It’s Tingo Tuesday!
The first Tuesday of each month, I share a word from The Meaning of Tingo & Other Extraordinary Words From Around the World by Adam Jacot de Boinod.
Today, I’m sharing a word of Spanish Caribbean origin.
Have you ever seen a guy who wears his shirt tail outside of his pants? Well, then you have seen anyone under 40 you have seen a cotisuelto.
I see “cotisueltos” all the time. Usually a cotisuelto has mad-swagger. He wears his shirt untucked because his pants are hanging somewhere underneath his buttcheeks. I have to assume these crazy-cats believe their shirts will cover their tidy-whities, but dudes. Let’s get real right now. There is nothing hot about seeing a grown man walking around in his underpants. Invest in a good belt, guys. Seriously.
I love how other cultures have language for the actions and concepts for which we haven’t necessarily got the right words.
Now it’s your turn!
Leave me a comment about a time when you saw/were a “cotisuelto.”
If I love your comment the way Brad loves Angelina, I’ll slip a photo of you into my sidebar so folks can check you out all month!
If you are not a blogger, don’t worry. I have plans for you, too.
This month’s winner is Dyanne at I Want Backsies. When we were discussing akihi moments, Dyanne explained about how she and her husband — a former funeral director — accidentally went off-roading in a hearse in south central Missouri. To see the comment that won Dyanne a month of linky-love, click HERE. It is a masterpiece!
Tell me about a (real or fictional) “‘cotisuelto.” What happened? Did the person eventually tuck it in? Or do you believe that letting it all hang out is best?
tweet me @rasjacobson
You have until March 29, to enter a comment! The winner will be revealed on the first Tuesday in April!
renée a. schuls-jacobson 
I watched a teenage boy walking down my street. His pants were low, low, low! Then they fell down! You should have seen him looking around to see if anyone was watching!
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Did his pants hit the flo’? Were they that low low low low low? I’ve seen dudes lose their pantalones before. Remember, I used to teach at a community college. 😉
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A couple of years ago, I heard a story on NPR in which a young man recounted how he decided to start wearing pants that fit. He had to run through O’Hare to get from one plane to the next with his luggage while trying to keep his pants from falling around his ankles.
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I wonder if he missed his plane. Cuz that’ll do it.
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Frankly, Renee, I usually wear my shirt tails outside of my pants for a wholly different reason: I have no ass. Never had it, never will. And wearing my shirt tails out hides that pretty well, I think.
Now if I could only figure out what to do with that other size problem of mine …
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I’m sorry to hear you are assless, Perry. You can borrow my donkey if you’d like. Bazinga. 🙂
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The only time you’ll see my shirt tails untucked is if you drop by my house unannounced. When I untuck my shirt, it’s my way of saying, “I’m done for the day and will not be going anywhere else.”
Where I work, however, lots of twentysomething men come in every day with their skinny shirts untucked. The tails are fairly short, reaching maybe midway down the rear jeans pocket. Thankfully, each one of them wears his jeans at the hips where they belong. It’s clearly a deliberate look, and it actually works.
I couldn’t carry off the look, though. Those skinny shirts are juuuuuuust a little too snug across my middle-aged spread. So I buy regular shirts and tuck them in, which is as much a clue of my age as my graying hair.
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You are describing my hubby’s preferred look, but now that he is over 45…well, he’s learning to tuck. I like that you are one unapologetic brother tucker. 😉
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Men here in San Antonio in summer wear guayaberras which are DESIGNED to be worn outside the pants and look good. They aren’t too long and certainly don’t cover the ass. The young males do wear their pants down to their knees still with chains (to hold them up?) and I always marvel that more of them don’t have pants around their ankels. They look so ridiculous. Their hems are all frayed and bunched up around their tennis shoes (that’s what they’re called here, not sneakers). What a mess! It’s quite a laugh, wondering if they are going to make it across the street at a stop light, without falling down. Hours of amusement, really.
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I have to go Google “guayaberas” now. Why you always gotta teach me something, yo? 😉
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Quite frankly, I am not a big fan of the ridiculous inappropriate attire we’ve become accustomed to in our society’s dress code, be it everyday casualwear, business wear, or even dressing for more formal events. However, I do welcome seeing a “cotisuelto” walking with his (or sometimes, her) mad swagger down the street or across the parking lot. See, the fact of the matter is, I know that their mad swagger is due only to the fact that their pants have fallen down so far they are trying to keep the evidence from slipping down past those same shirt tails. And I, for one, am very grateful because I find nothing appealing about their tidy-whities, or their not so tidy-whities, or worse yet, that occasional thong that makes an appearance!
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There is nothing more disgusting than untidy-whities. I’ve seen that, and that look is nasty. If you’re going to wear ’em low, get some boxer briefs. 😉
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I work in a courthouse in the city. The people I see on a daily basis are very urban and also not affluent. They do not wear suits to their court dates. The way they dress for court is to wear their baggiest T-shirt and low-slung jeans. Many a time I have seen a gentleman approach the bench, pulling his pants up, only to see them slide down again past his thin grey tighty-whities (usually not white, grey mostly) and land under his prominently displayed butt cheeks, that you can clearly see through the thin material of the underwear. Then, when his case is concluded and he is walking away from the bench (and the Judge), the pants once again will slide down below his bottom, giving a barely covered mooning to the Judge. There is no untucked shirt long enough to cover all those goings on.
