cool (Panama, as in "¡Que cool!")

• Copado (Argentina)

• Genial

• Guay (Spain)

• Padre (Mexico)

• Regio

• Tuane (Costa Rica)

• Vacano (Dominican Republic) 

Please share any words that I've left out!

Texting and Instant Messaging in Spanish

As I prepared recently to make a presentation about Latin America and the importance of learning Spanish to a bunch of beginning-level seventh- and eighth-grade students, I struggled to come up with topics that middle school kids could relate to. Suddenly, it dawned on me that a great way to keep their interest would be to talk about texting and instant messaging. I pulled together a list of some commonly used abbreviations used in Latin America and now — at the urging of several curious adult friends — am posting them here (needless to say, the kids loved it). Any more to share? Please let me know!







Pq or xq = ¿por qué? or porque



100pre = siempre



grax = gracias



NTP = No Te Preocupes (or sometimes, No Tengo Problema)



Vdd = verdad



Tb = también



Bb = bebe



Cam = cámara





je je je = LOL



KLK (only in the Dominican Republic, I believe) = ¿qué lo que?



TQM or TKM = Te Quiero Mucho