I was originally going to call this post Mexi-Vocabulario: Palabras Para Ligar, which basically means the same thing as the English translation above, so let’s go ahead and start there. ¡Ligar! To conquer. To make the object of your affection fall madly in love with you… or at the very least pay attention to you. Ligar is one of those words that can be used either by the suitor or the person receiving all of the attention. For example ¡me lo voy a ligar! or he just wants to ‘ligar’ with me. Okay, I accept these aren’t the greatest examples, but you get the point!
Here are some other good Mexi-Vocabulario words for love:
Mango – As in ¡estas bien mango! meaning “dayumm you are fine!” Mango is most commonly used to describe a person of the male sex, but I guess you could use it for either gender. It may sound kind of funny though to call a woman a mango. One thing I do know for sure is that so many of you have said William Levy “está bien mango“.
Mona – ¡Ay chiquita estas bien mona! Oh honey you are so mona! Now as many of you might already know, in a lot of Latin American countries mona means monkey. So you might be wondering why would I call the woman I’m interested in a monkey? In truth, you’re not. In this context mona means doll… like saying “you are so beautiful you look like a doll (a beauty that is too good to be true).”
Chula – As in beautiful. A woman who is gorgeous to look at and who should be admired for her sheer beauty. You should also know, however, that other definitions of chula do include insolente or insolent in English.
Chiquilla/Chiquita – Little one. No! Not as in small-minded or feeble, but as in precious, cute, adorable, etc. Note, this word is not necessarily reserved only for petite women. Lots of mujeres with “real curves” actually love being called chiquilla. Probably the same amount hate the reference of being chuiquita. I’m telling y’all! Sometimes us guys can’t win for trying.
Gorda – This one comes with a big old warning slapped all over it because if you don’t use it with extreme care you might end up with a big old cachetada yourself. Gorda means fat… but in just the right context it can mean everything but that. Usually you’ll hear a guy call his girlfriend, wife, etc. ¡Gorda! if she is anything but that. A term of endearment really. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a man call his more voluptuous partner this. I don’t think I want to either.
Hermosa/Preciosa – If you’d rather do your conquering on the safe side, preciosa or hermosa are probably as safe a bet as any. There isn’t really any room for misinterpretation. Both words mean beautiful and are probably universally understood as simply that: a complimentary word meant to compliment a women on her beauty. If you mess that one up… pues que te puedo decir.
That’s a pretty good start I think. If you like this version of Mexi-Vocabulario let me know and we’ll play again real soon. Hope your having an awesome Hump Day! No sean mal pensados… I mean it in the most innocent, clean sense possible 🙂
I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.
Writer’s Disclaimer: When I say mexi-vocabulario I don’t necessarily mean these words are exclusively Mexican, or only used by Mexicans. This is simply an expression of how they were introduced to me in our Mexican Spanish.
More Mexi-Vocabulario