chopo

What it means

1. 1.

   Tacky, cheap, low-rent — of clothes, phones, parties or people. The insult is squarely about class, and Dominicans use it about each other with a frankness that surprises outsiders.

2. 2.

   As a noun, someone read as poor and unpolished. Chopa, the feminine, is harsher still: its older sense is 'housemaid', which is exactly the comparison being made.

Examples with translations

• Esos tenis son chopo', no te lo' pongas.

  Those trainers look cheap, don't wear them.

• Me dijo chopa delante de to' el mundo.

  She called me low-class in front of everyone.

  Note: Said of another person rather than an object, it is a real insult and lands as one.

Where it comes from

From chopa, a dated word for a domestic servant, itself of disputed origin. The adjective generalised from the person to anything associated with her. Because the underlying comparison is to servant status, it carries more sting than 'tacky' does in English.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

chopa