Highest authority on Spanish language weighs in on ‘sapingo’ ahead of Hialeah election
A video of two mayoral candidates in Hialeah yelling insults at each other resurfaced a debate of Cuban slang on the eve of the competitive Nov. 2 election: what actually is a “sapingo”?
Well, on Election Day, the highest authority in the Spanish language officially weighed in on Twitter.
Candidate Esteban “Steve” Bovo was heard yelling the Cuban word in a video recorded on Sunday at the John F. Kennedy Library early voting site. The moment was the culmination of a tense confrontation with a crowd of volunteers supporting candidate Fernando Godo, a conservative YouTuber and political commentator.
Both campaigns previously sparred over former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Bovo, though Bovo’s campaign said in a statement the video was “not in the context” of what happened. The campaign said the confrontation was a result of the Godo campaign “attacking Bovo’s family.”
On Tuesday, the Royal Spanish Academy — RAE in Spanish — which evaluates and adopts official changes in the Spanish language, said in a tweet the word “sapingo” is an offensive adjective in Cuban slang that refers to a person who is “stupid, useless or good for nothing.”
The RAE was responding to Juan Camilo Gómez, a host on Actualidad Radio 1040AM, who asked the initial question aboutwhy the word did not appear in the academy’s “Panhispanic Dictionary of Questions.”
The RAE, which pulled its answer to the question from other literature on Cubanisms, said the word’s use has never left room for doubt as to its meaning, therefore it hasn’t been included.
The word “sapingo” is widely used in Miami-Dade County, one of many insults particular to Cuban Spanish, including the terms “chusmería” or “pata sucia.”
The Hialeah mayoral race is one of several municipal elections taking place on Tuesday throughout South Florida, including in Miami, Miami Beach and Homestead.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
