The term cheto is used in several South American countries to refer to something that is very expensive, elegant or distinguished . For example: "Last night we went to dinner at a very cool restaurant located in the port area," "I need cool clothes to go to the company's New Year's Eve party," "I would like to spend the holidays in a hotel." “cheto, with all the comforts.”
The notion of cheto is also used in a derogatory or aggressive sense to describe someone as a snob . Cheto, in this sense, is synonymous with posh : someone who adopts the vocabulary , manners or clothing of the upper class to imply his belonging to it: "Don't act cheto, you live in a borrowed house and don't even "You have a car," "I don't like that guy," "I went out for a few months with a guy who dreamed of living in Miami."
Chetos usually wear designer clothes and follow foreign fashions. These are people who strive to appear to have a high standard of living , regardless of whether they have the necessary financial means to do so or not.
It is important to note that cheto is usually an adjective that one individual applies to another: that is, a person does not recognize themselves as cheta. In the denomination there is a criticism that is expressed towards those who feel superior due to their social condition .
When someone uses the word "cheto" to describe or define another person, it is evident that they do not like their way of seeing life, although this does not always mean that money and luxuries necessarily bother them; On the contrary, we often criticize those who have what we would like to have, precisely because their presence reminds us that we have not yet fulfilled all our desires .
In any case, being cheto is much more than having large sums of money and luxurious properties ; Those who receive this qualification usually exhibit a poor intellectual level, largely because they have not explored their capabilities, unlike what businessmen, scientists and artists do who earn fortunes through tireless work and innovative creations.
Precisely, chetos are often called "false rich", since they usually appear to have a higher economic level than they actually have and they do not even get their money in a relevant way. Within this picture we can distinguish the youngest, who rely on the wealth of their parents to attract the attention of their friends and schoolmates with their belongings and their trips, and the adults, who lead catalog lives to ensure that no one can think even for a second that they don't have enough money.
The "true rich", therefore, are those people who have always had a lot of money and who do not need to show it off to their friends, or who achieve it after years and years of a lot of effort and good decisions. Unlike the chetos, they have to take care of what they have achieved, because they tend to take greater risks; For example, far from simply having two latest model cars and parading around high-end gyms with sneakers and clothes whose prices could pay the rent for several families, some of them have shares in several international companies and invest a large part of their fortune in businesses that seem innovative to them, so a bad move can mean ruin.
Cheto, finally, is the name of a town that is part of the Spanish municipality of Bierge , belonging to the province of Huesca (autonomous community of Aragon ).