Puerto Rican Spanish Slang for Penis: A Bug or a Guy’s Dick?
What does bicho means in Puerto Rico?
The example here is a COMMON mistake that Spanish speakers make in Puerto Rico. A recent restaurant visit in Peru reminded me of one of my first encounters with Puerto Rican Spanish.
I had just moved from Argentina to Puerto Rico and one of my first mess-ups in the local Puerto Rican Spanish occurred with the word bicho. (The Puerto Rican readers are already laughing here…). As most Spanish speakers will tell you, bicho is the word for bug and interchangeable with insecto, or insect.
However, in Puerto Rico bicho actually means a guy’s dick. No bug usage at all. You can see the confusion this causes. I actually told a fast food employee one time that there was a “dick” on the glass shield above the food. Yes, I really did.
Cebichito: A Puerto Rican play on words joke
The photo on the right is from the menu at the restaurant in Peru. In Puerto Rico, Peruvian restaurants entered strongly into the local market in the last few years. A common joke on the Island of Enchantment is “¿Te gusta el cevichito?” which for any wholesome, normal person means “Do you like ceviche (the raw fish cooked in lemon juice)?” However to the dirty-minded Puerto Rican pronouncing it as “¿Te gusta ese bichito?” means “You like that little dick?”
Being of the dirty-minded variety myself, the lunch options took on a new meaning when I sat down to read the menu. I really wanted some raw fish, but couldn’t quite bring myself to order the cevichito. It just made me giggle.
To learn more Puerto Rican Spanish, check out my books Speaking Boricua: A Practical Guide to Puerto Rican Spanish and Speaking Phrases Boricua: A Collection of Wisdom and Sayings from Puerto Rico.
Check out these other Puerto Rican Spanish Slang Word articles.
