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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…

The feature today is the word coco. It means wound, bruise, or skin cut. It’s used either as baby talk — what a young child tells a parent, or as empathetic acknowledgement of a friend or relative’s hurt. Outsiders suffer wounds and bumps. Close friends and kin have cocos.

Órale, today’s feature in Caló is the word frajo. It means cigarette. There is nothing comparable or related in Spanish or English.By Oscar “El Marfa”…

On Caló this week, host Oscar Rodriguez explores two words: “Mercar” and "Trucha" — the first meaning to buy or purchase, and trucha meaning to watch out,…

Órale, today’s episode is about the expression ‘ponle un cinco.’ It’s modern Spanish and translates to ‘put a nickel in it.” The context is an old…

Órale, today’s episode features the complex expression, ‘pintar un venado’. It’s modern Spanish. In English it means ‘paint a deer.” It’s used in Caló to…

Órale, today’s episode is about the word ‘cameo.’ In Spanish is means camel. In Caló it means job or employment. There’s a similar term that’s sometimes…

Órale, today the focus is going to be on the word ‘gacho.’ It means undesireable, mean, bad. It’s rooted in the French word for left-handed, ‘gauche,’ which back in time represented the wrong way. That meaning evoled in Caló to the point the term is now very value laden, as in, “Que gacho George. He wouldn’t co-sign my car loan. Now I have to buy something gacho.”

Órale, the Caló word for this episode is ‘morra.’ It means girlfriend. It implies mutual attraction, but it’s gender specific. The masculine counterpart,…

The Caló word for this episode is ‘rola,’ which means song. It comes from the juke box brand that launched in the 1930s, Rock-Ola. Each song in the Rock-Ola came to be known as a rola, over time so too did the songs that played on the radio or were accessible from vinyl albums, compact discs, and electronic playlists.