Word of the week: Adornar

ADORNAR

Literally adornar means to make something look nicer, to improve something by making it more beautiful. But, in typical Argentine style, in common parlance, otherwise known as slang, it means: To pay under the table

Adornar is similar to COIMEAR (from COIMA, black money) but less obviously, ADORNAR means to bribe someone in order to get what you need.

So literally ADORNAR is a poetic word, but as commonly used its a dark and very common bad habit we Argentines have; a way of life to some.