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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Spanish Word of the Day: Chungo

This adjective is essential slang talk in Spain, a word with lots of meanings, all of them fairly negative.

Published: 25 April 2022 17:13 CEST

Spanish Word of the Day: Chungo

If something's 'chungo' in Spanish, it generally isn't good. Photo: Alex Sheldon

Chungo is a colloquial way of saying that something is difficult, dodgy or bad.

It can be used to describe a variety of scenarios and it’s a great way of talking like a native Spanish speaker.

You can talk about the weather being chungo if there are ominous black clouds up ahead.

If you’re stepping into a dodgy neighbourhood, then watch out because it’s un barrio chungo.

If you bought a hairdryer at the rastro (flea market) and it doesn’t work properly, then it’s clearly chungo, and the seller is just as chungo.

Maybe you’ve just sat an exam with complicated questions, you’d call it un examen chungo.

Or if you don’t feel very well, then you’re the one that is chungo.

There’s even an expression to say that things aren’t looking good – la cosa está chunga.

All in all, chungo is a very versatile adjective that you can incorporate into most daily speech even though it’s colloquial.

Here are some examples to help you get used to using chungo.

Example:

Está el tiempo un poco chungo, mejor no vamos a la playa.

The weather isn’t very good today, it’s best if we don’t go to the beach.

Example:

¡Ojo! Es un tío bastante chungo así que no te fíes de él.

Be careful! He’s a pretty dodgy guy so don’t trust him.

Example:

Le has comprado un perfume muy chungo a mamá por el Día de la Madre.

You’ve bought Mum a really crappy perfume for Mother’s Day.

Example:

El barrio de El Príncipe en Ceuta es muy chungo, ¡ten cuidado!

El Príncipe neighbourhood in Ceuta is very dodgy, be careful!

Example:

Me encuentro un poco chungo, con mareos y nauseas.

I’m feeling a bit bad, I’m dizzy and nauseous.

Example:

¿Dama de honor cuando el novio es tu ex? ¡Qué situación más chunga!

Maid of honour when the groom is your ex? ¡That’s an uncomfortable situation!

Example:

¡La cosa está chunga! El Barça tiene que marcar cinco goles para clasificarse.

Things aren’t looking good. Barça have to score five goals to qualify.

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Spanish Words of the Day: Top Manta

Top manta is a Spanish expression used to refer to the illegal sale of fake and counterfeit goods on bedsheets and blankets in the street.

Known as manteros in Spanish, these street hawkers are usually from sub-Saharan African countries, and they sell fake and copied products such as CDs, DVDs and phone cases, as well as imitation clothes (often football shirts), handbags, watches and shoes.

Selling in this way is illegal in Spain, and the idea behind using bedsheets is that they can quickly wrap up their stuff in a sack (there’s often a string attached) and disappear whenever the police pass through the area.

The phrase is pretty simple: manta means bedsheet, blanket, or throw. Top is the English adjective (as in best), used to refer to the supposed quality of the goods on sale.

Many manteros are undocumented migrants, so street selling is often the only form of income they can find in Spain.

However, that hasn’t stopped a group of migrants in Barcelona forming a clothing collective and launching their own clothing brand ‘Top Manta’ that sells its own brand of shoes with the slogan: ‘True clothes for a fake system.’

READ ALSO: In Spain, migrant-designed trainers kick against system

Top manta is illegal but still a common sight in Spanish city centres. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

Though top manta sellers are a familiar sight on streets around Spain, manteros have gained traction in the Spanish media in recent years.

Amadou Diouf, a Senegalese mantero, told El Diario that “a person who dedicates himself to top manta does so because the law on foreigners forces him to do so”, despite the fact that one “arrives in Spain with a desire to work and integrate into society.”

READ ALSO: Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

If the laws were changed, Diouf said, manteros “would dedicate themselves to their own trade”, and he stressed that he and many others were not street sellers in Senegal or their home countries, but started to do so in Spain because they had no other option.

Top Manta used in the Spanish press.

Some years ago a top manta seller who goes by Lory Money went viral on Spanish social media for his song in which he talks about ‘doing a Santa Claus’ (hago el santa claus) referring to the way street sellers quickly turn their manta into a sack, like Santa Claus, before running away.

Examples of top manta in speech

Aunque el top manta sea ilegal, los que lo dedican a ello lo hacen para sobrevivir (Even though street hawking is illegal, the guys who do it for a living need it to survive).

Creo que la policía ha pillado a algunos de los manteros, (I think they caught some of the street vendors).

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