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

  • Sabías que Júlio Cesar invadió Gran Bretaña cuando tenía 44 años? Perdió el poder varias veces, pero siempre lo recuperó. Nunca se dejó derrotar.
  • Pero ese gran marica tenía un ejército ni el hijo de puta, no?

What does "ni" mean here? Is it a Colombian regionalism?

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    I think "que" is omitted just before "ni": "tenía un ejército que ni el hijo de puta".
    – Charo
    Feb 1, 2020 at 15:09
  • @Charo what would that mean? Feb 1, 2020 at 16:30
  • Alan we need a link and a timestamp PLEASE. Or make a little sound bite for us if it's behind a pay wall. Feb 1, 2020 at 20:21
  • @aparente001 I watch this TV series on Netflix. It is not available for free in any legal site which I could link to here. If your concern is that I'm mishearing the sentence in hand, the Spanish subtitles available in the TV series confirm it. Feb 1, 2020 at 23:34
  • A great answer came in, so we're good. // Lots of people do have netflix. In future I think it's worthwhile to identify season, episode and time stamp. Feb 3, 2020 at 3:27

1 Answer 1

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In that context it's a Colombian regionalism used to express an exaggeration commonly used with vulgarity.

For example, someone wants to highlight the cold weather yesterday: "ayer hacía un frío ni el vulgar word here"

or multiplying the vulgarity factor "ayer hacía un frío ni el triple vulgar word here"

I can think of a similarity with expressions like "it's cold as a mtfk." Only use it with close friends.

edit:

More examples (common in Colombia - all vulgar):


There was a huge line:

Había una fila ni la hijueputa

(In Colombia we say hijueputa instead of "hijo de puta")


He had a really big knife

El tenía un cuchillo ni el hijueputa

Complaining about yesterday's weather

Ayer hacía un calor ni el hijueputa

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    Can you give us a couple more examples? I feel like I almost get it. Feb 2, 2020 at 8:50
  • 2
    Welcome to the site, by the way there is no need to hide the vulgar words, this is a language site where all words are of interest.
    – mdewey
    Feb 2, 2020 at 12:19
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    @aparente001 I added a couple more examples. Feb 3, 2020 at 0:58
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    Great answer! Small question: you wrote "había una fila ni la hijueputa." Is it true that the swearword ("hijueputa") must take the same gender as the noun it intensifies ("fila") ? What about number: would you then say "Tiene unos granos ni los hijos de puta"?
    – wimi
    Feb 3, 2020 at 7:57
  • 1
    @wimi That's correct. Feb 4, 2020 at 16:11

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