Lunfardo

Lunfardo is a colorful, slangy argot which developed at the end of the 19C in the lower classes in and around Buenos Aires. Many of the expressions arrived with European immigrants, such as Italians, French, Portuguese, and Poles; other words arrived from the pampa by means of the gauchos; yet others emerged from Argentina's black population.

Many Lunfardo expressions have entered into the popular language and have become an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay.

Lunfardo is frequently found in the lyrics of tangos, supplying nuances and double-entendres with overtones of sex, drugs, and the criminal world.