In an effort to learn some Peruvian slang (or jergas) I’ve been asking a variety of people to help me identify some of the most common local terms and expressions. I’ve asked Peruvians in clothing shops, bars, Uber cabs, and my language school. They have been men and women and have varied in age. One must have been just eighteen or nineteen years old, and others were in their forties and fifties. I’ll describe some of the slang I’ve learned, though I’ll leave out the swear words.
It’s very common that sang terms are based on formal words that sound alike or have the same letters. When you call a car lenteja, literally meaning “lentil,” you’re really calling it lento, meaning “slow.” When you call someone mano, literally meaning “hand,” you’re really calling them hermano, meaning “brother.” When you say you want to go to the ypla, you r mean the playa, meaning the beach.
The most interesting expression, which I learned from two middle-aged women in a bar, was estoy Chihuán. It means “I’m broke,” but it actually comes from someone’s last name. Leyla Chihuán is a Congresswoman who infamously complained that her salary in Congress was not sufficient to support her lifestyle. Since most Peruvians make much less money than those in Congress do, the phrase sparked widespread ridicule and produced this slang term. Another phrase you can use when you lack money is estar misio.
Informal greetings are common among good friends but are not used in formal settings. Instead of hello, people sometimes say “¡Habla causa!,” “¡Habla batteria!,” or “¡Habla bateria!” The words causa, bateria, and pata are used like “friend” or “dude.”
I found that you’re often more likely to hear most of those words above from men, but one slang term that I only heard from women was churro. It is an adjective used to describe a handsome man.
There are some “Peruvianisms” that seemed very familiar to everyone I talked with, and most were very comfortable using them. A choro is a thief. Chela means beer. A pituco is a rich snob. A tombo is a police officer. When you have bad luck, you say “¡Que piña!,” even though piña literally means pineapple. When you are embarassed or ashamed you can say “!Que roche!“