4

I have heard the following sentence in the Narcos TV series:

Pues que el muy hijo de puta llenó de policías el Barrio Escobar y se orinó encima de su mural, patrón.

Context: Colonel Carillo, an honest Colombian colonel who is committed to finding and killing Carlos Escobar has recently returned to Colombia after an exile in Spain. His first act after being assigned to lead the Search Block, responsible for capturing Escobar, is going to the neighborhood created by Pablo Escobar and piss on his mural. One of Pablo's hitmen learns about it and tells Pablo the news, using the sentence above.

What is the difference in meaning between orinar and orinarse in this context? In Portuguese, the corresponding verbs "se urinar"/ "se mijar" are only used to refer to accidentally urinating in one's own clothes, e.g. babies, people with urinary incontinence or someone who urinates because of a fit of laughter. Although I think that the Spanish verb "orinarse" is used in the same way, that is obviously not the case in the sentence above.

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    "orinar 1. intr. Expeler naturalmente la orina. [Usado también como pronominal]"
    – jacobo
    Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 23:35
  • 1
    The same difference you describe in Portuguese applies in Spanish (orinar is voluntary, orinarse is involuntary). It would have been more correct to say orinó su mural.
    – Gustavson
    Commented Jan 13, 2020 at 0:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

Orinarse is typically what @Gustavson said, it's when the person has an accident and pees himself, or pees on himself, without intending to. However, in this context, adding "se" gives the expression more oomph. Here are some ways of getting a similar added oomph for the same situation, in English:

  • Without added oomph: He peed on the wall.

  • With added oomph: He only went and peed on the wall.

A narrator who wants to give more dramatic effect will say it with the added oomph.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Indeed, this extra pronoun is common in insults involving excretion, where the action is clearly voluntary and purposeful (e.g. Me cago en...). It might be a sort of dative of interest, but that's not really important here.
    – pablodf76
    Commented Jan 13, 2020 at 21:40

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.