A few days ago, I saw a newspaper piece on golfer Angel Cabrera, the Argentinian who won the US Open a few weeks back. It said that, at home, his nickname is “El Pato” (the Duck) because he’s rather portly and walks with a bit of a waddle.
Now, I speak practically no Spanish, but growing up, I often heard “Pato” used as an insulting slang word, along the lines of “Fag” or “Homo.”
Obviously, the Spanish speaking world is very large, and slang terms that mean one thing to, say, a Puerto Rican might not mean the same thing to a Chilean. just as a Mexican and a Peruvian might use very different expressions
So, in which Spanish speaking countries does “pato” mean homosexual, and in which is it just a waterfowl?
Well. Pato is duck in all of America. But. Pato is used as slang for homosexual in Cuba and in some central american countries. In Mexico, when we say “se está haciendo pato,” it means, “he is acting stupid.”
I can confirm that pato is a homosexual slur among Puerto Ricans. A duck was pictured in an editorial cartoon in a college newspaper (Temple U., I believe) related to a story on Hispanic students. The editorial staff paper was censured.
Insult words vary widely by region. In the Southern Cone, “Pato” is not an insult there. In fact the Bolvian Navy guys are called “Ducks” by their Army comrades.
Pato as slang for homosexual is mostly central american and caribbean. People in other countries will know about this and try to avoid it in front of people who will make an issue of it, but not worry about it at home.
In Venezuela, “pargo” (snapper, the fish) is also used as a slang for homosexual. Pato is well enough known that people won’t use it as a nickname, but it is not commonly used.
Both pato and pargo are very mild as insults and are often used more as euphemisms than as straight insults. That said, with the macho culture, there is no mild way of calling some gay and not get into a fight. YMMV, as usual.
For years after losing the War of the Pacific, Bolivia maintained a single-ship blue-water navy. When that went away, the Navy was reduced to operating on the lake. Hense, “Ducks.”
