M

macana [f] 1 a bad thing to happen, an inconvenience, a pity (quite standard and accepted by now); 2 a bad thing that has been done, a screwup, a mistake (esp. in the phrase mandarse una macana).

macanudo/a [adj, interj] (nothing to do with macana) very good (esp. a deal, an arrangement), nice and friendly, open (a person).

mambo [m, usu. sing] confused, weird and/or pathological state of mind; “issue”: Esa mina tiene un terrible mambo en la cabeza “That girl has an awful mess inside her head”. Can be used in the plural: Vos tenés tus mambos y yo tengo los míos “You have your issues and I have mine”.

mango [m] 1 fig. a unit of currency, esp. in the phrase No tener un mango ‘Not have a (single) mango‘. Etymology uncertain, probably related to the fruit of the same name (though not widely known in Argentina at present). 2 [fixed phrase] al mango (of a machine, a domestic appliance, a car, a recorder) at the maximum possible setting (at full speed, at full volume, etc.); saturated, at the most, al palo.

marca cañón [adj phrase] lit. ‘brand cannon’; big, huge, immense, terrible (esp. used to refer to problems or messes one’s got into). Also marca baño, lit. ‘brand bathroom’.

ma’ qué [interj?] [not polite] surely a rapid speech-form of mas, ¿qué…? ‘but, what…?’. Difficult to explain except with an example: –Fuimos al shopping y… –¡Ma’ qué shopping, si es un supermercado grande! ‘–We went to the mall and… –What mall? It’s a big supermarket!’. Note: if you can explain this better, tell me! This phrase is plain Italian, though its usage is somewhat different.

mear [vi] [rude] to urinate, to pee, to piss (on). It appears in the phrase meado por los perros ‘pissed on by dogs’, meaning ’screwed up, terribly unlucky’.

merca [f] cocaine. Shortening of mercancía, mercadería ‘goods for sale, merchandise’.

metejón [m] a passion for an object, person or issue; a strong yearning. From meterse ‘to get oneself into [a place]‘ = ‘to fall hopelessly in love’. Used as tener un metejón con ‘to have a yearning with = for’.

meter [vt] [fixed phrase] meter la pata ‘to get one’s leg in’, to do something stupid, to make a mistake, to manage a situation badly. Can be completed with hasta el fondo ‘down to the bottom’ for emphasis.

micro [m] in Buenos Aires, a bus; in Rosario, a short distance, urban bus, and only if mentioned in the media (the usual word is colectivo or, less commonly, ómnibus).

milico/a [m, f][slightly derogatory] a member of the millitary. From the beginning of militar ‘millitary person’ and the seemingly despising suffix -(i)c-.

mina [f] [Lunfardo] a girl, a woman. Mainstream, standard colloquial way of referring to a female from her teens on. Not rude, but not accepted in formal speech either. Cf Castilian Spanish tía.

minga [interj] [rather uneducated] of course not! … Y si me pide otro favor más, ¡minga! ‘… And if he/she asks for any other favor, (I’ll tell him/her) of course not!’.

mishadura [f] [Lunfardo, probably from miseria 'bad economic situation' and dura 'hard'] bad economic situation, esp. when generalized to the whole country; economic crisis, recession, lack of opportunities for employment and trade.

mongui [adj, m/f, gender invariable] (usually as an insult) retard, idiot. Short for mongólico/a, deformation of mogólico, formerly meaning ‘person with Down syndrome’.

morfar [v] to eat. From the same root: morfi [n] food, something to eat, a meal.

mufa 1 [f] bad luck, esp. in games and gambling; 2 [m, f, uncountable, no article] a person who brings bad luck, a jinx. (Argentine ex-president Carlos Menem was said to be mufa; whenever he shook hands with an Argentine tennis player or went to see a football match of a favourite team, they lost.)