IN SEVERAL Latin American countries, including Spain and Mexico, coche is the word for a car. When someone uses Guatemalan Spanish to speak with other Latins, this can lead to confusion. If someone says: “Choqué con un coche que se me metió,” it could mean either “I crashed into a pig that got in my way” or “I crashed into a car that got in my way.” So, don’t be a pig! If you are talking about cars, use the term carro. On the other hand, since coche means pig, if someone is described as being coche or cochino, it means they are dirty or filthy.

Another common expression is A cada coche le llega su sábado. This literally means “Every pig has his Saturday.” In the past, it seems that Saturday was when a fattened pig would be taken to the slaughterhouse. For the poor pig, Saturday meant death. So today when someone gets his “just desserts” for misconduct, this saying enters into play.

When two policemen ran off the road and pinned a married couple against a wall, injuring them, one blogger wrote: “La gente no habrá querido denunciarlos por miedo a venganzas …pero cada coche se le llega su sábado. Ahora les tocó a estos imbéciles.”

Translation: “People would not have wanted to report them for fear of retaliation. But everyone will have his day of reckoning. Now for these idiots their time has come.”

Check out the use of coche in the following tweets:

Me comí toda la pizza y el pastel 🙁 lo sé coche, pero en mi defensa estoy de goma, necesitaba comida grasienta. — Well (@CruzWellinton) June 19, 2016

Translation: “I ate all the pizza and cake. (I know, I’m a real pig, but in my defense I have a hangover, and I needed some greasy food.”

E almorzado cual coche ni respira de lo atascado que esta !!!!

— Río 💋 (@Riodegaia) March 30, 2016

Translation: “At lunch I ate like a pig, I can´t even breathe, I have so much food stuck in me.”

Mmmm…I guess you might want to think about eating that last pork chop.