Churro

Earlier this week, I walked into the newsroom and was greeted with people eagerly calling to me. “Valen! We need your opinion on this,” they said. A lunchtime debate: how to translate churro when describing someone? I won’t reveal who was being discussed but it’s an old-fashioned term for describing someone as good-looking in a non-creepy way. 

Looking it up, I was somewhat alarmed to find that churro doesn’t always mean a good thing. In Spain, it can refer to something low-quality (like our berreta). In Honduras, it’s someone bad at their job — and it’s also journalist jargon for unimportant news or long-winded interviews that go nowhere. Still, in other places, it’s a thick type of wool. In Argentina, at least, it means that you’re cute and seem kind of sweet, like its delicious namesake. Honestly, you’re more likely to be offered a churro, which could be fried dough or, as older generations may recall, marihuana.

Anyway, in the newsroom, “easy on the eyes” was a strong contender. For me, however, the food element is what makes the term charming: maybe something akin to “dish”? Another candidate was “tootsie roll,” which, although adorable, was dismissed as laughably old-timey. What do you think?

Tirado de los pelos

Sometimes translating and explaining everyday phrases can make us double-take: “dragged by the hair” sounds incredibly aggressive but it just means that something is irrational or doesn’t make sense. This came up in an interview, where Agustín Cerimedo claimed that the charges against him were tirado de los pelos. Facundo translated this as “outlandish” and pointed out that it ultimately means “forced.” There’s also descabellado, the idea of something being removed from the head — or silly enough to make you want to tear your hair out. 

En pañales

Same as tirado de los pelos, saying that “the night is in diapers” just doesn’t have the same ring to it in English and honestly makes me think more about what they contain. La noche está en pañales means that the night is young — so young that it’s still in diapers — and often that the best is yet to come. Like, what do you mean you’re leaving already?

You can describe almost anything as en pañales and needs more time to develop — Amy said this about a public policy, but it could also be a relationship, a business, or a career. Or indeed, a baby, but I’m not sure why you’d need to point that out.