Chercha is an anglicism from the Dominican Republic that refers to a festive atmosphere or a group of friends who are relaxing, joking and having fun. The RAE defines it as a long conversation but on inconsequential topics.
SYNONYMS FOR Chercha
Conversation
Teasing
Party
Festive atmosphere
ORIGIN OF Chercha
As for the origin of the word “Chercha”, we can say that it is the translation given in the Dominican Republic of the anglicism “Church”, or church because in these Afro-American places -while the American intervention lasted- it used to be sung and danced with great noise and laughter.
In this way, the word “Church” was distorted until it became known as “chercha” in the vocabulary of Dominicans, who began to use the term as a synonym of joy, party and relaxed and prolonged conversations among a few friends, that is to say, a boisterous conversation, mixed with jokes and mockery.
However, there is another meaning of the word in the Canary Islands, Spain, which refers to Catholic cemeteries, and that is how we arrive at the “chercha del cementerio” which is a designation to the separate place where people of other religious confessions, or who are not baptized, are usually buried.
We can see that the distances between the meanings of the word in the different countries where it is used are not so great. Thus, the term has been included in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española since at least the 1947 edition.
The meaning before that edition was the expression “chacota” for Honduras and Venezuela. But the meaning of the word has not remained immune to the passage of time and its constant use.
CURIOSITIES OF Chercha
When conversation of this type is in progress, it is common in the Dominican Republic to hear people refer to it as a “dicharachero dialogue”, the latter word being derived from chercha.