SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

LEARNING SPANISH

More than ‘loco’: The many ways to say crazy in Spanish

Even people who don’t speak Spanish know that 'loco' means crazy, but there are plenty of other amusing ways to describe madness in Spain.

More than 'loco': The many ways to say crazy in Spanish
'To be like a goat' is one of the Spanish expressions used to describe someone that's mad. Photo: Son Bom/Pexels

Loco/a is the Spanish adjective for mad or crazy, in the sense of someone who is insane or mentally unstable. 

It can also be used as a noun to name a mad person, un loco or una loca

If you want to say that someone has gone mad, you say se ha vuelto loco/a

English has a wide array of expressions and words to describe craziness, and as we’re about to see, Spanish is no different. 

Estar como una cabra – To be like a goat

Example: 

Este tío está como una cabra.

This guy is barking mad.

Estar como una regadera – To be like a watering can

Example:

¡Madre mía! ¡Estás como una regadera!

Oh my! You’re bananas!

Estar mal de la olla – To not be well of the pot

Example: 

¿Pero qué te pasa? ¿Estás mal de la olla?

¿What’s wrong with you? Have you gone mad?

Faltarle un tornillo – To lack a screw

Example: 

Le falta un tornillo, por eso vive en un árbol.

He’s got a screw loose, that’s why he lives in a tree.

Estar mal de la cabeza – To not be right in the head

Example: 

Marcos está mal de la cabeza, yo que tú lo evitaría.

Marcos isn’t right in the head, if I were you I’d avoid him. 

Faltarle un agua/hervor – To be lacking some water/boiling 

Example: 

A mi abuela le falta un hervor, es muy mayor ya. 

My gran’s lost her marbles, she’s very old now. 

Estar colgado/a – To be hanging

Está colgado, va por la calle desnudo.

He’s batshit crazy, he walks around naked outdoors.

Irse a alguien la pinza/la olla – To lose one’s clothes peg/pot

Example:

¡Se te ha ido la pinza! ¿Por qué has hecho eso?

You’ve gone mad! Why did you do that?

Estar chiflado/chalado 

Example:

Es el típico profesor chiflado.

He’s the typical mad professor.

Estar majareta/majara

Example: 

Cuidado con la chica esa, está majara.

Careful with that girl, she’s not all there.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Spanish Words of the Day: Top Manta

If you've spent time in any major Spanish city or tourist spot, you'll have no doubt seen 'top manta' happening.

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).

SHOW COMMENTS