tuanis

Spanish

FWOTD – 3 March 2020

Etymology

Originally the plural of the malespín form of bueno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtwanis/ [ˈt̪wa.nis]
• Rhymes: -anis
• Syllabification: tua‧nis

Adjective

tuanis (invariable)

1. (El Salvador, Honduras, colloquial) of excellent quality; of a nice nature (said of a thing)

   Me pasó algo tuanis. ― Something nice happened to me.

   • 2005-07-21, user "Fátima" on the ayvevos.com forum (primarily a Salvadoran forum)

     Hay si niña si Santa Ana es pero de los mejores lugares que tiene nuestro país y mira niña que romantico / tu marido vos solo que nada que ver lo que te decía con la serenata, o quizas te quería llevar para santa ana verdad tu hay no niña definitivamente tú y yo debemos organizar un té para platicar tantas cosas tuanis tuanis (sic, original orthography of the post)
     Ay sí, niña, sí. Santa Ana es pero de los mejores lugares que tiene nuestro país. Y mira niña qué romántico tu marido, vos. Solo que nada que ver lo que te decía con la serenata, o quizás te quería llevar para Santa Ana, ¿verdad, tú? Ay no niña, definitivamente tú y yo debemos organizar un té para platicar tantas cosas tuanis tuanis. (In standard orthography)
     Oh yeah. Santa Ana is one of the very best places that our country has. And whoa your husband is so romantic, wow. But what he would tell you about in the serenade had nothing to do with that, or maybe he wanted to take you to Santa Ana, don't you think? Seriously, me and you should definitely organize a meeting with tea to talk about such nice, nice many things.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (El Salvador, obsolete, colloquial) of a good, kind personality (said of a person)

   Ese tu amigo es bien tuanis ― That friend of yours is such a good person.

3. (Honduras, Nicaragua, colloquial) Cool (fashionable)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:guay

   ¡Qué tuanis! ― That's so cool!

4. (Costa Rica, colloquial) Nice, agreeable, giving a general sense of well-being, cool
   • 1997, Carlos Sandoval García, Sueños y sudores en la vida cotidiana, →ISBN, page 200:

     En Paso Real, algunos comentan: "es tuanis trabajar en las fábricas, pero lo feo son los chismes de las viejas (mujeres).

     At Paso Real, some comment, "It's nice to work in the factories, but the ugly part is the viejas (women's) gossip.

   • 2003, Alexis Murillo Tsijli, Manuel Murillo Tsijli, El ajedrez en Costa Rica, →ISBN, page 171:

     "—Mano, ese deporte si que es tuanis, Ah, pero no hay que descuidarse porque viene un roco de esos que sabe, mueve aquí, mueve allá, y ya está; lo deja a uno tostado. Pero que es tuanis, es tuanis el jueguillo ese."

     "Buddy, that sport sure is cool. Oh, but there's no need to be careless because one of those old men comes and, you know, moves here, moves there, and that's that; he leaves you reeling. But it is cool, that little game is cool.

   • 2014 June 24, Yaslin Cabezas, “¿Qué tipo de aficionado es usted? Identifíquese con este video”, in CR Hoy‎:

     “ […] Le ganamos a Uruguay, le ganamos a Italia y le empatamos a Inglaterra, cuando nos tocan el orgullo no nos dejamos porque ser tico es una bendición. Si estás orgulloso de la Sele compartilo y que sepan lo tuanis que es ser tico”, dice la nota que acompaña el material.

     " […] We beat Uruguay, we beat Italy and we tied with England; when we are challenged, we don't hold back, because being Costa Rican is a blessing. If you're proud of the national team, share it and let them know how nice it is to be Costa Rican," says the note accompanying the material.

Usage notes

• The word is largely obsolete in El Salvador, but it is common in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Further reading

• “tuanis”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014