I don’t know if it’s some type of national rejection to longer words, but Argentinians seem to do anything in order to avoid pronouncing them.

It goes like this: when a word has three or more syllables (as long as it is a well known, frequently used word), it’s very probable that we’ll shorten them.

• Vacas (vacaciones)
• Finde (fin de semana)
• Porfa (por favor)
• Celu (celular)
• Tele (televisión, televisor)
• Súper (supermercado)
• Cole (colegio)
• Ofi (oficina)
• Cumple (cumpleaños)
• Zapas (zapatillas)
• Colect (colectivo)
• Subte (subterráneo)
• Compu (computadora)
• Cerve (cerveza)
• Mochi (mochila)
• Parri (parrilla)
• Pelu (peluquería)
• Tranqui (tranquilo)
• Galles (galletitas)
• Mic (micrófono)
• Compli (complicado)
• Depto (this is an insteresting case, as it’s an abbreviated form of departamento)
• Bici (bicicleta)
• Peli (película)

The same is true for names. In informal contexts we’ll shorten them almost immediately. Of course, there is a personal element to this. Some people prefer to ‘keep the distance’ and not be too friendly too soon. But shortening the name of the person is a sign of closeness.

I could go on forever with many more names, but go out there and see if what I’m saying is true.

Thanks for reading, and until next time!

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