de pinga

What it means

1. 1.

   Superb, outstanding. Está de pinga about a film, a meal or a party is high praise.

2. 2.

   Appalling, disastrous. The same phrase, about a situation, means the exact opposite — the transport, the blackout, the news. Tone and subject carry the whole distinction, and nothing else does.

3. 3.

   Of a person, ser de pinga: nasty, ruthless, someone who will do you harm.

Examples with translations

• La película está de pinga, véla.

  The film is brilliant, watch it.

• La situación con la corriente está de pinga.

  The electricity situation is a disaster.

  Note: Identical construction, opposite meaning. Cubans read it off context without noticing there is an ambiguity.

• Ese tipo es de pinga, no te confíes.

  That guy is a piece of work, don't trust him.

Where it comes from

From pinga, a coarse word for the penis that is the central obscenity of Cuban Spanish, occupying roughly the position of the f-word in English. The phrase's two-way polarity is the same mechanism that makes English 'that's sick' ambiguous.