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SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Spanish Word of the Day: Asco

Spaniards say this word when turning their noses up at something, and it’s used in all manner of expressions. 

Spanish Word of the Day: Asco
What do you say in Spanish if you find an insect on your toothbrush? ¡Qué asco! Photo: Joni Ludlow/Unsplash

Asco is the Spanish word for disgust. 

It can refer to the physical feeling of nausea, or to the sense of repulsion at something or someone, physically or morally. 

The most common usage of asco you’ll hear in Spain is when someone exclaims ¡Qué asco!, which is like saying ‘yuck!’, ‘gross!’ or ‘disgusting!’ as an interjection. 

If something is disgusting, you use the verb dar (to give) and not ser or estar (to be), as in da asco.

To say that something or someone is hecho/a un asco describes it as a mess or dirty.

Again, repulsiveness can be caused by a person’s physical nature or behaviour, so when you want to describe someone as un asco de persona (a disgusting or appalling person) it can be like calling them a pig, or highlighting their moral crookedness.

The person who experiences this sense of disgust will often have a cara de asco, a face or look of disgust.

There are some interesting expressions to do with asco, such as la confianza da asco, which is like saying that familiarity breeds contempt. 

There’s also muerto de asco, which although suggests deaths from disgust, really means being bored stiff.

Someone who’s moaning about how bad their life is will also say ¡Qué asco de vida!, ‘What a crummy life!’.

And if you want to tell someone to stop turning their noses up at someone or turning it down, you use the expression no hacerle ascos

Asco is not a colloquial word but there are the more formal synonyms in Spanish of repugnancia, repulsión, aversión or desagrado

A less formal synonym on a par with asco is grima, although this implies more the type of disgust that gives one the willies or makes them grimace.

Examples:

Está casa da asco, es una auténtica pocilga. 

This house is disgusting, it’s a real pigsty.

Eres una persona muy malvada, me das asco.

You’re a very evil person, you disgust me.

Si te mudas a ese pueblo te vas a morir de asco.

If you move to that village you’re going to be bored stiff.

Tienes el coche hecho un asco, lávalo ya porfavor.

Your car is a mess, clean it now please.

¿Te has sacado un moco? ¡Qué asco!

Did you just pick a bogie out of your nose? Gross!

Member comments

  1. Buenas tardes, did something get lost in translation? I would translate ‘Si te mudas a ese pueblo te vas a morir de asco.’ as ‘If you move to that village you will die of disgust’ not of boredom.
    For boredom, I think you would say ‘Si te mudas a ese pueblo te vas a morir de aburrimiento’ or ‘Si te mudas a ese pueblo morirás de aburrimiento’ if using the future tense.

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LEARNING SPANISH

Spanish Words of the Day: En plan 

Saying ‘en plan’ in Spanish is a bit like…

Spanish Words of the Day: En plan 

En plan is used all the time in spoken Spanish when you want to express intention, mode and attitude.

For example, salimos en plan amigos, ‘we went out as friends’. 

Or estamos en plan fiesta, ‘we’re in party mode’. 

Va vestida en plan militar, ‘she’s wearing military-style clothing’.

In essence, it’s a fast and easier way of setting the scene, a versatile means of describing which is like saying ‘like’, or ‘as’, ‘-mode’ or ‘-style’ in English. 

However, the meanings of en plan have expanded recently thanks to young people, who have adopted it a bit like their filler word or pet phrase (what Spaniards call una muletilla). 

En plan is now used similarly to o sea, used to explain in another way or exemplifies what is being said.

READ MORE: What does ‘o sea’ mean in Spanish?

For example, María está desaparecida, en plan no la veo desde hace más de un año.

‘María has completely disappeared, I mean, I haven’t seen her in more than a year’.

It’s also used when you want to express something as if it were a quote. 

El policía me dijo en plan te voy a multar, ‘the police officer was like ‘I’m going to fine you’’.

Therefore, en plan has become a bit like saying ‘like’ when talking in English and joining ideas together or emphasising something. 

It can be a bit exasperating to hear teens use it all the time, as in:

Hablé con Julia en plan buen rollo, y me dijo en plan eres una cabrona, que ya no quiere ser mi amiga, en plan que no quiere quedar más. 

‘I spoke to Julia on like good terms, and she was like ‘you’re a bitch’, she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore, like she doesn’t want to meet up anymore’.

If you don’t believe us, take Robert De Niro’s and Jack Nicholson’s word for it. 

However, en plan can be a very useful tool to get to the point quickly and avoid more complicated sentence constructions in Spanish.

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