[Tango-L] El Ciruja (Lunfardo), Engrupida (Lunfardo , Spanish)

[Hector Pablo Pereyra]

Now,

translating Ciruja as cirujano is not such a mistake.

Ciruja in lunfardo is the short version for Cirujano (surgeon). Many words
in lunfardo have differente menanings.

At the beginning of the XX century the trash was carried in wagons and this
wagons where covered by a thick cloth (lona). In order to look for stuff
inside the wagons this people will use a knife to cut through the cloth. The
idea is that they were "practicing surgery" to the wagon to take out the
contents. That's way they were called "cirujanos" and soon it changed to the
short version "ciruja".

So, next time you get operated you can call your surgeon "ciruja"

ciao

Pablo Pereyra