LGBT News Why 'Puto' Must Go

I saw the thread title. I had no idea that soccer would have been woven into this. The article is correct in that "puto" has several meanings. It can mean a male prostitute or it can mean a guy who has sex with guys, thus making it an insult when a person calls a guy a "puto." However, like the article said, it can also mean "a jerk," and that's the only way I've heard it used. Then, depending on the intonation, it can mean that you think the person is despicable, as in very stupid, corrupt, or evil, and, if the intonation is more jovial, it's something that even straight friends will call each other if one has pissed the other one off. The last situation is the one I have witnessed the most.

 

This is what puto means here.

 

A very important thing to keep in mind when discussing the Spanish language. It is very fragmented. From country to country and region to region the meaning of words very tremendously. Words that are perfectly normal in one region are very vulgar in another.

I haven't spoke Spanish in the better part of a decade so I am pretty rusty, but IIRC in Mexican Spanish it is vulgar, but means wimpy and cowardly. In English we use the word bitch in a similar way some times. Like when someone wimps out we tell them to quit being a little bitch and do it.

So not homophobic, but it does have some misogynistic overtones to it.

 

True. I mean, Spain is on one continent and Latin America is on two other continents.

Right, words can definitely change by country. As for the word penis, many Latin American countries use the word "verga" or something like that, the Cubans call it a "pinga," and Spain might call it something else. Stamps can be "selos" in some countries and "stampillas" in others. Then, "cojer" means to fetch or acquire something in many cases, but can also mean to have intercourse in other places. It's crazy.

Now, "puto" is a steamed rice cake, presumably in Tagalog. Who'd have thunk?