Definition of Tumbero Language

Certain collectives spontaneously create their own system of communication. When this happens it is spoken of a jargon or slang, that is to say, a specific way of speaking that differs from a standard language. In Argentina there is the so-called language tumbero, which is spoken by followers of the cumbia villera, young people from marginal sectors and, very especially, by criminals and the population prison.

The origin

It refers to the soldiers who formerly ate in the barracks to feed themselves from the tomb, that is, the typical food of the military precincts and that normally had very little quality. The use of this word has evolved and nowadays a tumbero is a person who is in prison.

A small sample of prison vocabulary in Argentina

What criterion In general, the words that make up the Tumbero vocabulary have a different meaning than conventional. This phenomenon has a logic explanation, since both offenders and prisoners need to use a differentiated language so that their activities can remain hidden or semi-concealed.

The policemen are known as Federicos or Cobanis. The word hake means cocaine. An executioner is a woman. It is said that someone is a mule when he is engaged in transporting drugs. Going to the biorsi is equivalent to going to the bathroom. A cachengue is a problem.

A mask is a person who is not to be trusted. Chorear is equivalent to stealing. If someone looks at a woman for the purpose of sexual intercourse, she is gnawing.

Those inmates who act with extreme violence They are known as the long knives. A robbery in a house is a scrutiny. A woman with little physical attractiveness is an escracho. The perfect situation to commit a crime is called fixed.

As can be seen from the examples mentioned, this vocabulary refers to daily life in prisons.

The vocabulary in Spanish prisons

Prison terminology is a reality in most countries. In the case of Spain, the prisoners have their own jargon. An arena is a fight between prisoners. A wrongdoer is the prisoner who does not comply with the established norms. A farmer is a policeman that places drugs somewhere in order to put an individual in prison.

On the other hand, the use of scarves, called bandanas, also has a communicative purpose and depending on where they are placed they have a meaning or other (a scarf placed on the head means that its owner has injured other prisoners and on the arm implies that it is a assassin).

Photo: Fotolia - Zefir