(By Eva Marabotto).- The origin of the adjective “bobo”, which refers to the stammering way of speaking of certain people, which dates back to the Roman Empire and which Lionel Messi used to refer to a player from the Netherlands during the World Cup but also “If you want to cry. cries” -the phrase with which the former vedette and host Moria Casán proposed to the participants of her program that they let their emotions flow- are just two of the expressions that the writer and historian Charlie López rescues from the popular speech of Argentines in his book “Where do they come from” that he presents at the Book Fair.
The essay that Aguilar has just published continues the philological work that the author has been doing on radio and television and in the books “Why do we say?” and “We are what we say” and gathers 250 words and sayings of common use in the daily speech of our country. But he also dedicates an appendix to both inventorying and defending profanity or sex-linked terms from “sexting” to “taxi boy.”
Like the book, the talk with Charlie López is fun and interesting and allows us to go through the evolution of the daily language of Argentines and the author’s conception of expressions intended to account for the rapprochement and sexual act between two people.
-Charlie López: “Where do they come from” is a book that includes 250 sayings with their corresponding origins and stories. The difference with the previous one (“We are what we say”) is that it had 300 sayings with their origins and it ended there. This, in addition to the sayings that are different from the previous ones, includes an appendix at the end about the origin of the so-called bad words, which are written or exposed in the most vulgar way, that is, the way people use them but explained academically.
-T: If you had to analyze broadly, where do the expressions that are integrated into the daily language of Argentines come from? In the book you will list phrases from cinema, politics, contemporary football but also some that survive from Antiquity or the Middle Ages.
– CL: I think that this process should be compared with that of customary law, that is, legal norms that are not written, but that have the force of law because they refer to things and events that have always been fulfilled or that have always been done. in the same way. In the same way, there were practices and customs that at one point in history gave rise to phrases that, with very few words, identified situations that were known to everyone. Oral transmission, in general, from generation to generation, kept many of them alive until today, even though many cases do not know their true origin.
– T: Some expressions that you trace are rigorously topical, such as the origin of the “stupid” that Messi used in the World Cup.
– CL: Among the phrases to which I refer is precisely the fool. It is a word to refer to the candid or the fool. It derives from the Latin balbus, which is equivalent to stuttering because the ancient Romans believed that those who had difficulty speaking surely suffered from some type of mental retardation. At the end of the 19th century, the gentleman’s pocket watch began to be called “bobo” in lunfardo, because it was stolen very easily and then the heart began to be called “bobo” because, like the clock, it worked 24 hours a day. and in addition it emitted a regular and continuous sound that is the cardiac contractions.
-T: How did the idea of the “hot” chapters on terms related to sex and sexual practices come about?
– CL: At the time I was doing it, I was afraid that the publisher would object to it. This was not the case, although, in some cases, what we did was slightly “moderate” the way it was expressed. It arose from the simple idea that everyone has the right when they don’t have access to information, to have someone tell them where those expressions we use every day come from, and what they refer to or how serious they can be in quotes. I did a fairly exhaustive survey but I dedicated myself exclusively to sexual expressions.
-T: In that appendix you deny that they are “bad words”…
-CL: Personally I think they shouldn’t be called that way because they’re just words. Let’s say that bad words, directly or indirectly, are always related to the body, its secretions and, of course, sex. They are always obscene because they express without hypocrisy, without shame, what should not be said in public for fear of awakening forbidden images, memories or passions that society or our own morals try to ignore. That is why I say in the prologue that it is unfair to blame words for behaviors and feelings that are totally alien to them.
-T: Which of the phrases from the book do you use the most or do you like the most?
-CL: I must confess that there are several that I use. One that is very common in all Argentines and that is “Don’t give a ball” and that is erroneously related precisely to male genitalia. To find the origin of this phrase we have to go back to the beginning of the 20th century when billiards in Buenos Aires were all the rage, and all the men at that time wanted to play, especially the younger ones. So, the most fragile part of a pool table and at the same time the most expensive thing was the cloth because it could break with the cue if you didn’t know how to play and you had to change it completely and it was very expensive. So when the owner of a bar, who was surely at the register, saw young people entering with inexperienced appearance, it was common for him to yell from behind the counter to the waiters: “Don’t give those brats a ball.” This is where the expression that we use right now comes from to refer to situations in which one does not empower another person or does not pay attention to them, but it has nothing to do with genitalia or testicles.
-T.: In the appendix you make an inventory of the terms that were used and are used to describe being in a relationship.
-CL: This appendix starts from the beginning in what refers to sex and this chapter is called La previa and it talks about “chapar”, a word that was very current until the end of the 50s, perhaps until half of the 60s, but a short time later it disappeared. It comes from the Genoese “chiappá” which means to take or grab and refers to hugs and kisses between two people.
It was then replaced by “squeeze” which is pretty self-explanatory and refers to pulling the bodies together. Then “transar” appeared, which is a formal word because it speaks of a transaction; you give me something and I give you something; kisses, hugs, caresses. And then, the one that implies an approach to what sex or the sexual act is going to be: “flanneling”, with a very nice story since it comes from French. “Hacer la flannel” meant going to brothels where sexual services were provided, but without spending money, just caressing or touching the workers. It has an equivalent in Spanish that is “magrear”. They are relationships based on intimate caresses but without penetration.
-T.: In addition to incorporating expressions and terms of speech, you added curiosities about sex and its practices.
– CL: It seemed to me that it could be interesting to incorporate the origin of some very common ones that have to do with sex in some of their stages. For example, the word “hysterical” that we all know, but we also talk about facts that are cultural, although it seems taboo to us, for example, there is what is called the Vagina Festival in Japan, which is celebrated on the Sunday before the March 15 of every year. In London there is a vagina museum that is also useful on a scientific level because it raises awareness about the importance of medical examinations. There is a vagina contest, there is a penis festival in Japan too.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
