Mexican Slang: 4 Quick & Easy Phrases to Know

I love language! One of my favorite things to do is surprise someone with a word or two in their own native langauge. If you know Spanish, you'll be all set in Mexico, but there's more to know than just basic Spanish. Mexicans, like other Spanish-speakers, have their own slang. Why not try to surpise a few new amigos with some Mexican slang?

Here's a few basics, but there's much more (that I haven't learned yet).

1. ¿Qué onda?

Meaning: What's up?

Pronounced: Kay on-duh

¿Que onda? is a cool way to greet a friend. For those of you who know Spanish, it's ike ¿Que tal? or ¿Que pasa?

In Spanish, onda means wave, like in the ocean. So, saying this to a Spanish speaker who's not from Mexico will probably not make sense.

2. “¿Qué pedo?”

Meaning: What's up? But with a vulgar connotation

Pronounced: Kay peh-do

Same as the above, ¿Que peda? means what's up, but you would't want to say this in front of your grandma.

Pedo literally means fart.

3. Crudo/cruda

Meaning: hangover

Pronounced: croo-do/croo-duh

Can you think of a more relevant word to know for travel to a country that's famous for cocktail tourism?!

Fun story: In Mexico, I closed my eyes on the resort van on the way to the airport to go home. I heard the driver speculate to the other Mexican person in the car that I probably had a crudo. In an awesome turn of events, a cab driver had told me what crudo meant the night before when I asked him about Mexican slang. See! That's why learning local slang is awesome!

I didn't correct them, by the way.

Note on usage: I've heard people use crudo with tener, like "tengo crudo", as well as with estar, like "estoy cruda".

For the non-Spanish speakers, this is the difference between saying "I have a hangover", and "I am hungover" (as I am female, I would say estoy cruda, whereas you dudes out there should say estoy crudo).

Crudo literally means "raw", in both Spanish and Italian. Now you know.

4. Fresa

Meaning: a stuck up girl

Pronounced: freh-sah

Watch out if you overhear someone calling you this on your Mexican vay-cay! This term refers to rich, stuck up girls.

Fresa literally means strawberry.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of Mexican slang I know! For those of you who know it better, please let me know if you have any corrections, or additions to this list!

#language #Mexico #spanish