How do you say slime (toy) in Spanish

Question

The other day my kids and wife tried making slime at home. I took a picture and I was going to send it to my family in Spain, but I could not figure out how to convey "slime" when it is a toy.

For those who don't understand what I am talking about:

Slime was a toy product manufactured by Mattel, sold in a plastic trash can and introduced in February 1976.1 It consisted of a non-toxic viscous, squishy and oozy green or other color material made primarily from guar gum

Source: wikipedia for slime

Unfortunately, although that entry has a Spanish version, the translation for "slime" is "slime". In wordreference we find some potential translations for "slime", like baba, cieno and limo, but none apply to this context.

When I was writing to my family I considered using the brand name of a slime toy (vulgarización de marca) to convey it, like "Blandiblú" ¹, but I couldn't remember the right spelling and I doubted my parents would understand what I was talking about (This toy was around in the late 80s. It's been a long time).

What's the best word to convey the "slime" toy in Spanish? Is there a generic name for it or are we forced to use the name of the most popular toy names like Blandiblú (or whichever new ones are now around)?

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1- Blandiblú is the only name and brand I an recall for this toy in Spanish. Probably this was another Mattel toy product.

Answer 1

Slime is a wonderful word in English; raw and perfectly descriptive, it is almost onomatopedic, seeming (to the English mind) to beg for exportation. We do have some good options in Spanish, though.

Forgive me as I document for posterity a duplicate of your preliminary resesrch.

Apparently slime has some relation to Latin limus (see etymonline.com), from which root we have (DRAE)

limo

Del lat. limus.

1. m. Lodo, cieno.

Another option, coming (possibly, according to etimologias.dechile.net) from a Celtic root, could be closer:

légamo

Quizá del celta *lĕga-, *lĭga- 'sedimento'; cf.irl. ant. lige 'lecho' y galés llai 'suciedad'.

1. m. Cieno, lodo o barro pegajoso. 2. m. Parte arcillosa de las tierras de labor.

Linguee suggests some synonyms and offers several translated examples, among which appear attractively:

mucílago

Tb. mucilago.

Del lat. tardío mucilāgo 'mucosidad'.

1. m. Sustancia viscosa, de mayor o menor transparencia, que se halla en ciertas partes de algunos vegetales, o se prepara disolviendo en agua materias gomosas.

And simply baba (como de caracol), as ukemi mentioned.

Mucílago's definition concords closely with slime's, and the word has a similar descriptive power; but limo is shorter, approaching slime's monosyllabic elegance, as well as avoiding any reference to bodily secretions. Then the toy/material that you made could be called: mucílago casero, or maybe mucílago sintético.

Answer 2

There are a few options given here, to varying degrees of specificity:

El slime, o moco de gorila, es una especia de masilla, un blandiblú (Blandi Blub) moderno y casero que se puede moldear y customizar a gusto del consumidor.

• ¿Qué es el ‘slime’? (lavanguardia.com/)

El slime (baba o barro en español) es una especie de blandiblú casero que arrasa en YouTube e Instagram.

• http://relatosdetinta-e.blogspot.com/2017/12/como-hacer-slime.html