# How do you say (cell phone) “butt call” in Spanish Real question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291 "2017-12-12T16:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/1 "2017-12-12T16:36:26Z")
I’m assuming the phenomenon exists as thoroughly in Spanish countries, generating a slang, perhaps, to identify it, as it does in America. My nephew, a student in Spain, butt-called (butt- dialed) me, which by definition was accidental by his cell phone jostling in his back (by etymology) pocket. So I asked him and he came up empty. Extra: what do Brits call this? Other languages? FTR, I’m always interested Internet neologisms that persist more than a nonce usage, like the Hebrew word “strudel” for the “@“ sign. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/2 "2017-12-12T22:32:47Z")
IIRC the Germans call the “@” as “monkeytail” (\*Auf Deutsch \*of course). They were mystified by the “within / member of” connotation of the “@” in English. There is no similar connotation in German. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/3 "2017-12-12T22:59:34Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IIRC the Germans call the “@” as “monkeytail” (\*Auf Deutsch \*of course). They were mystified by the “within / member of” connotation of the “@” in English. There is no similar connotation in German. Spanish also uses the “@” sign, which as in English is probably derived from an abbreviation for the Latin _ad_ and was used to indicate the price of individual items. However, they call it the _arroba_ for an old measure of weight or volume that used the same abbreviation. [Here.](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-at-symbol-in-spanish-3079615) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/4 "2017-12-13T03:27:40Z")
I’ve heard from Sonorenses, “marqué con el culo.” That’s similar, but I’d understand “asshole” (lit.) rather than butt. In a lot of cases, though, “culo” does mean ass/butt. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/5 "2017-12-13T07:12:04Z")
Asshole is not _culo_, it’s _el ojo del culo_. You can use _culo_ to mean the asshole area and not the whole ass (_con las dichosas almorranas tengo el culo hecho un desastre_; those blasted hemorroids have turned my ass into a war zone), but that’s just an example of sinecdoque (referring to a part by the name of the whole item; “open the car for me” - nobody expects the car to be split in half, we mean the door). And yes, _marqué con el culo_ or _le di con el culo_ (both: I dialed with my ass), or _es que mi culo te echaba de menos_ (my ass was missing you) all work. Or, in polite company, _le habré dado sin querer_ (I must have dialed inadvertently). ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/6 "2017-12-13T09:29:52Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > … > > Extra: what do Brits call this? Other languages? > > … German: There does not seem to be a common informal-register term for butt call. There is a formal-register term \*Hosentaschenanruf \*(trouser pocket call) that has been used in reports about calls to emergency numbers and about mobile phone phone bill disputes. The term _Arschanruf_ has been mooted but not adopted because _Arsch_ is much more offensive than butt, even somewhat more offensive than ass. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/7 "2017-12-13T10:04:45Z")
Pocket dialling is the common term in English English, but ‘butt call’ is also used. Pocket dialling can also come from a handbag. It’s a curious bit of etymology that we still ‘dial’ when we are pressing buttons…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/8 "2017-12-13T13:54:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Pocket dialling is the common term in English English, but ‘butt call’ is also used. Pocket dialling can also come from a handbag. It’s a curious bit of etymology that we still ‘dial’ when we are pressing buttons…🙂 Americans say pocket dial, too. That is, I think, the more common expression. But I have a really old cell phone with a rotary dial so it’s appropriate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-cell-phone-butt-call-in-spanish-real-question/804291/9 "2017-12-13T16:40:52Z")
As a data point, I note that in the Netflix series _Chewing Gum_, set in a London council estate (housing project for us 'Muricans), the lead refers to it as “bum-calling.”