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The featured word for this episode of Caló is sobar. In modern Spanish it means to kneed or massage. Among Caló-speakers along the Rio Grande, sobar is a medical procedure, where a sobador or sobadora massages key muscles on a patient to make either the patient or the muscles go to sleep, depending on whether the ailment is mental, spiritual, or physical.

Today on Caló, writer Oscar Rodriguez highlights the word, cuitcha, also pronounced cuita. It means poop, excrement. By focusing on this word, Rodriguez…

On every episode of "Caló," the show's host Oscar "El Marfa" Rodriguez shares words and expressions from the Rio Grande dialect known as caló. You can…

Órale, today’s episode features the term ‘esqinear,’ which is a verb that in English means to corner. In Caló it means to back you up, defend you, block…

Órale, today’s episode is about the words ‘torcido’ and ‘pinta.’ In modern Spanish, torcido means twisted and pinta means painted. In Caló, torcido means,…

Órale, in today's episode we’re going to use the word ‘escamar.’ It means to spook or frighten. It’s not modern Spanish, but it’s rooted in the old…

Órale, today’s episode is about the word ‘watcha.’ It means look at, get my point, or watch out. It comes from the English word, watch. It could very well…

Today’s word is chavalo. The closest thing in modern Spanish is chavar, to be pesky or bothersome. A chavo in the Caribbean, where Spanish first arrived…

Órale, today’s Caló word is jura, police. It comes from the Spanish word juramento, pledge or promise. Individuals sworn to uphold the law are jurados…

The feature for today’s episode is a key means of communicating in Caló. It's not a word or term, but rather: whistling. It’s relied on almost as much as…