BOLUDO in Argentine Spanish

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Over the years, BOLUDO has become a prominent word among those linked to our rich and often confusing slang words in Argentina.

We’ve discussed the uses of the word CHE as well as that of the phrase CHE, BOLUDO, so now it’s time to focus on the BOLUDO part of the story.

Makes sense? Let’s go.

Meaning of BOLUDO

First things first: what does BOLUDO mean? Well, it’s an adjective used in Argentina (in either its masculine, femenine or gender inclusive singular or plural forms) to refer to someone who is not exactly brilliant, as in:

  • Mirá qué boludo este tipo lo que está diciendo.
  • ¡Qué boluda Susana, por favor!
  • ¡Hay que ser boludo!
  • ¿Se piensan que somos todos boludos?
  • ¿Me estás tomando de boludo?
  • Leo parece medio tololo, pero no es ningún boludo.

In all the examples above, entonation is of the utmost importance. The “lu” syllable receives all the stress. You know we love shortening words of three or more syllables. That’s how we arrive to a shortened, softer version:

  • ¡Qué bolú!

We already learned that, strangely enough, it’s a word which dwells between a mild curse word and a word of affection according to the context where it’s used. Among friends it’s used almost like ‘dear friend’.

  • ¡Felíz cumple, boludo/a!
  • ¡Me alegro boludo/a, qué bueno!

Making sense of the word

If we take the word literally, we could make some assumptions. First, we should know that the word for ‘balls’ in Spanish is ‘bolas’. Next, we should note that the -udo prefix implies big size. Big-balled does not take us very far, but we have something.

If we follow this big-balled line of investigation, we could agree that big balls may prevent a man from moving easily or too fast.

That slow movement might have a correlation with the lack of ‘mental agility’ of that person. It’s twisted, but we could close the case here if we manage to find more evidence.

Origins of the word BOLUDO

However, this is quite far from what actually happened, according to other sources. It’s said that during the early and mid 1800s, while gauchos were fighting on the frontiers with the indigenous peoples, the boludos were the division that would take the front line of the battle, and usually getting the worst part of it.

These Gauchos didn’t have a choice as they were forcibly conscripted to these weak armies, and their weapons were the “boleadoras“.

Somewhere during the 1890s a member of the Congress said that we shouldn’t be boludos implying we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.

Types of BOLUDOS

There is a wide range of words that can specify what type of boludo we are dealing with:

  • Boludo importante
  • Boludo profesional
  • Boludo en serio
  • Boludo peligroso
  • Tremendo boludo
  • Reverendo boludo
  • Flor de boludo
  • Pedazo de boludo

PELOTUDO

Did you know that there is a similar word when we use BOLUDO as ‘stupid’? It’s PELOTUDO.

  • Qué pelotudo el gol que se comió el arquero.
  • Qué pelotudo el dueño de ese auto. Mirá donde estacionó.

It can be used interchangeably in these contexts, but it’s slightly more aggressive. A person would never call their friends like this unless there is something wrong between them.

Other options

If you don’t want to say the b word, you can always say:

  • ¡Qué gil!
  • ¡Qué gilún!
  • ¡Qué salame!
  • ¡Qué zonzo!
  • ¡Qué pavo!

BOLUDEAR

We can put the word multiplier into action and stop at the verb form. It points in the direction of being distracted:

  • Me hice una cuenta en tinder para boludear.
  • Dejen de boludear y terminen eso por favor.
  • Me pasé todo el sábado boludeando con la computadora

BOLUDEZ

And finally, we can check out the noun form. Una boludez is something silly, very simple or of no importance.

  • No digas boludeces.
  • El exámen fue una boludez.
  • Cuando tengas un minuto avisame que te quiero preguntar una boludez.

As I’ve shown we have many opportunities in the day to use BOLUDO so much.

Before you leave, please don’t forget to check the lessons menu and hit me up if you feel we can take a little shine off your Spanish!

Thanks for reading, and happy learning.

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