Cheap things and people trying to get them

[aleCcowaN]

I want to ask the English -American and British- equivalent, as much as Spanish -Mexican, Spain's, etc.- for several Argentinian terms we use daily. I'm not looking for an explanation of their meanings but just looking for simple words that say the same with the same mood and language level -colloquial-.

pichincha = something with an extremely good quality/price rate; something of certain quality you could get for much less money than what you expected
hacer una pichincha = getting valuable goods for little money
pichinchero/a = person who is always looking for bargains.

Something is "una pichincha" when you could get it for "chaucha y palito" (for peanuts)

por chaucha y palito = for peanuts (literally: "pod [seed case] and tiny stick", probably originated by trying to make sense of Kechua chaychay pallta, which was a small additional bundle carried by a llama when goods were transported to barter with them)

pichulero = someone who is trying to get good value for little money, frequently resorting to false arguments, or complaining about minor or non-existent defects to get rebates.

I would like to know more about this in both languages, because it tends to be very local not only here.

[JPablo]

A bote pronto, en España hablamos de "una ganga", "conseguir algo por una ganga".

También "un chollo". O algo muy barato también se dice "un regalo"... o "está regalado".

En cuanto a "pichulero", tal vez "negociante", pero no estoy muy seguro de que se use mucho. O no recuerdo un término ampliamente conocido.

Saludos, Alec!

[Rusty]

bargain = good deal = blow out (prices) = cheaporific = cha-ching (if you stand to make a profit)

bargain hunter = bargain shopper = queen of (hunting down) (good) deals = queen of haggling (talking down a price)


get something for peanuts = get something for a steal = get something for next to nothing = get something at a (highly) discounted price

tightwad = penny pincher = (money) miser = cheapskate (none of these people will easily part with their money)

wheel and deal (talk down (a seller's) price, a good haggler can talk down a price)
bargaining chip = deal breaker (the dent, the defect that someone who wheels and deals may point out)

[aleCcowaN]

Wow! Thank you, Rusty! A lot to explore as I'm familiar with some of those terms but I wasn't linking them to what I was asking because they may sound harsher in English -but I'm still associating the straight-to-the-point quality of the English language as harshness (and I become harsher myself when I speak English)-.

¡Gracias, JPablo! Acá usamos ganga y pichincha como sinónimos. Y el "estaba regalado" también. Un chollo, eso es completamente nuevo para mí.

[wrholt]

Also get something for peanuts = get something for a song.

[poli]

A steal is a good term for bargain. Cheaporific may be a local term.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I've been asking people I know, and we don't seem to find more colloquial expressions. All I could collect was this:

- regatear -> to bargain for a lower price to the one the seller wants.
- regatero -> someone who bargains as a habit, but this word wasn't recognized by all the people I asked.
- me salió regalado -> I bought it extremely cheap.
- ganga -> not the most common word, but well understood when it's said.

Apart from that, people also say they are looking for something "con las tres B: bueno, bonito y barato". It's long, but it's become a very common expression.

Also, there was some clown on TV whose punchline for every joke was "¡qué baraaato, qué baraaato!", and it also became an expression for something very cheap.

Finally, I have just been reminded that some people also say "me salió bien bara(s)", and in some markets, the salespeople scream "bara, bara, baraaaa" to promote their products.

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

¡Gracias, JPablo! Acá usamos ganga y pichincha como sinónimos. Y el "estaba regalado" también. Un chollo, eso es completamente nuevo para mí.

¡De nada, Alec!
Moliner da para "chollo"

chollo m. inf. *Ganga o bicoca.

Y para "bicoca"

bicoca (del it. bicocca) 1 f. ant. Fortificación pequeña. 2 Pequeñez. 3 Ganga o *prebenda.

Lo de "bicoca", en España está un poquito pasado de moda, pero mi madre lo usaba.

El DRAE da:
chollo 1. m. coloq. Cosa valiosa o apreciable que se adquiere a muy bajo precio o con poco esfuerzo. U. t. en sent. irón.

Por cierto, Les Luthiers, en "Cartas de color" tienen a la tía de Oblongo que creo que se llamaba "Ganga"... (Muchos amaron a Ganga...) (Pero eso es otro tema...)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Bicoca" is slightly archaic here too, but I think it's still understood.

@Pablo: ¡Es una verdadera Ganga!

[aleCcowaN]

Ganga y Sir Archibald Bradley

Gracias, Angélica, por los datos que aportaste. Regatero no se usa en la Argentina, aunque seguro que se la "inventa" cuando es necesario evitar usar pichulero, que suele tener una connotación de persona moralmente miserable. Para España, el DRAE define regatero como vendedor al por menor, seguro que con alguna connotación que se me escapa.

Bicoca también se usaba en la Argentina, ahora menos, pero la omití porque pensé que era una influencia de la inmigración italiana. Parece que una batalla que se gana con facilidad pero que tiene consecuencias importantes, o cualquier acción militar similar, está detrás el origen de algunas palabras que significan ganga (bicoca, pichincha) o dinero fácil (marengo, que es el origen del vocablo argentino mango -peso, dinero-)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Alec: Supongo que "regatero" como vendedor al por menor será porque se dejan "regatear", pero me parece que tiene más sentido del lado de la compra y que de la venta.

[JPablo]

"Ganga y la tribu Obembe"...
y bueno, eran pigmeos...

Moliner da:

regatón2, -a (del sup. lat. recaptāre, recoger) 1 adj. y n. Se aplica al que acostumbra a regatear. 1 Regatero. 2 ant. *Revendedor de comestibles. * Intermediario.


regatonería (de regatón2) 1 f. Afición a regatear o costumbre de hacerlo. 2 Venta al por menor. 3 Profesión de regatón (revendedor).



Saludos.