¿Quiubo parcero?

I don't know about you, but the first thing I thought when I first saw "Quiubo" is "What?  Is that even Spanish?".  Turns out it is.

Quiubo is a shortened version of ¿Qué hubo?, which if you ask me, is almost as cryptic as quiubo.

Think of it as our bastardized version of "what's up" - "wazzup".  In fact, "what's up" is what this phrase actually means.   Add it to your list of informal Spanish greetings.  I know this phrase is used in Colombia and Mexico, but I'm not making any promises about anywhere else.

That leaves us with parcero.    Parcero (parcera) is simply another way to call someone an amigo, along the lines of pana, mano, compa, carnal and cuate.  Parcero is very Colombian.  And according to our good friends at Word Reference, the abbreviated form, parce, is very much in fashion these days. 

Let's take a moment to talk about a few more informal greetings. 

Pana, which I believe is very common in South America, goes quite well with:

¿Qué hay pana?
What's new buddy?

And "Qué hay" is short for "Qué hay de nuevo". 

Then there's "Qué onda".

Qué onda compa (mano/carnal/cuate)
What's up buddy/brother/dude

Keep in mind words like compa, mano (shortened from hermano), carnal, and cuate don't always have an exact (or any) translation, consider the English words more or less equivalents.  I grouped all these together because they are very Mexican.  Spend a few minutes listening to a morning radio talk show on your local Mexican station and you'll probably hear all of these within 30 minutes.  Also, click here to read my earlier post about "qué onda".  If you plan on going to Mexico or speak with a lot of Mexicans, you'll want this one in you toolbox.

And of course there's "¿Qué pasa?, but do we really need to discuss this one? 

The last one I'll mention is...

Qué has hecho
What have you been up to?

I'm sure there's a bizillion more of these, but at some point in your Spanish speaking career you will hear all of the ones I mentioned above, if you haven't already.

Ya!  That's it for today. 

¡Hasta la próxima!

Qué onda güey

To be honest, I can't believe I haven't posted about this a long time ago.

If you spend any significant amount of time in México socializing with the people, or even here in the US, this is a phrase you can't escape from.  It's virtually a staple of Méxican spanish.

When I go to Mexico, I spend 3-5 days in las calles (the streets) and bares (bars) talking with anyone and everyone.  And talking to the taxistas (cab drivers) is just as fun, if not more so.  But most of the language they teach me belongs on my other blog.  But I digress.  Getting back to the subject at hand, walking up and down the streets of Tijuana, I can't walk two steps without hearing these words, especially "güey".

Let's start with  "Qué onda".  It means "what's up?".  "Güey" means dude, and you will likely see it written as buey as well.  The real definition of "güey" is Ox, as in the animal.  "Qué onda"  literally is "what wave?".  Best to just remember it as "what's up".  Both of these are very informal, but very common as well. 


 "Qué onda" is pretty straight-forward, I only have one other thing to add about the expression.   A few hand gestures and a change in the tone of your voice and "Qué onda güey" goes from "what's up" to "You got a problem dude?". 

OK, so now let's talk about "güey".  

So, who uses  the word "güey"?  This one's easy, everybody.  Guys say it to guys, girls say it to girls, and guys say it to girls. Literally everyone uses this term, regardless of age.

How else can we use the word "güey"?  Here's a couple of examples...

Qué pasa güey , qué haces güey, cómo estás güey, llamame güey.

I think you get the picture.  You can use it in the same manner as you would "dude"  in English.   

 Now, while it's true a montón (ton) of people use the word "güey", not everybody likes it.  My maestra is one of those people, and quite surprisingly, she's only 23.  So, like always, exercise a bit of caution.

Well, that's it.  Use the words "Qué onda güey", and you are going to sound "muy Méxicano".

¡Hasta la próxima!