Asturian-American Migration Forum

coña: pronounced KOH-nyah. A noun that describes the funniness practiced in Asturias as a social lubricant.

Coña can involve teasing, bluffing or ridiculing a friend, but always with a straight face and without maliciousness. In its artfulness, the Asturian coña is similar to the Irish banter. Not to be confused with coño, which means the female genitals in Castilian Spanish.

Synonyms at sense of humor, drollery, facetiousness, banter, clowning, hilarity, jesting, joking, jocosity, schtick, slapstick, wisecracking, wittiness, buffoonery. It also has the connotation of trickery or mischievousness.

Usage examples:

Tol santu dia me fais la coña. [All damn day long you tease me.]
Tomolu a coña que diba dir con nos a la yerba. [He thought I was teasing when he was asked to come help out with the harvest.]
“Au ta Nolo?” [Where’s Nolo?]
“Esi marcho con unes botelles de sidra pal hospital pa ver a un collaciu que ta malu.” [He left with a couple of bottles of cider to see a friend who's sick at the hosptial.]
“Vaya coña que tien el paisanu.” [That guy has a devil of a sense of humor.]

A lot of people that speak with ethno-musicologist Xose Anton Ambas are good practitioners of Asturian coña. But one of the best people on ‘Camin de Cantares’, a show on Asturian public television, was 101-year-old Sagrario from Cuturrasu in County Llangreu / Langreo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhzBIZD ... re=related

This is the dialogue as of minute 2:20:

Ambas: Yo pa min que mos tas enganando colos anos, Sagrario…
[I think you’re kidding about being 101…]
Sagrario: Non, nun t’engano, pregunta-y a Maruja.
[No, I’m not lying. Ask Maruja.]
Ambas: Tendras 101 de verda, ne?
[Are you really 101?]
Sagrario: Si, ho. Pregunta-y a Maruja…
[Yeah, just ask Maruja.]
Ambas: Entos que sedra, que duren mas les solteres?
[So what’s it about, do single women last longer?]
Sagrario: Les solteres…claro…tan enteres!
[Single women, of course, because they’re in one piece!]
Ambas: Tan enteres, ye por eso?
[They’re in one piece. Is it that?]
Sagrario: Home, claro!
[Yes sir!]

Thanks, Is. I´ll have to try out a sentence using coña with my fellow students here in Oviedo!

I´ll go simple: “Vaya coña que tien Enrique.”

Hmm. There might be some confusion with that. Check this out:

DGLA wrote:cona, la.

<coña [ByM].>

1. Genitales de la mujer [As]. Órgano genital femenino [Sm. An. Vd. Oc. ByM. /Eo. PCastro/]. Bulba [Cn]. 2. Medusa [Vd. Tox]. 3. Empatadura de un aparejo a otro [Llu].

Dichos, refranes y textos de literatura oral: La moza que güei se casa / ya la madrina tamién / somos de la cona grande/porque d’herencia nos vien [Sl (Copla popular)].

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Gracias, Is. Tendré que probar una frase utilizando coña con mis compañeros aquí en Oviedo!

Usaré algo fácil: “Vaya coña que tien Enrique.”

Umm. Tal vez hará confusión. Mira ésto:

DGLA wrote:cona, la.

<coña [ByM].>

1. Genitales de la mujer [As]. Órgano genital femenino [Sm. An. Vd. Oc. ByM. /Eo. PCastro/]. Bulba [Cn]. 2. Medusa [Vd. Tox]. 3. Empatadura de un aparejo a otro [Llu].

Dichos, refranes y textos de literatura oral: La moza que güei se casa / ya la madrina tamién / somos de la cona grande/porque d’herencia nos vien [Sl (Copla popular)].

“Vaya coña que tien Enrique.”

Art, I think you'll be safe if you refer to Enrique as having coña after a funny incident. No one will think of a reference to sexual attributes. The usage of cona for a woman's genitals, without the accent mark over the n, would be West Asturian and much more literal.

It's unclear to me if coña exists in Castilian Spanish and whether it too is used to refer to a sense of humor. Need to check that, but in the meantime I think you can use it in all sorts of contexts without worrying about double entendres. As you know, Asturians are pretty lax with cuss words, so even if you made a mistake it would not raise an eyebrow.