Questions tagged [costa-rica]

Questions about regionalisms and other peculiarities of the variety of Spanish spoken in Costa Rica.

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4 votes
1 answer
176 views

What seafood is implied by "mariscos" in Costa Rica?

I hope to travel to Costa Rica in the coming months. I am allergic to many types of seafood: shellfish (shrimp, clams, oysters, crabs, etc), plus octopus and squid. However, I enjoy eating fish and ...
8 votes
4 answers
27k views

What does "mae" mean? Is it only specific to Costa Rica?

I've seen MAE in Costa Rica used a bit and I was wondering if it is exclusive only to Costa Rica. And also, what is its general meaning? Context is my girlfriend's brother told me this: MAE qué buen ...
3 votes
1 answer
104 views

In Latin America, is "el ataque" or "la convulsión" more commonly used by medical professionals?

My wife is a nurse and we're working on grammar for the next year or two before we travel extensively in Costa Rica. I'm putting together vocab lists and wondering what is more commonly used in a ...
8 votes
1 answer
830 views

¿Cuál es el origen de "samuelear"?

En el Diccionario de la lengua española se recoge samuelear como: tr. coloq. C. Rica. p. us. Dicho de un hombre: Observar furtivamente o con disimulo las partes sexuales de una persona, en especial ...
4 votes
3 answers
889 views

Is it good to use "tú" instead of "usted" to make a connection?

If I want to make a connection with someone, does using Tú instead of Usted indicate that? Or would it be too forward if you do that too soon? I understand this is probably region specific. I live in ...
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is a jupia?

In the Spanish edition of Jurassic Park, set in Costa Rica, there is mention of a local superstition called a jupia. I could find no reference to this word on the RAE, Wikipedia, nor in lists of Costa ...
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is "Honcho" a Spanish word?

I work for a multinational company, in our office we have workers from around the world. One of them is from Costa Rica, he often calls our manager Honcho, So, my question is: Does it mean "manager" ...
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

What is "surime"?

I've been trawling through my collection of interesting Spanish words and found one more wich is not in the DRAE, Wiktionary, Larousse Gran Diccionario, Wikipedia, or Google Translate. surime My ...
4 votes
4 answers
1k views

What does "sobadito" mean?

Here is one more food word I collected in Costa Rica: sobadito In my notes I have only written that it has some connection with food. It's from about five years ago so I don't recall anything more....