Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect. Add a dash of Argentine flavor to your Spanish vocabulary with the Transpanish blog’s ongoing feature highlighting some of the most frequently used terms in Lunfardo.
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In Lunfardo, the word “pucho” has a variety of meanings. These include “remainder,” or “the leftovers of something,” but it can also be used to mean “cigarette” or the “cigarette butt” which clearly derives from the idea of the “remainder or leftovers of a cigarette.” When used in its diminutive form, “puchito,” the term means “a little,” “a bit,” or “a small piece of something.”
It is possible that the word comes from the quechua (South American indigenous language) word “puchú,” which means “residue.”
Related words in Lunfardo include:
noun faso: which also means cigarette.
Usage examples: Vamos a hacerlo de a puchos, // Let’s do it little by little
Sobre el pucho, nos dimos cuenta de…. // Suddenly, we realized….
The song “Sobre el Pucho,” composed by Sebastián Piana and with lyrics by José González Castillo beautifully features the word “pucho” to describe how it feels to be suddenly discarded like a cigarette butt (pucho) in the street.
Sobre el Pucho
Un callejón de Pompeya
y un farolito plateando el fango
y allí un malevo que fuma,
y un organito moliendo un tango;
y al son de aquella milonga,
más que su vida mistonga,
meditando, aquel malevo
recordó la canción de su dolor.
Yo soy aquel que, en Corrales,
-los carnavales
de mis amores-
hizo brillar tus bellezas
con las lindezas
de sus primores;
pero tu inconstancia loca
me arrebató de tu boca,
como pucho que se tira
cuando ya
ni sabor ni aroma da.
Tango querido
que ya pa’siempre pasó,
como pucho consumió
las delicias de mi vida
que hoy cenizas sólo son.
Tango querido
que ya pa’siempre calló,
¿quién entonces me diría
que vos te llevarías
mi única ilusión?
