Questions about the word pendejo
Does it mean stupid or asshole?
If it's the latter, is there a milder word?
I'm thinking of using the word pendejo a letter to the editor to refer to a certain orange asshole, but I wonder if the snowflakes at the local paper would keep it or edit it out.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)TexasProgresive
(12,312 posts)pendejo
noun
US
vulgar slang
A stupid or contemptible person.
Origin
Spanish, literally pubic hair.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pendejo
mitch96
(14,703 posts)I like Cheech and Chong skit on pandejo... or as Tommy Chong said.. "pandecko"
m
Gothmog
(155,013 posts)OregonBlue
(7,935 posts)COLGATE4
(14,840 posts)TlalocW
(15,630 posts)I'm sure depending on context, it would have milder meanings. You can't always have a one-to-one translation of every word in one language to another, and if you're unsure if you have the fluency - cultural as well as linguistic, it's best to treat it as if it only means its worst definition. Use estupido, tonto, bobo, etc.
TlalocW
shanny
(6,709 posts)i.e. even bigger pendejo
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,753 posts)So a word that might be totally acceptable in one country is vulgar and unacceptable in polite company in another. Which means, where are you using this word? Or from what country are you taking it?
And it goes beyond mere words. There are grammatical constructions that vary enormously between Spanish speaking countries.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)I have friends from Mexico who throw it around at each other all the time and they laugh about it. But I got the shock of my life when visited by some friends from Puerto Rico and invited them all for a get together at my house for BBQ. The Islanders were outraged and offended by the word. So, even though they all speak Spanish, the dialectical differences were . . . enlightening.