Guanabee Glossary: Hacerse El Gringo

If you’ve ever asked a Mexican whether it’s cold enough for a chaqueta or asked a Cuban to pass a bollo at dinner, you’ll know that Latino slang terms can vary from country to country, region to region, generation to generation, a reality that often results in embarrassing situations. Guanabee Glossary is our attempt to teach you Latino slang and save you from looking like a weird-ass fool in mixed company. Enjoy it, cabrones.

hacerse el gringo

[ah-ser-seh el grihn-go] verb

Used in Colombia, apparently, this phrase, literally translated as “to make oneself the gringo,” is used to describe someone who plays the fool or pretends not to understand what’s going on.

Yo pregunté por el estrip club mas cerca, pero Todd se hizo el gringo: “Que es un estrip club?”

I asked for the closest estrip club, but Todd played dumb: “What’s an estrip club?”