Slangy Sabados: What's cooler than being cool?

For my first month or so in Mexico, before I learned the street lingo, I often felt exceptionally nerdy. (Actually, I still do five years later, because my slang doesn't always flow as quickly as I'd like). When presented with something I thought was really cool, for lack of vocabulary I'd say, "Excelente!" or "Que bueno!", and feel like a voice-over for a Spanish language learning set. Lame. 

So how do you say "cool" in Mexico? Well, there are 2 basic ways:

"Chido" and "Chingon."

Chido is simply cool. You can use it wherever you like. "Está chido, wey!" ("That's cool dude!).

Chingon on the otherhand, is more like "fucking cool," so don't use it around your grandmother.

And don't forget: grammar counts even in slang, so use chida and chingona for those feminine nouns.

Now you know, hopefully you can sound like less of a geek at La Morena this Saturday night.