Pola
A beer — named after an independence heroine, ordered by the round.
Related lesson: Colombian Spanish — A Survival Guide.
Hear it in context
Regálame una empanada y dos polas, porfa.
Let me get an empanada and two beers, please.
¿Nos tomamos unas polas después del camello?
Shall we have a few beers after work?
Las polas las pongo yo, que hoy me pagaron.
The beers are on me — I got paid today.
What It Actually Means
Una pola is a beer — the informal, affectionate word for the national drink, usually plural: unas polas after work, at the tienda, before the rumba.
Where It Comes From
From Policarpa Salavarrieta — La Pola — the seamstress-spy of Colombian independence, executed in 1817. A century later a brewery named a beer La Pola in her honor; the brand died, but the antonomasia stuck. Few countries drink to their revolutionaries this literally.
How Natives Use It
“¿Unas polas?” is a complete invitation. Beers are drunk at the corner tienda as much as in bars — plastic chairs on the pavement, crate as table. The national brands (Águila, Poker, Club Colombia) arrive bien frías, and the rounds logic applies: whoever invites, pays.
Common Pitfall
Strictly Colombian — ask for una pola in Mexico or Spain and you’ll get a blank stare (Spain: caña or birra; Mexico: chela; Argentina: birra). Also note the beer is la pola, feminine, always — El Polo is a neighborhood in Bogotá, not a drink.