Something is Fishy

Vocabulary

Costa Rica has two coasts, so there is plenty of seafood is available everywhere in the country. Corvina (sea bass) is the most commonly served fish and is prepared in a number of ways, including as ceviche (bits of fresh raw fish marinate in lime juice with onions, peppers and spices). Chucheca is a popular bivalve mollusc and dish from Costa Rica’s Puntarenas area. The people who live in Puntarenas are called puntarenenses or in slang, chuchequeros. Chucheca is also a vulgar term that refers to the vaginal part of a woman’s body in Costa Rica.

Fish related words:

Bass – Corvina
Biting – Los peces están picando – The fish are biting
Clams – Almejas
Cod – Bacalao
Crab – Cangrejo
Crayfish – Langostino (fresh water)
Eel – Anguila
Fin – Aletas
Fish – Pez (live), pescado (dead)
Fish store – Pescadería
Fishing line – Sedal
Fishing pole – Caña de pescar\Gills – Agallas
Haddock – Róbalo
Hook – Gancho, anzuelo
Lobster – Langosta
Mackerel – Macerela
Net – La red
Octopus – Pulpo
Oysters – Ostiones / Ostras
Rainbow bass – Guapote
Red snapper – Huachinango
Salmon – Salmón
Sardines – Sardinas
Scales – Escamas (skin)
Seafood restaurant – Marisquería
School of fish – Banco de mariscos
Shark – Tiburón
Shrimps Camarones
Sportsfishing – La pesca deportiva
Sole – Lenguado
Sword fish – Pez espada
Squid – Calamares
To cast – Tirar
To fish – Pescar or ir de pesca. Pescar can also mean to “catch a cold. José pescó un resfriado. Joe caught a cold. Pescar can also mean “to catch” in the following sense. Tengo que pescar a Juan antes de que salga. I have to catch John before he leaves.
Trout – Trucha
Tuna – Atún
Whole fish – Pescado entero which is served in many seafood restaurants

Fishy Tiquismos of the week:

  • Algo huele mal – Something smells fishy or there is more than meets the eye. Hay un gato encerrado is another way of saying the same thing.
  • Estar calmado como el pescado – to be calm or tranquil
  • Estar como una gallina en corral ajeno or estar como pez fuera del agua – to be like a fish out of water
  • Pescar en río revuelto – to fish in troubled waters
  • Para hablar y comer pescado, hay que tener mucho cuidado – Be careful what you say.
  • Pez gordo – literally a fat fish but used to mean an important person or “Big Shot”.