Have you heard someone commenting “¡Qué papelón!”?

Papelón is a very accurate word to describe something embarrasing, and despite it’s mysterious origins, it works very well.

Its usage is widespread across Spanish-speaking countries and it’s often employed colloquially in everyday conversations, as well as in media and literature, to describe situations that elicit feelings of shame or embarrassment.

These are just some examples I found on Google:

• Papelón de Francia en el Mundial de futsal: su arquero se dejó hacer los goles para evitar un cruce complicado en octavos.
• Papelón: Descendieron y se agarraron a las piñas con hinchas rivales.
• Corte Suprema: Javier Milei, a un paso del papelón.
• Papelón: Chiquito Romero agredió a los hinchas de Boca tras perder contra River.
• Papelón: por qué Susana Giménez no vuelve con su programa este domingo.

As you can see, it’s widely used and I’m sure you’ll spot it again real soon.

You might also want to read these articles:

• Expressions with MIERDA
  As a sequel to our previous post, today we focus on MIERDA and its multitude of meanings.
• The body and bodily functions
  A handy list of things we all do but rarely (care to) learn in a foreign language.
• Spanish Class | SNL
  A fun sketch from Saturday Night Live where students are in class ‘learning’ Spanish.
• How to go about with reading in Spanish
  In this post I want to make you want to read, even if you feel you’re not ready for it.
• Implied subject
  This post deals with a little tweak that can make your Spanish sound more natural —dropping the subject pronoun.
• Start Shadowing now!
  Today I’ll get you started with shadowing, so your Spanish speaking skills go through the roof.