Spanish word of the week: pepino

el pepino NOUN cucumber

Pepino is the Spanish word for cucumber. For example, if you’re shopping at the market, you could say:

Dos pepinos, por favor. Two cucumbers, please.

But did you know that you can also use the expression me importa un pepino to say that you could(n’t) care less?

Me importa un pepino lo que piense su hermano. I could(n’t) care less what his brother thinks. (Literally, I couldn’t give a cucumber.)

A similar idiom involves rábanos – radishes; also cominos – cumin seeds:

Me importa un rábano lo que piense la gente. I could(n’t) care less what people think.
Me importa un comino lo que piense la gente. I could(n’t) care less what people think.