On Twitter, I came across the expression "que fuñenga". The full tweet is:
Se dañó la nevera 🙃 que fuñenga
With the help of Google Translate, I get that the Twitter user is saying that her fridge stopped working. But when she says "que fuñenga", the translation I am getting on Google Translate is "let it go", which I don't understand...
All answers are very much appreciated!
7/8/21: I tried to look up this word in a 1960s Spanish-English Dictionary and it was no where to be found. Then I tried a Google search and all I found on Google was the link to the question you asked on this site, and then I tried Google translate. The translation I received from Google translate was the same word: fuñenga (how weird), so I asked your question on another Q&A forum website and the answers I received might be of help to you.
According to the first answerer, this word "fuñenga" is slang, and is unheard of depending on the country you are from, for example if your from Colombia and the person tweeting this is from Chile, then you have never heard of this word because every country has their own colloquial expressions. Of course Chile and Colombia are just examples I don't know where you are from and I don't know where the person tweeting this is from either. The point is Spanish colloquial expressions vary from one Spanish-speaking country to another. The context may give us a clue that the person tweeted: Oh poop! The fridge is broken. The second answerer said that this could have been a typo and the word actually meant to be tweeted was "Fango" which can mean sludge or mud.
When I asked your question on this other forum, part of what I posted got cut off because it was too long, so when the first answerer looked this word up on Twitter, the first answerer found out that the tweet actually read: Se dañó la nevera 🙃 que fuñenga instead of que fuñenga Se dañó la nevera. The first answerer then said: "This can suggest a slight change, and I would then translate it as The fridge broke. What a drag!"
so fuñenga probably means drag
If context is all you have, then context is very important in what determines the meaning of fuñenga to a translator and the more context you have the better. If you don't have enough context, then all you can do is assume the meaning and then this word (or any other unheard of word) is better left untouched because if you have to assume the meaning that means there is not enough context to allow the translator to determine the actual meaning, however, I know you provided all the context you could provide.
The first answerer thought this expression "que fuñenga" comes from Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the Dominican Republic because of the way fuñenga is spelled at the end (n-g-a).
The second answerer said "Also possible that it’s not straight Spanish. Some countries in South America, like Uruguay and Paraguay, have a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Portuñol and Guarani, (an indigenous language from Paraguay)."
I hope this answer helps.
7/9/21: In addition to all this:
It should be noted that according to https://www.spanishdict.com/phrases/que the word que without an accent on the e means: that. And the word qué with an accent on the e means: what
A third answerer noted that on Google translate que fuñenga means: let it go. And the third answerer also noted that on Google translate fuñenga means: fuñenga. In other words there is no English translation for fuñenga alone.
Now I know why the first answerer thought que fuñenga could be translated to what a drag. This is because qué means: what. The full tweet says: Se dañó la nevera 🙃 que fuñenga. There is no accent on the e in the word que in this tweet. The first answerer thought there was an accent on the e in que and that maybe the person who tweeted this forgot to add this accent.
Now I can see why que fuñenga is translated as let it go on Google translate. This is because because the words it and that are both grammatically used the same way in English. In spanish que means that, but Google translate is translating que as it when Google translate should be translating que as that, so Google translate should have translated que fuñenga as let that go instead of let it go, but Google translate is just a machine translator, not a human. where did the word it come from, when que means that? Whoever programmed this machine translator at Google probably thought que could be translated as it because since que means that, this machine translator can have the word it as a translation because it and that are grammatically used interchangeably in English.
You might want to read about the words it and that on this site: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/free-english-lesson/2014/01/22/it-vs-that-in-grammar-conversation-english-lesson/
I hope this edited answer helps.
7/10/21: I recently asked on the other Q&A forum website as a separate question if que (without the accent on the e) can ever translate to it? or does que only translate to that? If Google translate is correct that “que fuñenga” means “let it go,” does “que” translate to “it” or does “que” only translate to “that”? If “que” only translates to “that,” should Google translate have translated “que fuñenga” as “let that go”? and in my separate question I noted the difference between que and qué and then second answerer to my separate question with my note said:
Most of the time, translations cannot be literal, that means word by word because you will end up with something crazy. Good translation is about understanding the expression you want to translate and look for the equivalent in the other language that best fits, even if it doesn’t match word by word. What really matters is to convey the meaning so that it communicates the same meaning in both languages.
This is everything the second answerer told me.
Then I asked your question again on a another different Q&A forum website to see if I could get more insight from more people and the first answerer (and maybe the only answerer because this question turned out to be a duplicate in this Q&A forum website in particular) said:
Que fuñenga is a very Spanish way to express dissatisfaction when something is wrong or does not work properly, meaning misfortune, setback, mishap, complication. Normally people will say “qué jodienda”, but it does not sound nice.“Que fuñenga, se me estropeó el televisor! ("What a setback my TV is broken).
That is everything this first answerer (and will probably be the only answerer) told me.
I sincerely hope this latest edit clears everything up for you.
7/23/21:
https://www.definiciones-de.com/Definicion/de/fu%C3%B1enda.php
https://www.definiciones-de.com/Definicion/de/fu%C3%B1ir.php
In the Diccionario de la lengua española there is only a handful of words that start with fuñ and none ot them have an e after the ñ. Thus fuñenga is not a word recognized by the Real Academia Española.
The Diccionario de americanismos does not include the word fuñenga, but it has the very similar fuñenda:
I. 1. f. RD. Fastidio, molestia o disgusto.
and that sense (annoyance) fits well with the user's fridge stopping working.
Therefore my guess is that fuñenga is a typo, and it should be fuñenda.
