droga
n.— «A year ago, Angelita Medina Albarran, 47, a garment worker at St. John Knits, took out two loans from Fremont Investment & Loan to cover the entire $600,000 purchase price for 919 W. Camile St., a 1,450-square-foot bungalow. Her five grown children help pay the mortgage—$4,000 a month and scheduled to rise in May. “La droga,” Medina Albarran said. That’s Spanish for “drug”—Mexican slang for a crippling debt. The people of West Camile Street, she said, are “endrogados”—hooked on debt.» —“Santa Ana street struggles with subprime loans” by John Gittelsohn, Ronald Campbell Orange County Register (California) Aug. 12, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If someone tells you it’s flisky or flobby outside, do you need to take an umbrella? A new book about England’s soggy climate includes 188 terms for rainy weather. Americans have their own joking names for local weather, from June Gloom in Southern...
La verdad de la milanesa, literally “the truth of the milanesa,” is an Argentine Spanish expression meaning “the real truth.” One possible origin involves a dispute over whether the breaded meat dish milanesa comes from Italy or Austria. Another...