Monday, January 23, 2012

No estaba muerto estaba de parranda

At least once a year I try to go to Mexico (Baja California) for a little R&R.  This trip is pura fiesta - nothing but partying .  There's no better way to learn and practice your Spanish then by walking the streets all day and night, hanging out in bars and restaurants talking to anybody and everybody.
With that in mind, I thought I'd share some things I've learned about having a good time.  Para que tu sepas (just so you know),  some of the things in this post may be very Mexican, but are probably understood by many. 

Let's get started.

Ir de parranda

To go partying.  Just that simple.  A  parranda is a party.  This is one of several ways to say party besides fiesta.  In fact, most of the people I talk to rarely (if ever) use the word fiesta when they talk about going partying. 

Manaña voy de parranda para celebrar mi cumpleaños
Tomorrow I'm going partying to celebrate my birthday

A Parrandón (parrandona for the ladies) is someone who likes to party. You can also say Qué parrandón to talk about a great party.   Parrandero (parrandera) is also a term for someone who likes to party.

Ir a Pachanguear

Yep, another way to say you're going to party.  I don't recall where I picked up this expression, but here are some examples:

¿Vamos a ir a pachanguear verdad?
We're going to go partying right?

Estoy pachangueando
I'm partying

El sábado me fui de pachanga con mis amigas
I went out partying with my girlfriends on Saturday

Es muy pachanguero
He likes to party

Panchanguero (pachanguera) is a someone who likes to party.  In English we'd probably say party animal.  A pachanga is a party.

Let's not forget about Ir de fiesta.  It works the same way the other expressions do.

¡Vamos de fiesta!
 Let's go party!

Manaña voy de fiesta para celebrar mi cumpleaños
Tomorrow I'm going partying to celebrate my birthday

Fiestero/fiestera is another way to talk about being a party animal.

I've got one more for you, and this might come as shock.

Ir de party

Vamos de party
Let's go party

While it may sound strange, this is a very, very common way to talk about going out to party.  I've heard the expression vamos de party more times than I can count.  And that's good news for you, because if you can't remember the the other options you will most certainly remember this one.  And you'll sound authentic to boot. 

Well, know that we've established that we ready to party, what kinds of places can you party at?

Un bar.  Yes, a bar, just we like we say in English, but give it your best Spanish accent.  You can also go to "un club".   Again, just use your Spanish accent and you're golden.  If you want to sound a little more Mexican, you can use the word "antro".

¿Hay un buen antro por aquí?
Is there a good club around here?

I will warn you that antro might have a different meaning in other countries.   I mentioned that I like to go to antros to my friend from Peru, and she gave me a strange look.  Turns out that to her an antro was not a club, but a bar, and a dive bar at that.   Go figure.  I think the word discoteca is probably more universal.

Well, after all of that, I'm sure you've figured out what today's expression means.

No estaba muerto, estaba de parranda
I wasn't dead, I was partying

You can also say:

No estaba muerto, andaba de parranda

This is a nice phrase you can use to get a few laughs if you haven't seen someone in a while and they ask you where you've been.  Or why you haven't posted anything to your blog in almost a month.

Well, that's it for now.  I've got some more party and drinking related vocabulary and phrases to share with you all in a future post, so stay tuned!

¡Hasta la próxima!

6 comments:

  1. ¡Cuánto me encanta su blog! También estoy aprendiendo español y este me sirve mucho. Gracias wey ;)

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  2. Yay, I love it when you post.

    In Colombia, the most common word is rumba. Someone who likes to party is very rumbero/a. Also, parranda and farra. I mostly know pachanga from the famous salsa song Cali Pachanguero. So many words!

    Ha, I'd forgotten about the word antro, but as soon as you said it I knew that it's not used that way in Colombia. Yes, it's a hole in the wall, a total dive, just like your Peruvian friend said. Now that I'm back in the states, though, I'm sure that the Mexican usage will be much more useful to me, so thanks :)

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  3. I've just found this blog, I need a similar English one. I think you are really creative and nice to share your linguistic experiences.

    Like Vocabat wrote, "parranda" and "farra" are used in México too, and more: "irse de huarapeta" XD

    And "antro" in the past, until nineties has a pejorative meaning. It was the worst place to drink and to get in trouble, like the seventies "funky hole". But now young people says "voy de antro" instead "I am going to the discotheque", that is considered old fashioned.

    Nos vemos :)

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  4. It's interesting how the meanings of words change over time. Thanks for info Elisa!

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  5. Rodney,

    You can't chastise me for not reading your blog now. It's good.

    Talltim

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  6. Antro in other countries means a bad place.

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