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Cuban kids like to go to la escuela (the Spanish word for “school”) about as much as kids from any other part of the world. Which means, of course, not much. Aula is a Spanish word for a classroom, though in Cuba it is also used to describe a group of students. A kid that skips school, or plays hooky, might be barqueando (from the word barco, which, as described elsewhere in this book, refers to an irresponsible or unreliable person ) or “pelando la guásima” (peeling the elm). Barco can also be used to describe a bad student.
Not all students are bad, of course. A kid that is abelardito or pajuato is a really smart kid, usually nerdy and shy. A really intelligent person. Abelardito also could describe a kid that is very book smart but has no street smarts or common sense. If you are abelardito, then you are usually also meche, or ready for that pop quiz your teacher dropped on you on Monday morning after your girlfriend’s
“Kids, from the Classroom to the Playground”
Oído en la Escuela
big party. Pajuato probably comes from the Spanish word pazguato which describes a person that is prudish.
A chícharo (the Spanish word for “pea”) is a very hard exam, though “Pepito no disparó un chícharo” (“Pepito did not shoot a pea”) means that Pepito failed to do something that he could have or should have done. Mecharse means to study very hard and a mechazo is an intense, all night study session. A finalista (a “finalist”) is a person that crams for the exam at the last possible moment. We were all finalistas at some point.
Some kids are mocosos, bratty kids behaving badly or attempting to act older than they are. The literal meaning of the word is snotty, like a baby with a runny nose that
needs to be wiped. “Who does that mocoso think he is?” Fiñe is an Afro-Cuban word for a very young adolescent, the same as “kid” in English. To be fiñoso is to act like a child. A rowdy group of mocosos may cause a regazón (disorder or a disruption), from the Spanish word reguero, or mess. Regarse is the act of becoming messy and disorganized. Pepito’s mom may say to him, “Limpia la regazón en tu cuarto ahora mismo!” (“Clean up the big mess in your room right now!”).
A grown-up mocoso, spoiled and conceited, is a niño bitongo. This is what you would call a rich, spoiled brat. A niño bitongo is often used to describe a spoiled young society boy, a young adult that is still a child into his twenties. You know the type. They love to hang around at exclusive clubs and pretend that they’re famous or important. Bitonguería is the act of behaving like a rich, spoiled brat.
A mojón is a boundary stone or a piece of solid excrement, but is most commonly used to refer to a person who is very young or very small, or both. In other words, a brat. Not quite as harsh as “You little shit,” though it basically means the same thing. A mojón is also, often, majadero, which is a Spanish word that means stubborn or foolish. However, in Cuba, majadero is usually applied to children when they are disobedient, unruly, undisciplined and misbehaving. In the rest of the Spanish-speaking world it means anyone, child or adult, who is acting rudely, lacking manners or simply
