Cubaalmendrón
noun · Informal · ahl-men-DROHN
One of the pre-1960 American cars that work as fixed-route shared taxis. You flag it down, say where you are going, and pay a flat fare to share the back seat with strangers.
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Cuba
Cuban Slang for Money & Work
11 Cuban slang terms for money & work, each with its meaning, how it is pronounced and an example of it in use.
Slang for cash, cost, employment and effort. Money terms are among the oldest and most durable slang in any language, and often the most regionally specific.
el paquete
noun · Informal · el pah-KEH-teh
El paquete semanal: a terabyte of films, series, music, apps, magazines and classified ads, compiled weekly and distributed hand to hand on hard drives and memory sticks. For years it was how most Cubans consumed media, in a country with almost no home internet.
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fula
noun, adjective · Informal · FOO-lah
The US dollar, and by extension hard currency in general. Cien fula is a hundred dollars.
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jinetera
noun · Colloquial · hee-neh-TEH-rah
A woman who forms relationships with foreign tourists for material benefit. The term deliberately blurs sex work, a hustle and an actual relationship, because in practice the categories blurred.
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Use with care
luchar
verb, noun · Colloquial · loo-CHAR
To hustle: to get by through informal work, trading, favours and improvisation. Estar en la lucha is the standard answer to 'how are things?' and means, roughly, surviving.
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paladar
noun · Informal · pah-lah-DAR
A privately run restaurant, originally one operating out of the owner's home. The word is now used of every private restaurant in Cuba, including large and expensive ones.
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pincha
noun, verb · Informal · PEEN-chah
A job, work, the place you go in the morning. Voy pa' la pincha — I'm off to work.
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pincho
noun · Colloquial · PEEN-choh
A boss, a senior official, someone with a state post and the privileges that come with it. Said with resentment far more often than respect.
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Use with care
por la izquierda
phrase, idiom · Colloquial · por lah ees-KYEHR-dah
On the black market; off the books; obtained or done without official authorisation. Comprar por la izquierda is to buy from someone who is not supposed to be selling.
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resolver
verb · Colloquial · reh-sol-VEHR
To get hold of something scarce by informal means — through a contact, a swap, a diverted state supply. The verb is used absolutely, with no object, and the absence of an object is the point: nobody asks how.
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sociolismo
noun · Colloquial · soh-syoh-LEES-moh
The system of getting things done through personal contacts rather than official channels. A pun that names a real institution: in practice most Cubans' access to goods runs through it.
+1 more sense
Use with care