El Mariachi (played Juan Carlos Arango) from the series Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal
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It was during the middle of an epic chase scene, at a time when Colombian army helicopters were buzzing high above and the pressure to escape was at its greatest, when El Mariachi uttered these epic words. And I simply chuckled and laughed. What in the heck does “sapeando hasta la pecueca” mean?
Like English, Español has a common-universal base language that is widely understood by those who speak it. No matter where you go or the accent you may have, the base is the base. However, across Latin America, regional flavors add to the base and provide a another level of rationality, uniqueness and fun. When hearing words uncommon in one’s region, such become ammunition to our imagination; words like “pecueca” can even take on vulgar and coarse meanings. Such vulgarities, such murkiness and (eventually) such amusement!
The actual meaning, slang or formal, was of course lost in translation. In Colombia, where the series is from, it turns out “pecueca” means bad foot odor. AsiHablamos.com reminded me that my linguistic imagination is indeed a stinky one.
