The meaning in countries like Dominican Republic means to go to work hard.
In urban colloquialism it refers to going about making money in any way, as “Jalao” is to be greedy or stingy.
SYNONYMS FOR Voy Jalando
- Hard work.
- Stingy.
- Greedy.
ORIGIN OF Voy Jalando
The colloquial use of this phrase in the Dominican Republic refers to small jobs that involve a lot of effort.
In Mexico it is a vulgarization of the Spanish word “halar” and this in turn from the French “haler” which is to pull something by means of a rope. At the same time, the French term comes from the Germanic “haln” which means to pull something or to attract.
There are normally two possibilities when using this verb in Mexico. The first meaning used refers to the effort required to pull something and then we have “jalar” as a synonym of working.
In the second case we speak of something being stretched so much that it may seem bigger than it really is, here jalar would be synonymous with exaggerating.
In the urban slang of reggaeton “Jaladera” has several meanings as well, the first is the repeated action of pulling or pulling, the second is to pull a weapon out of its holster. But there is still a third meaning that means stinginess or being greedy, which would correspond more to the meaning we are talking about here.
CURIOSITIES OF Voy Jalando
“El jale” is used in the north of Mexico, but little by little it has been catching on in other countries where it is given the meaning of work, or chamba, the heel or the bone. Argentines call it laburo and Spaniards call it curro.