# Cocaine and Spanish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977 "2004-01-06T08:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/1 "2004-01-06T08:36:37Z")
I just got done watching Scarface again for the bajillionth time. Not because it’s my favorite movie, it just gets watched a lot around me. 1. What is the correct spelling of “Yay-yo”, the way Tony said it? 2. Is Yayo slang, or the regular equivelent of “Cocaine”? Is “Ya-Yo” specifically Cuban in origin? 3. I heard Michael Ian Black on “I love the 80’s” make a joke where he pronounced it “Koe-kai-na”, is that a Spanish way of pronouncing Cocaine, or did he make that up? What are some other spanish words for cocaine? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/2 "2004-01-06T08:58:05Z")
Cocaine = cocaína. I’m not entirely sure about yayo, it probably is street slang for cocaine, because _yayo_ and _yaya_ in Spanish is also an informal way of saying “grandpa” or “grandma”. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/3 "2004-01-06T11:08:50Z")
Its Spanish slang and its spelled “llello”. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/4 "2004-01-06T14:45:48Z")
just a guess, but… In the US coke is often called snow, llello is similar to hielo which is the spanish word for ice. ---
**Author:** ![xicanorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xicanorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xicanorex)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/5 "2004-01-06T15:19:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by conczepts \* > \*\*What are some other spanish words for cocaine? Thanks! \*\* Another slang word for cocaine, at least in Mexico, is “perico” as in “parrot.” Marihuana is also called “rooster.” There is this narco-corrido that goes . .“I lead a crazy life between a rooster and a parrot.” XicanoreX ---
**Author:** ![51\_cent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/a88e57/32.png) [@51\_cent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/51_cent)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/6 "2004-01-06T15:29:06Z")
I call Al Pacino “the screamer” because the man screams and yells in all of his movies. It does not matter if he is a good guy or a bad guy, the screamer has to shout his lines as loud as humanly possible to get his point across. He must have been to the greasy Italian yelling acting school. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cocaine-and-spanish/222977/7 "2004-01-06T16:17:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 51 cent \* > \*\*He must have been to the greasy Italian yelling acting school. \*\* We don’t take kindly to ethnic slurs around here.