Hours of Geekish Fun

Sometimes I'm almost ashamed at how little it takes to bring me hours of delirious pleasure. The latest example would be this totally awesome Lunfardo-English dictionary (or mataburros), a steal at 25 pesos. Lunfardo is, of course, the local Buenos Aires patois, with roots in the argot of prisoners, and parallels to the French Verlan. For instance, "tordo" for 'doctor', obtained by an inversion of the syllables; the procedure itself is referred to as "vesre", by inversion of the syllables of revés.




Time considerations forbid me from going on at great length this evening (though you may expect me to return to this particular treasure trove at intervals). But two of my favorite entries so far include:

raviol: a small packet of cocaine

and the hilariously translated

darle margaritas a los chanchos: which you or I might think means "to cast pearls before swine", but which the dictionary earnestly assures us means, "to waste something on someone", literally, "to feed margaritas to the pigs".

And with that unforgettable image of the tequila-swilling porkers, we shall have to leave things for tonight.