Top 5 Most Confusing Spanish Words and Phrases

Spanish is a great language and I’m sure that’s why it’s the second most commonly spoken language in the world. It may one day overcome English the language of the world which is why it’s important to familiarize yourself with it. Now when you’re learning Spanish there will be a few words that jump out at you as confusing or strange. I’m here to clarify the meanings of some of these words. Here are the top 5 most confusing spanish words and/or phrases:

5. Garganta

When you see the word “garganta” your mind immediately imagines a deformed circus freak with a pituitary disorder. However, that assumption is incorrect as the true meaning of the Spanish word “garganta” is throat. I know, that doesn’t seem to make sense unless it’s the throat of a porn star who’s really good at deepthroating, but it’s what the word means so let’s move on.

That lady has a gargantuan garganta!

4. Calcetines

When you see the world “calcetines” you might think it’s some kind of calcium supplement vitamin to help strengthen your grandmother’s bones, but no actually it’s the Spanish word for SOCKS. Yeah. SOCKS.

Does it really take ten letters to express this concept?

3. Sacapuntas

Sacapuntas is arguably one of the most fun and silly Spanish words in existence. This is primarily because it combines “Sac” like nutsack and “punta” which sounds like “puta” which of course is the Spanish word for bitch. In reality, the word has nothing to do with either of those things, it means “pencil sharpener.” This is odd considering the Spanish word for pencil is “lápiz” but hey who am I to question this?

Sacapuntas may or may not have been a relative of Pocahontas.

2. Buenas Tardes

Now “buenas tardes” sounds like a very offensive greeting an asshole might say to people in a special education classroom, but it actually means “good afternoon.” “Tarde” isn’t an offensive word in Spanish it merely means afternoon. In Spanish you would call these people discapacidad intelectual which of course sounds much nicer.

Spanish people get to use the T-word every day.

And the number one most confusing Spanish word is…

1. Coño

If you’re ever getting ice cream from a Spanish ice cream truck you should be very careful. Don’t get too casual when ordering because if you’re like me and you said “Lemme get a chocolate ice cream cone, yo!” The Spanish speaking ice cream man may misinterpret this as “Let me get a chocolate ice cream, Coño!” Now depending on where he’s from and what dialect he speaks this may be a little offensive or VERY offensive. Usually definitions range from “fuck” to “vagina” and anything in between. The fact that it can be interpreted as so many different things and the fact I can never get ice cream from that truck again make “coño” the most confusing Spanish word of all-time.

That's a tasty looking cone, yo!