Comments on: Argentina: Master of Nicknames

By: aquiles

aquiles — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:24:44 +0000

In Argentina, the most popular football tv show commentator called Riquelme “El Torero” (bullfighter or matador) years ago (1998 – 2001, I guess).

Some other nicknames you may find funny:

Javier “la cabra” (the goat) Delgado
Gonzalo “Pejerrey” (silversmelt) Belloso
Marcos “anguila” (eel) Gutiérrez (nickname due to the myth of his penis)
“patrulla” (patrol) Giménez
“Panadero” (baker) Díaz
Claudio Caniggia was nicknamed “hijo del viento” (son of the wind) or “pájaro” (bird)
“Zapatilla” (tenis shoe) Sánchez
Felipe “petardo” (firecracker, petard) Desagastizábal
“El diablo” (the devil) Monserrat
“El demonio” (the demon) Padra
José Luis “garrafa” (gas cylinder) Sánchez
“Lavandina” (bleach) Bergessio
“La Vieja” (the old woman) Reynoso
“Pepona” (large doll) Rinaldi
“El hacha” (the axe) Ludueña / and his son, “el hachita” (the little axe) Ludueña, currently playing in Mexico
“Chupete” (pacifier) Guerini
“Terremoto” (earthquake) Cejas
“Tweety” Carrario (as in “Tweety and Sylvester cartoons)
“Satanás” (satan) Páez
“El Manteca” (the butter) Martínez
“El rifle” (the rifle) Pandolfi (due to his skinny legs)
“Gambetita” (little dribbling) Latorre
“Tacuara” (a south american type of cane) Cardozo
“El abuelo” (the granpa) Stranges
“Chaucha” (green bean) Bianco
“Polilla” (moth) Da Silva
“La Gata” (the she-cat) Fernández
“Lenny kravitz” Cardozo
“El Sopa” (the soap) Aguilar
“El Pony” (the pony) Oyola
“El buitre” (the vulture) Pavlovich
“Puchero” (stew) Donnet
“el marciano” (the martian) Ortiz

In some cases, I didn`t remember the first name, because is more common to call them for their nicknames.

By: barcafan

barcafan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:57:15 +0000

whats Riquelme’s nickname i never heard one for him!!!!

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:22:57 +0000

Let’s not forget that the reason Juan Sebastian Veron is called “la brujita,” is because his father was nicknamed “la bruja.” His father, Juan Ramon Veron, was also a famous soccer player with the club Estudiantes de la plata.

By: David

David — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:51:56 +0000

S-Dawg – Your comment got marked as spam. Trying not using the word “puberty” next time!

By: David

David — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:05:15 +0000

Chris – I did know about some of the older nicknames, but wanted to focus on more recent players. Passarella is known also as ‘El Kasier’ for his resemblance to Beckenbauer (in playing style, not looks).

I don’t know about Alberto Tarantini, but current Barcelona player Javier Saviola is also known as ‘el conejo.’ This refers to his rabbit-like qualities (small and quick), not anything else.

By: Keddy

Keddy — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:32:38 +0000

Messi en fuego! I love Messi (and you know I don’t love many soccer players). So bring on the fleaman! Obama in 08! Later.

By: Chris Oakley

Chris Oakley — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:43:37 +0000

Great article! I think it’s great how many Spanish and Argentinian get to have nicknames. They seem to have such meaning and character to them.

Out of curiosity, I thought I’d find out some nicknames of players from the great 1978 World Cup-winning side. Mario Kempes was nicknamed ‘El matador’ which speaks for itself! Daniel Passarella was ‘El Gran Capitan’ – again, self-explanatory, but the most interesting one is arguably that of Alberto Tarantini. He was known as ‘Conejo’ which, according to my research, could mean either ‘rabbit’ or… well let’s just say a slang word referring to a rather personal part of a woman’s body!!!

I’m assuming Tarantini was either a very quick runner, had big floppy ears or wasn’t very popular with his team-mates…

By: S-dawg

S-dawg — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:34:05 +0000

Has Leonel Messi even hit puberty yet?

By: OmegaSupremeho

OmegaSupremeho — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:54:26 +0000

LOL, very interesting. I can see England fans having fun with Sergio AgÃ¼eros’ nickname