gomelo

What it means

1. 1.

   A rich, preppy young person — private school, brand names, a particular drawled accent, a north-Bogotá postcode. Mildly derisive but not an insult you would be punched for.

2. 2.

   As an adjective, of clothes, bars or neighbourhoods: posh in a slightly try-hard way.

Examples with translations

• Ese bar es muy gomelo para mi bolsillo.

  That bar is far too posh for my wallet.

• Llegó un combo de gomelos en camionetas.

  A pack of rich kids turned up in SUVs.

Where it comes from

Most plausibly from gomoso, a nineteenth-century Colombian word for a dandy or fop. The various stories tying it to a particular Bogotá family or shop are folk etymology and mutually contradictory.

First attested: 1970s in its current sense

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

gomela, gomelito

Similar terms:

pepito, cuico