The term pituco is used in the colloquial language of several South American countries. It may be the adjective used to describe the individual who belongs to the upper class of society .
For example: "The owner of the company is a pituco who has a fortune" , "I was dating a pituco who wanted to give me every pleasure, but social differences ended up distancing us" , "That pituco never experienced economic hardships nor does he know what is the effort to pay the bills .
Generally pituco is used in a derogatory or pejorative way. The notion can also refer to someone who puts a lot of care when it comes to getting ready and usually boasts of their elegance: "I wore a pituco to go to the party tonight," "That pituco tries to stand out with his imported suit but no one pays attention to him." » , «Don't be a dirty person and get your clothes dirty like everyone else» .
Take the case of a political debate between leaders of different parties. The leader of the Workers' Party accuses the president of the Conservative Party of seeking a "government for pitucos" : with this expression, he refers to an alleged plan for public policies to benefit the privileged sectors of the community .
Pituco can even qualify a place or object . A "pituco restaurant" , in this framework, is an establishment that presents very careful decoration and refined gastronomic proposals. These types of businesses usually have very high prices, which is why they are frequented by the wealthiest and, generally, pretentious individuals (that is, the pitucos).
Next we will study the etymology of the term pituco. First of all, we must point out that its origin is the word whistle , a figurative that we can use to describe a thin and tall person, with a shape that resembles that of a flute . Before moving forward we must mention that in Chile, for example, some of the synonyms for pituco are the following: siútico, snob , corny, jaibón and cuico .
The latter, cuico , belongs to the Quechua language and translates as "worm." This gives us a curious fact, since it is related to the aforementioned metaphor of something long and thin , which in turn is associated with people who dress well and groom themselves before appearing in public. If we delve a little into the origin of this relationship, we notice that it probably arose from the difference between the appearance of working people, with their ponchos and loose clothing that made them look larger than they really were, and the gentlemen, whose suits fitted the body and made them look slimmer.
In the composition of pituco we have the root "pito" and the suffix "-uco"; The first originated in the onomatopoeia piiit , which represents the sound produced by the instrument called whistle when blowing into its mouthpiece; The second, however, is used to form derogatory terms, as can be seen in "feúco", "macuco" and "maluco", from "ugly", "bad" and "macho", respectively. It should be noted that from the onomatopoeia piiit we also obtained the words pitillo and pitar .
After the creation of pituco, other words emerged that have it as their origin; such is the case of pituquería (group of people considered pitucas) and pitureque (skinny individual who moves with evident lightness or top that moves very quickly). It is important not to confuse pituco with pituto , a whistle-shaped object protruding from a larger structure.
In the Río de la Plata region, it is believed that the term pituco has its origins in immigrants from Russia, where there is one that sounds very similar and is defined as "rooster" or " arrogant , compadrito man, who dresses and behaves extravagant way.