paja [f] [taboo] 1 (an instance of) masturbation; hacerse una paja or clavarse una paja or pajearse [ps-ref vi] to masturbate; 2 laziness, lack of strength, tendency to avoid work and effort, the state of not being in a hurry when hurrying up would be necessary. Derivative: pajero/a [m, f] a person who masturbates a lot; a general despising term, esp. suggesting laziness.
palo [m] 1 an amount of one million items (esp. one million pesos, or whatever currency unit is in vigour); see also gamba, luca. 2 lit. (a blow given with) a stick; a critique, esp. when strong and/or in public; related to 3 a barely concealed suggestion, an insidious hint, esp. when talking of sentimental business; a hint (seduction, criticism, etc.) directed at a particular person so that s/he cannot fail to catch it (this is called tirar un palo); 4 in card games, a suite; fig. a group of similar people, only in the phrase ser del mismo palo (que) [usually derogatory] ‘to be of the same kind (as)’; 5 al palo at full power (synonym: a full), at the maximum, at its extreme expression (as in La argentinidad al palo) — speaking of machines, it may refer to high volume (a stereo) or full speed (a car); among men, it may refer to having an erection.
pancho [m] a hot dog, Argentine style. Often sold in street stands (carritos), with varying degrees of hygiene. Young people flock to these stands to buy panchos or superpanchos after dancing at discos.
pantallazo [m] a general explanation, a brief display of a subject. The root pantalla means ’screen’.
pata [f] 1 lit. (animal) leg; [colloquial, not rude] a person’s leg; a pata on foot; en patas barefoot; por debajo de las patas (‘under one’s legs’) fig. swiftly, without one having the chance to notice (esp. in the context of spending money); 2 support, help, esp. from a friend. The typical context involves waiting (and covering for) someone else (hacer pata, cf gamba, aguante); 3 [phrase] meter pata (usually imperative) (in a car) drive faster (get one’s foot into the accelerator), fig. hurry up, speed things up. Not to be confused with meter la pata (see meter).
patinarse [ps-ref vt] to spend quickly and carelessly, to waste matter-of-factly: Me patiné tres lucas en las vacaciones ‘I just spent 2 grand on my vacations’. Lit. ‘to slip’.
patota [f] a group of violent people, esp. any group of young mobbers (patoteros) who bother people in the street, threatens them and/or rob them, or a group of fans of a football team before or after a match, etc. In general, a derogatory expression for any group of people that tries to achieve things by violent methods and using the force of number, but without any visible structure. There’s also the media-coined fused compound patrioterismo, from patriotismo ‘patriotism’ and patoterismo, meaning violent nationalism, populistic right-wing tendencies, etc.
patovica [m] a person who guards the access to discos, clubs, etc., and/or are in charge of taking drunkards and discriminated minorities out; often associated with gym-trained, medication-enhanced muscular types.
pedo [m] [taboo, mildly rude nowadays] 1 a fart; 2 an occasion of being drunk, or the state of being drunk; en pedo drunk; ni en pedo lit. ‘not even drunk’, i. e. ‘no way’; 3 al pedo doing nothing, with nothing to do, not busy; useless(ly), superfluous(ly); 4 de pedo barely, just about enough, as in llegó de pedo ‘he was barely able to arrive (in time)’. For the fixed phrase cagar a pedos, see cagar.
pedorro/a [adj] 1 of bad quality, cheesy: ¡Qué película pedorra! ‘What a cheesy movie!’; 2 general expletive, rude but not strongly insulting in itself.
pegar [v] lit. ‘to hit, strike’ or ‘to paste, affix, glue’. Used as a general action verb with some nouns in fixed phrases, generally in the first person: pegarse una ducha to get a shower; pegarle un tubazo (a alguien) ‘to phone (someone)’, lit. ‘to hit (someone) with a phone handset’.
pendejo/a 1 [m, f, adj] [rude, but not insulting] child, kid, boy/girl; [usually appreciative] (someone who looks like) a young person; [derogatory] childish, improper for an adult person, esp. used of something made out of whim and arbitrariness (pendejada [n]); 2 [m] [generally only used among boys, very rude] a pubic hair. (Note well, the first meaning is not an insulting term of address as in Mexican Spanish.)
