man

What it means

1. 1.

   A guy, a bloke — but grammatically Colombian, not English: it takes a Spanish article and is nearly always el man, referring to a specific man already in view.

2. 2.

   La man, with the feminine article and no change to the noun, is a woman. This is the part that surprises English speakers, and it is completely ordinary here.

3. 3.

   Unlike English 'man', it is not used to address anyone. You talk about el man; you never call someone man.

Examples with translations

• El man de la tienda me fió.

  The bloke at the corner shop let me pay later.

• La man se fue sin decir nada.

  The woman just left without a word.

  Note: Feminine article, unchanged noun — standard, if slightly cool in tone.

• ¿Y ese man qué hace acá?

  And what's that guy doing here?

Where it comes from

Borrowed from English, probably through the Caribbean coast and through dubbed television, and then fully naturalised: it pluralises as los manes and inflects its article rather than its stem.

First attested: late 20th century

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

manes

Similar terms:

tipo, pelado, chino