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Mooning the judge. I’m guessing that could tack years onto a sentence. Certainly doesn’t leave a great last impression. What about chicks? Do they how a little thong-tha-thong-tha-thong?
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Oh god, all the time. Especially in summer. There are boobs and butts all over that joint. Dreadful!
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Awesome post today! A few years ago, I was at the mall and I saw a group of guys wearing their pants really low off their hips, and yes, their undies were showing. After seeing this for the longest time (which I truly hate), I approached this group of guys and asked them why do they wear their pants that way? They never really answered me, laughed at me that I asked, but did tell me that they purchase pants that are larger than what they normally wear, just so they can hang them off their buttocks like that, showing their undies. Strange, yes.
And, another time, I was looking out my window and I saw two guys walking through a field by my house, with their pants hanging off and undies showing, and one guy saw a group of geese in the field. He decided that he would have some fun and chase the geese. He ran towards the geese, with his arms flying up and down as he ran, the geese reacted and turned on him. He started to run, but because his pants were hanging off of him and too large for his hips, his pants fell down to his knees and he fell down in the field. The geese ran towards him and tried to snap at him. I was laughing my ass off and only wished I had video taped this. The other guy he was with, was sitting on the curb, laughing too!
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Hahaha! I don’t know if this is true or not, but the image of geese snapping at a guy who toppled over because his low-pants made him fall down made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that, Nikitaland.;)
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It is a true story! I laughed my butt off when I saw this guy chasing the geese and his pants fell down.
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Video would have been incredible! I love this scene!
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Ah, how we “nurture” our own egos; “fashion” is certainly one way. Naturally, that nurturing can be done tastefully and creatively, or it can be done distastefully and strictly for stroking self as you’re pointing out Renee. Another form of this egocentric self expression is the current trend of tattooing and piercing. Tasteful? Obnoxious? “Cotisuelto-ing” may only be alluring if it leads to the person’s greater, inner wisdom and benefit to community and a greater humanity. But that’s just my own humble opinion. And by the way, my personal fashion on my Gravatar-icon is Steampunk and is a DIFFERENT (historical) form of Neo-Victorian fashion. Thought I should point that out! HAH! 🙂
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Fashion is almost always about ego: do we try to fit in or go against norms? And which norms do we ascribe to? I am no fashionista, but I appreciate this word because we don’t have anything like it.
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Agree. When is it overboard; too much? Societal norms change don’t they?
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I suppose it is overboard when folks come after you with pitchforks. 😉
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HAH! And burning crosses and torches! Gimme them there witches and warlocks with swagger! 😉
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Out here in the untamed wilds of the Pacific NW, it’s not at all uncommon to see that. More along the “outdoor shirt” lines, than the “baggy panted” lines, though. People also wear jeans to nice restaurants. Sometimes it’s a nice level of casual, sometimes you want to yell at people to make a little effort. What can I say, we’re all mad here.
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So it’s more of a lumberjack thing, you’ve got going on over there? Here’s a quick Monty Python salute to the Pacific NW.
I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay.
I work all night, and I sleep all day.
I cut down trees. I eat my lunch. I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays, I go shopping.
And…cotisuelto for tea.
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we don’t have that sort of lumberjack here in the PNW… totally different suspenders. LOL
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I kind of am one, but not of the boxer-exposing variety. I keep the pants up at the hip. My girls are the ones who chastise me when I tuck a shirt in. To them, I’m like Ward Cleaver when I do that.
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Hey Coachdaddy E! There’s a fine line between looking nice and looking like a dork. Sounds like you are still able to pull off untucked. Good for you.
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I know it’s early in the day, but I might have to go with Perry Block as this month’s winner 🙂
Dyanne’s story is priceless! Thank goodness she was in the car to get them out of that predicament! And, seriously, EVERYONE needs to head over to her place (once they’ve finished up over here, of course) because she is THAT FUNNY all the time. You should see her text conversations….
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Oh Dawn! It is early in the month! People have until March 29 to submit entries! That said, it is funny. Perry is great! And I really like Dyanne, so I’m thrilled to have her in my sidebar. She is very clever. But I’ll let people click over at their leisure — all month! 😉 Mow, where’s your entry? Ever have your thong show? *ahem*
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LoL! Somewhere I have a picture I made my then 9 year-old son take of a girl sitting in front of us at a Univ. of Fla. basketball game in Kansas City whose g-string was riding up above the waist line of her jeans. My 12 year-old wanted to ask her to come back and sit on his lap….
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Living in a sub-tropical climate, folks tend to wear as little as possible as loosely as possible. So we see things that really shouldn’t be out for public viewing. When my boys were little they had guayaberas, the Cuban shirts with stitching and pockets on the outside. So that — those three little boys with their summer shirts hanging out– is my favorite image of untucked shirts.
