Pelucón
A rich person, a posh person, one of the elite — an old word for powdered wigs that Ecuadorian politics reloaded.
Related lesson: Ecuadorian Spanish: A Survival Guide.
Hear it in context
Ese colegio es para pelucones, ni te imaginas la pensión.
That school is for posh kids — you can't imagine the fees.
Vive en un barrio bien pelucón del norte de Quito.
He lives in a very posh neighbourhood in the north of Quito.
Le dijeron pelucón en pleno debate y se armó la discusión.
They called him a pelucón in the middle of the debate and an argument broke out.
What It Actually Means
A pelucón (feminine pelucona) is a member of the well-off elite: old money, private schools, the right district. As an adjective it attaches to anything expensive or exclusive — un barrio pelucón, un restaurante bien pelucón. It is the Ecuadorian slot filled by Peru’s pituco, Chile’s cuico, Colombia’s gomelo, Mexico’s fresa and Spain’s pijo, though pelucón points at wealth and power more than at taste or fashion.
Where It Comes From
From peluca, wig — the powdered wigs of the colonial and early republican aristocracy. The image is centuries old and entirely transparent: the people in wigs were the people who owned things. The word has been in Ecuadorian Spanish for a long time as a plain description of the moneyed classes.
Its recent history is political. During the presidency of Rafael Correa (2007–2017), pelucón became a staple of official rhetoric aimed at bankers, the traditional elite and the private press, and it was repeated often enough on national television to change what the word does. Since then it has carried a charge it did not previously have: neutral in some mouths, a political label in others, and — to people who consider themselves its targets — a slur. That is the state of play, not a verdict on it.
How Natives Use It
Two ways, and Ecuadorians hear the difference instantly. Socially it is mild and often jokey, the word for a friend who has never taken a bus. Politically it names a class enemy, and how it lands depends entirely on who is speaking and to whom. Pelucón is also used self-deprecatingly by people who know they qualify, which takes some of the sting out.
Common Pitfall
Do not assume it is neutral just because the person you learned it from used it neutrally. Applied to someone’s face it is at best cheeky and at worst an accusation, and it will place you politically whether or not you intended that — a real risk for a foreigner who cannot yet read the room. Describe a neighbourhood as pelucón freely; describe a person you have just met as one at your own risk.