# Translate “cool” to Spanish, please

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 22, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139 "2019-10-22T15:57:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**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:** [October 23, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139/21 "2019-10-23T18:18:11Z")

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> [@DPRK](#):
>
> Spanish and French probably understand the word “cool”, though.

I’ve certainly heard “cool” to mean “cool” (the “genial” type) in Mexico.

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**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139/22 "2019-10-23T19:34:20Z")

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> [@bordelond](#):
>
> [Obligatory Cannonball Run reference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaEcPDyTaZE) 😃
> 
> _“And those ‘priests’ …”  
> “… weren’t fathers. They were …”  
> “Mothers!”_

“… These bleeds?” \</outakes\>

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139/23 "2019-10-26T07:07:36Z")

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> [@bordelond](#):
>
> I know in music, all boundaries are fair game … but your statement puts “[Rico Suave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f8I4foA9Nw)” in a new light.
> 
> FWIW, the singer Gerardo Mejia was born in Ecuador, lived there until he was 12, and then moved to Los Angeles when he was 12. In the song’s context, “_suave_” seems to suggest the same thing as the slang use of English “smooth”: “self-assured, non-awkward, skilled in ‘the game of love’”.

Except, first, he only uses it in the title and with no comma, so it could be the guy’s lastname, and second, the song is not in Spanish.

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**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-cool-to-spanish-please/842139/24 "2019-10-26T12:36:21Z")

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> [@Nava](#):
>
> … the **“_qué_” would be part of an exclamation in response** to something _padre_ that’s been said.

Funny. I don’t speak much Spanish and I’d never have been able to come up with the response you mention, but reading it, it feels strangely right, like some sort of “subconscious romance language common sense”.

On a similar note, about 20 years ago, I was improvising a conversation in Spanish with my brother, who unlike me speaks it quite well and I exclaimed at one point : “Absolumente !”, based on the French equivalent and my brother retorted : “Wrong !”. Without missing a beat, I came up with the correct “Absolutamente !”. He found it fascinating that I had not only rightly felt that I needed to add a syllable, but also guessed its correct place and that it had to be -ta- (and not, say, -zi- or -fo- or anything, really).

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