Lexitico: Mejenga
MEJENGA (me-xeŋ-ga)
With soccer (or football, if you will) being the most popular sport in the world, and Costa Rica being a country which goes with the soccer flow, it is no wonder that this is one of the favorite outdoor and, more recently, indoor sports activities Costa Ricans and many foreigners living amongst us engage in.
Truth be told, the love for soccer a Costa Rican experiences can normally be traced back to their childhood and adolescence years. But this happens to many people who like practicing sports, right? Yes. We’ve all been there.
In our case, the first informal soccer games will be with our schoolmates or friends, and this whole thing boils down to sharing and socializing with other people who are also fond of the game. Not only is it an activity demanding physical effort, energy and the like but it also encapsulates the passion we feel for the game.
These informal and, most of the time, friendly matches are called “mejengas”, i. e,, our equivalent of picados in Argentina, cascaritas in Mexico, pickup soccer in the U.S., kickabouts in England and so on. So, there is an amateurism element to these matches as you don’t normally get paid to take part in a mejenga.
So, where do mejengas generally take place? Many places, including public or private streets, schools, beaches, indoor and outdoor soccer fields, backyards, and others.
Now, it then may make sense to you that Costa Ricans will also call boring professional soccer matches mejengas, as a way to be ironic and speak their mind out when watching a lame, uninteresting soccer match played by unskillful players who do make a profit out of it.
Examples of usage:
- “Todos mejengueábamos de pequeños en la escuela”. We all played pickup soccer at school when we were kids.
- “¡Que mejenga más aburrida! Saprissa* me aburre demasiado”. What a boring match! Saprissa bores me to death.
*Saprissa is the most popular Costa Rican soccer team.