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There are virtually no tango lyrics fully written in Spanish: some words in Lunfardo are key ingredients to the success of such songs.
Lunfardo is a very distinctive slang of Buenos Aires, which was born together with the tango in the end of the 19th century. Therefore, its origins have much to do with the poor suburbian life and with the growing immigation stream, which forced different languages and cultures to harmonize with the local population.
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Its structure is based in replacing Spanish nouns, verbs, adjectives and exclamations by other terms coming from German, Italian, French, Portuguese, English, as well as from some European dialects, several indigenous languages, and even Spanish words which had their original meaning completely altered.
However, the most peculiar element in the Lunfardo slang is that some words are pronounced with inverted syllables: tango then becomes gotán, mujer becomes jermu, pagar is garpar, pedazo is zopeda and so on.
Nowadays, Lunfardo is a very important part of the Buenos Aires informal speech, and has been merged to many other Argentinian slangs that turned up in the streets later on.
Some examples of Lunfardo and other Argentinian slangs:
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| afanar |
to nick, to steal |
| atorrante;
atorranta |
lazy;
a whore |
| un
bajón |
very bad news |
| berreta |
cheap, cheesy |
| una birra |
brew, beer |
| un
cacho |
a bit |
| la
cana, un cana |
the police, a cop |
| un curro |
a swindle |
| un chabón |
a guy, a bloke |
| un chanta |
a cheater, a deceiver |
| un chorro |
a thief |
| un faso |
fag, cigarette |
| fulera |
ugly |
| gamba;
una gamba |
leg;
a hundred pesos |
| gil |
goofy, silly |
| guarda! |
look out! |
| guita |
dosh, money |
| laburar |
to work |
| una
luca |
a thousand pesos |
| la matina |
the morning |
| milico |
a military man |
| una mina |
a chick,a girl |
| morfar |
to eat |
| otário |
jerk, stupid
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| un
palo |
a million pesos |
| un
palo verde |
a million dollars |
| un pibe |
a kid |
| piola |
someone smart; something cool |
| plata |
money |
| un quilombo |
a mess |
| la
timba |
gambling |
| trucho |
fake |
| yeta |
someone or something with bad luck |
| la
yuta |
the police |
| zafar |
to escape, to break free |
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