Costa Rican Spanish Word of the Day: Cachos

Cachos is the most common way to say 'horns' or 'antlers' in Costa Rica. (In other Spanish-speaking countries, cuerno is the more common term.) To "ponerse los cachos" is to cheat on your significant other. The verb can also be used in a transitive sense, as in the following sentence: "Mi novia me puso los cachos." (My girlfriend cheated on me.)

In Costa Rica bakeries will sell pastries called "cachos". They're flaky, cone-like pastries filled with dulce de leche, a product made by slowly boiling milk and sugar until it caramelizes. I was always a sucker for these cachos. When I would go into a bakery to get a cacho, the owner would always have a good "cachos" joke for me. Of course, she was especially proud of her jokes because I was actually dating her daughter...

Siempre en la lucha,

Tom