The Spanish spoken in Chile is a living organism: it feeds on the memory of generations and at the same time adapts to the digital era. Today, old words and sayings coexist with voices that arrive either because of the digital era, global trends or social changes.
Idioms that are becoming obsolete
Several of these Chilean idioms and words are still in use, but their frequency is lower among young people or in formal or digital contexts:
To the lot: untidy, careless.
"You left your backpack in the lot".
Mortal: excellent, very good.
"La tocata estuvo mortal".
Chamullento: who talks a lot without support.
"No le creas tanto, es bien chamullento".
Charcha: poor quality.
"The signal here is charcha".
Chorear: to steal / to bore.
"Le chorearon el celular"; "Esperar me chorea".
Pulento: excellent, very good.
"El concierto estuvo pulento".
Fillet: high quality.
"Quedó filete el diseño".
Box office / Box office: flashy, looking to show off.
"The event was good box office".
Patiperro: very well traveled, globetrotter.
"He has been a patiperro since college".
Idioms and emerging words
Words that are born or consolidated by networks, adapted from English or other cultures:
Spoiler: to reveal twists in a plot.
"No spoilers, the ending is very good."
Post: to publish in networks.
"I'm going to post the birthday photo".
Stalking: watching/stalking someone on networks to obtain information.
"Don't stalk their profile".
Chill: quiet, relaxed.
"Let's do something chill for your birthday".
Bajonear: to cause discouragement; to satisfy a craving for food.
"Esa noticia me bajoneó". / "After the concert we went to bajonear".
Block (in networks): restrict a user's access.
"I decided to block her so as not to hear from her".
Crush: Attraction to someone.
"He said I've been his crush forever".
Ghosted: to cut off all communication suddenly, without explanation.
"I knew he ghosted me when he didn't answer my messages".
Funar: to denounce/expose publicly in networks.
"They decided not to funar and to channel it through formal channels".
Stream: to broadcast live on the Internet.
"Let's stream the event".
Shippear: to pair/support a couple.
"The audience started to shippear the protagonists".
Cringe: that causes embarrassment.
"That joke really gave cringe".
FOMO: fear of missing out on something.
"I only went to the party because it gave me FOMO".