pendorcho [m] any sort of small object, generally a simple mechanical part that is or should appear protruding from a larger object. The word is colloquial and may sound inappropriate in a formal context. It does commonly not apply to natural objects or body parts.
pete [m, taboo] an act of oral sexual intercourse; derived forms petear [vt] to perform oral sex on sbdy; petero/a [m, f] a person who habitually performs oral sex on others. The equivalent word in other dialects, mamada, is understood but not commonly used.
petiso/a [adj] [colloquial, usually non-derogatory] short, of small stature. Used also as a noun and an addressing term.
pibe/a [m, f] kid, child, boy/girl, youngster. (Sounds a bit rude for girls.)
pifiar [v] to fail, to have a bad shot, to throw something and miss the target. (This word is not really only Argentine slang; it’s well known in the mainstream, and I know that at least RPGers in Spain use it for the same thing as we do — e. g. what you get in MERP when you throw a low number in the dice and your weapon does something weird…, that is, a pifia [f]). In general, a failure or mistake of any kind.
pija [f] [taboo, extremely rude] 1 penis; 2 following the model of other genitalia-related words, thing of bad quality, or a bad condition, whence hacer pija, to ruin, destroy (see hacer). See also chota.
pijotero/a [m/f/adj] (of a person) cheap; one who buys or makes things of bad quality, or using inferior components, in order to spend less money. “Me compré un Celeron.” “¡No podés ser tan pijotero, te hubieras comprado un Pentium!” “I got a Celeron.” “You can’t be so cheap. Why didn’t you buy a Pentium?!”
pila [f] lit. a battery; energy, disposition for work, awareness of things to do; usually in the phrase ponerse las pilas ‘to put some batteries on’: to assume responsibility and start to work; to take charge of one’s situation; to get up, think carefully and do what is expected. Lately also found as ponerse media pila ‘to put on half a battery’ (ironical).
pinturita [f] lit. ‘little picture’; una pinturita [fixed phrase] perfect, sharp, ’squeaky clean’; in very fine condition.
piquetero/a [m, f] [colloquial at first, now mainstream] a person (generally unemployed or sub-employed) that participates in piquetes to protest his/her condition. A piquete is a gathering of such people, usually blocking some important way and demonstrating, noisily and sometimes violently. Piquete is a mainstream Spanish word; piquetero was coined (by the media?) when the economic crisis reached new depths during Carlos Menem’s second period (1995-1999). At this time unemployment became a symptom of social breakdown, and piqueteros started blocking, not entrances to factories or government buildings, but national highways, sometimes attacking passing drivers. During the last four years or so, the piqueteros have become a social movement and (for some) acquired darker features, such as the appearance of charismatic leaders with inflammatory speech and extreme ideological biases. There are so many unemployed people in Argentina that the unemployed have become unionized! Piquetero was a neologism at first (used in quotes); now the media have incorporated the word as part of their common vocabulary.
pirulo [m] [colloquial] a year (used only as a unit for people’s age).
podrido/a [adj] lit. rotten; podrido de tired of; podrido en full of, up to one’s ears in (something good, usually money).
ponja [m/f, adj] Japanese (thing, person, language). From syllable inversion of Japón ‘Japan’.
poronga [f] 1 a bad-quality thing, a scam, a despicable thing; 2 penis. See chota, pija.
porro [m] a marihuana joint.
porrón [m] a bottle of beer, and its contents. Originally a special kind of container for liquids, now applied to beer only, though the bottles are not really different.
posta 1 [f] a piece of news, esp. gossip; hearsay or a prediction that the speaker assures to be true and from a trustable source; 2 [interj] (esp. repeated) this is sure, I’m sure. Example: Te tiro una posta: esta yegua hoy gana ‘I’ll drop you a hint/I assure you: this mare will win today’ (at the races, obviously). See fija. —¿En serio? —¡Posta posta! “Really?” “Damn sure!”.
pucho [m] (a) cigarette. Slightly less used now than the more modern faso.
