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Órale, the feature this week is the word sobres. It comes from the Spanish word, sobre, which means above or hovering. In Caló, it means to be attentive of or focused on someone or something. When you’re courting, you are sobres, attuned to the needs and desires of the person you’re pursuing. Of course, you can also overdo it and be so sobres that what you’re really doing is stalking. In either case, it can be said you’re sobres only if it shows. Somebody who’s sobres manifests their intentions. Otherwise they’re just being chiflado (presumptuous), but that’s for another episode.

Órale, the featured word this week is chambón. It means a motivated and convinced believer who’s wrong. It’s of unknown origin, with no feasible root in either Spanish or English. The closest word in Romaní, in terms of pronunciation and meaning, is chamborró, which means adolescent—somebody who doesn’t yet know how the world really is. The vato who was sure de amadres he was invited to the party that he brought guests and didn’t even ring the doorbell, but nel, he wasn’t invited, is a chambón! No psychological or behavioral condition is necessary to be a chambón. You just have to hit the wall going one hundred miles an hour sure there was an opening when there was never any.

The ant has evolved an organ specifically to host its “good bacteria.”

Órale, this week we’re gonna talk about the word jambar. It means to steal. Unlike another words in Caló that speak to similar acts, trinquetear and remangar, to cheat or trick somebody out of something and to piler or cuff something, Jambar is straight ahead graceless, guileless theft. Jambones are sura. They take other people’s valuables. Don’t expect them to give anything back, only that they eventually get what they deserve.

Órale, this week’s feature is the word, güiliado. It means to be enchanted. It comes from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word for dove, huilotl. There’s a near-synonym, chiflado, that’s often expressed as a simple whistle, for it comes from the Spanish verb for whistle, but it means to be presumptuous, carried away, or obsessed. Somebody who’s said to be güiliado, is said to be in love.

Órale, the feature of this week is the word pistear. It means to drink inebriant or become inebriated. There are close-sounding words in both Spanish and Nahuatl, pisto and pizoh, which mean a frittata and flooring respectively. But neither come close to the Caló meaning. There’s also the related noun in Caló, pisto, which means a drink or sip of something or hard alcohol itself, as in, he bought of bottle of pisto for himself and a caguama (quart) of beer for his ruca. While pistear usually refers to alcohol, Caló-speakers will understand what you mean if you use it in reference to non-alcoholic drinks, but they’ll take it as an off-handed reference, as if you’re saying the pisto is a substitute for alcohol. "You pisteando, ese? Simón, but just tea."

Órale, the Caló word of the week is birria. It means beer. Although likely from the English, it’s lingua franca (common tongue), not Spanglish because the English word and, for that matter, the Italian word for the same, birra, both come from the Germanic word, beir. The Spanish word for birria is cerveza, a very different sounding word and root. And if you’re offered birria in Mexico, what’s meant is barbecue, not beer. So watchale. Don’t order birria in Spanglish if what you want is beer.

Between the dinosaurs' extinction and the fauna we know today, mammals have gone through a dizzying array of changes.

Órale, the feature for this episode is rajar. In Spanish it means to break or splinter. In Caló it means to cower, give up, or quit the fight. It also means to break a promise. People who commit to something and then don’t follow through are rajones. People who keep their word once they give it even at great cost to themselves, are people who no se rajan. There’s an old saying in this regard that invokes the image of someone who is down to his last breath yet still no se raja: ‘scupo sangre, no rajo.

Órale, the feature for this episode is the expression ponerle machín. It’s Spanglish. Its literal translation is “act like a machine.” In Caló, it means to step strong, show your power, or get into something assuredly, masterfully.