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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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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).

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