In the internet age, the world is full of people who pretend to be experts and all-knowledgeable when in fact they don’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about. 

You may have hoped that the translation of bullshit in Spanish would be mierda de toro, given the importance of the bull for Spain’s cultural identity. 

Unfortunately, this is not the case, but there are several words for bullshit in Spanish. 

Pamplinas , tonterías , palabrería or sandeces are four of them, but if you want to exclaim ‘bullshit!’ like they do in English, your best bet is to say ¡Mentira! (Lie!).

If you want to say ‘don’t bullshit me’ in Spanish, you can either say no me mientas (don’t lie to me), no me jodas (don’t fuck with me) or deja de decir disparates (stop saying stupidities).

Now onto calling out a bullshitter, which is when things get very descriptive.

There’s cantamañanas, which in its most literal sense translates to ‘tomorrow singer’ in Spanish but really describes someone who’s a fantasiser, a liar or bullshitter. This word was coined during the Spanish Golden Age (16th and 17th century) to describe those who would say mañana (tomorrow) whenever they were asked to do something. 

Another equally evocative word to call out a bullshitter is vendehúmos, a smoke seller, which the Spanish Royal Academy of Language (RAE) describes as “a person who displays or simulates worthiness or privilege as a powerful person to sell his favour to suitors”. 

When someone is selling bullshit and is a show-off to boot, you call them un/a fantasma in Spanish, a ghost.

A person who’s a phoney can also be called un/a farsante, un/a impostora/a (both meaning an imposter).

Someone who is prone to telling stories or recounting events that are not true or embellished is also appropriately labelled un/a novelero/a or un/a cuentista, a ‘novelist’ or ‘storyteller’.

The most straightforward way to refer to a liar in Spanish is to call them un/a mentiroso/a or un/a embustero/a.

Examples:

Instagram está lleno de vendehúmos que prometen que van a hacerte rico con su ‘método’.

Instagram is full of bullshitters who promise they’re going to make you rich with their ‘method’.

¡Deja de decir sandeces, anda! ¡Eres más cuentista!

Stop telling fibs, will you? You’re such a spinner of yarns! 

¡Me da que tu life coach es un auténtico cantamañanas!

I think your life coach is a real bullshitter!

¡Mentira! ¡No has hecho el trabajo que te mandé!

Bullshit! You haven’t done the work I gave you!

Julio es un fantasma, dice que se ha acostado con mil mujeres y se cree un dios.

Julio is a bullshitter, he says he’s slept with 1,000 women and thinks he’s a god.

READ ALSO: ¡Joder! An expert guide to correctly using the F-word in Spanish