Trashy, low-class — a loaded class insult.
Aimed at clothes, music, speech, behaviour — but underneath it is about class and poverty, and it functions as the opposite of *cuico*, the rich equivalent. Chileans use it constantly among themselves and it still carries a sting.
Chilean and recent. Often traced to English "flyers" or flashy trainers, though the etymology is disputed.
A real class slur, the Chilean cousin of Mexico’s *naco*. Recognise it; as a learner, do not use it.
Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Chilean Spanish — it uses flaite the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Chilean Spanish.
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