The Big Spanish Fuss

Everyone likes to make a big fuss every now and then. Let's learn how to do it in Spanish!

In the telenovela Yago, Morena uses alboroto to refer to the atmosphere at the office after some thieves broke in:

Y parece que se ha armado todo un alboroto. -¿Eh?

And it seems it kicked up a big fuss. -Huh?

Caption 48, Yago - 5 La ciudad - Part 7
Play Caption

To describe Mexico City’s downtown, our friend David prefers to use the words relajo and desmadre to refer to “mess” and “chaos,” respectively:

Donde realmente se aconglomera todo el relajo y todo el... el desmadre, ¿no?

Where all the mess comes together... and all the... the chaos, right?

Captions 41-42, Amigos D.F. - Clima en el DF
Play Caption

In Argentina and other countries, the words despelote (chaos/fuss/trouble) and quilombo (mess) are also used. Aldo, Yago’s evil uncle, gives us an example of despelote:

¿Cómo está la familia? Bien. -Seguro que estuviste haciendo despelotes vos.

How is the family? Fine. -Surely you were causing trouble.

Captions 2-3, Yago - 1 La llegada - Part 7
Play Caption

and Ramón, certainly not the most honest forest ranger in town, uses quilombo:

Con todo el quilombo que tuve ¿qué querés? Se me escapó.

With all the mess that I had, what do you expect? It came out.

Captions 18-19, Yago - 4 El secreto - Part 2
Play Caption

In Muñeca Brava, the perverse Damián Rapallo dismissively applies the word lío (fuss) to describe his brother-in-law reaction when he finds him assaulting Milagros:

Aquí estoy yo, no te va a pasar... -Tanto lío por una mucamita.

Here I am, [nothing] is going to happen to you... -So much fuss over a little housemaid.

Caption 39, Muñeca Brava - 44 El encuentro - Part 10
Play Caption

Now, if you have a taste for more exotic words, we suggest you learn them from the masters, Puerto Rican band Calle 13, who give us three colorful expressions: bullanga (ruckus), burundanga (mess/disarray) and jolgorio (revelry):

Que por ahí viene la ganga con una bullanga a llenarse los ojos con tu burundanga.

From somewhere the gang is coming with a commotion to fill up their eyes with your disarray [mix-up, mess].

Captions 48-49, Calle 13 - Cumbia de los Aburridos
Play Caption

Se formó el jolgorio en el purgatorio

Revelry went on in purgatory

Caption 58, Calle 13 - Tango del pecado
Play Caption

Notice that most of these words (alboroto, relajo, desmadre, lío, quilombo, and despelote) have a negative connotation. Bullanga and burundanga could be used either way, but are most commonly used as positive expressions.

Topics Vocabulary