I received a random text message today from a student asking me, "How do you say 'grasa'?" If he had wanted the simple translation, it would have been the following definition of today's WOTD:
grasa [grah-sah] : grease, fat, lard (found in the kitchen) Listen
grasa [grah-sah] : grease, fat, lard (found in the kitchen) Listen
His question held my attention since I had been asked the same question by two other Argentine women while preparing dinner in the kitchen on Saturday night. Fortunately, I follow conversations well enough in Castellano to know that they were not talking about the grease. Nor the fat, nor the lard. Had the conversation taken place two years ago, I would have automatically assumed they were referring to the white stuff forming on the pile of meat leftover from lunch. But no. They wanted to know how we translate this word that in Argentina, and only in Argentina I believe, is used to describe:
-the hairy-chested man with 4 buttons left open and a gold chain dangling around his sweaty neck
-the woman with extremely overdone silicone bosoms
-the kid who flashes you a vulgar gesture in the road just because
Today, my answer to the text message was "tacky, sleazy, trashy." I've never found ONE single word to describe this idea that can be used in so many ways here. It's still one of those words I use with doubt unless I'm asking where the jar of grasa is in the kitchen.
A grasa birthday cake?