Thank you for giving me pause to remember that!
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That is a sweet image. And no untidy-whities. Love it. Thank you for sharing!
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I really dislike the fashion as well as a few other things that pass for fashion these days. If I wanted to look at underwear, well I’d look at underwear. you know what i mean.I am a compulsive shirt-tucker and only dress sloppy in the morning before kids get up and all summer….have a great day, it’s a no-snow snow day here.
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Ooooh! You are off from school! Maybe a good time to go to the store and check out some undies. If you know hat I mean. 😉
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I do not plan to hop in the car unless I have to… it is snowing pretty hard right now and the dusting has given way to pretty solid coat on the drive and the road.. I think I’ll just fold the laundry instead! and play with the kids and if i get really bored grade papers!
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It’s illegal in Canada.
OK. Maybe not.
But I teach at a private school with uniforms (and belts!) so not much unintentional swaggering here.
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I remember teaching in private schools. Ah yes. The dress code. Le sigh.
I love Canada. So civilized.
I’m guessing those boys swagger with their pantalones all belted up cuz you teach them about Shakespearian swagger, yo. 😉
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Recently I ran into an acquaintance, a 40 something lawyer, in the grocery store. He had his shirt untucked over his khakis. No swagger whatsoever, mostly because he’s vertically challenged. 😦 His pale pink button down swallowed him…
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Oh yeah. Short dudes probably should not wear long, untucked shirts. Did he look like a pink Popsicle? 🙂
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My story is quite simple. My hubby and I were in a car and saw a group of young boys walking the sidewalk. I was astonished to see five guys with large baggy pants and their waist was down to their tushies with exposing their underwear and crack! Then without any reaSON THEY ALL DROPPED THEIR PANTS. All we could do is laugh our heads off and say
that’s a new one for us.
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They dropped trow? To moon you? For no apparent reason? Or were they having a good time? Sounds like they were having a good time. Sounds like you rather enjoyed it, too! 😉
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I don’t understand the teens’ habit of wearing their pants below their butts. Can’t imagine it would be comfortable.
That said, I love to wear shirts with banded waists that are designed to be worn untucked. And when I wear shorts, which is most of the year in Texas, I don’t tuck shirts in. However, my reason is not to expose anything. It’s to hide the fact my belly dunlapped over my belt.
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I almost always tuck my shirts in if they are button shirts. And with a belt. Unless its like a flannel that I’m hanging around the house in. Tees and other casual wear can obviously hang out… ’cause if you’re tucking in a tee shirt that’s kind of dorky. And like David says all the rules change with shorts. Interestingly I’ve always known the underwear term as TIGHTY-whities. But after some research apparently the two terms are interchangeable. Irregardless, I’m a boxers guy.
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This is one of the many things I’ve had to get used to while teaching college. Tongue rings is another that I had a little trouble accepting. But at least with tongue rings, I’m not forced to view people’s underwear.
What I love is the guys who wear the pants so loose that they have to keep a hand on their drawers all the time to keep them from falling down. Do they really think that makes them look tough and masculine and sexy? Not!
I think it’s totally cool though, that Caribbean Spanish actually has a word for this look.
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I am a cotisuelto by necessity. I wish I could rock the look of the tucked in shirt, belt and slim-line skirt. The aesthetics of that look really appeal to me. It’s put-together, refined, svelte.
But when I tuck in my shirt, all is does is create the illusion that I am one large, boxy block of Rivki. It destroys my waistline and emphasizes all the wrong aspects of my curves. Also, shirt-tucking-in is deceptively tricky. One would think you just tuck the shirt in and go. But nooooooo, not so much. If it’s the wrong cut of shirt then I look like a gigantic puffy apple muffin. Or something equally undesirable in appearance. Also, with all the lifting and bending that comes with being the mother of three little ones, well, those shirts don’t stay tucked for long.
Yeah.
Cotisuelto by necessity. That is me, and I own it. Watch me swagger with my sippy cups. Word.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for the linky love, Renee! Who knew getting lost with a dead body in the back of the car would garner me such an honor? And additional thanks to Dawn at Since You Asked for the shout out. Y’all are just too kind!
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I’m so glad you are here! Hopefully people will click over to check you out all month! (No pressure!) I’ve enjoyed stalking you over the last few weeks! You are one hip chick. And knowing that Dawn is a fan, well…it’s just a small world, isn’t it? 😉 Enjoy your time in my sidebar.
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Renee, my dear hubby wears his shirts out now because it is more comfortable for him since his back surgery, although he does not wear his pants halfway down his butt, thank God! I have to say he looks kinda cute! 🙂
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You know how to bring the funny, my dear. Is there a female version of cotisueltos? Cotisueltas? I wear my shirts untucked a lot lately cause all of my jeans and pants shrunk in the dryer (ahem) and I hate that tight waist feeling. No real problem there except my thongs must show more often cause the other day our 4 year old pulled her undies up her butt and announced, “Look, Mommy, I’m just like you!” So there’s that.
Go, Tingo. Great post as always!
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