ChilEspañol

Hola todos,

The most recent word I have created (I create a lot of words in both Spanish and English) is ChilEspañol. (Chile Español). This word means, obviously, the Spanish spoken here in Chile. However, every other country doesn't get its own word representing their Spanish because they don't need one. Every other country speaks just plain old Spanish. Chile's Spanish is unique, full of slang, and horrible (both grammatically, pronunciation and for learning it).

All of that is old news. You all know how I feel about ChilEspañol. However, I have become a hypocrite, ironically. This is because, I have started speaking more chilena! As in, I have dropped my "s" on words such as, "mas o menos" (more or less) (Yep. The phrase I disliked the most to be shortened), "por lo menos" (at least), "Dios mio" (oh my God), "Estados Unidos" (The U.S.) and "gracias" (Thank you). All of those words, I have dropped the ending "s".

The word the chileans use the most here is, "Cachai" (this is a slang word for, understand, got it?) For example, "3x3 is 9. Cachai?" To this, one would respond. "Cacho" meaning, "I understand." At first I found this word annoying because I think chileans could survive on this word. If one listened to a chilean, all they would here is "cachai?" Now, all of the "cachai-ing" has rubbed off on me. Cachai?

I am hoping that when I return to the U.S. the ChilEspañol will disappear and go back to grammatically correct, proper Spanish. But for now, carpe el dia chileno! (a spin off of Carpe Diem, seize the chilean day!)