particular place in a road, it later went into general use to refer to a turd and thus became a synonym for shit; it is used freely as a substitute. In Cuba, the term "comemojones" is frequently used instead of "comemierda"; "Es un mojón." ("He's a piece of shit.") is also commonly used in said country. Homosexual slurs () and its derivative words and are words used for referring to a man as a gay, or for criticizing someone for doing something that, according to stereotypes, only a gay person would do ( was originally the diminutive of the very common female name María del Carmen, a usage that has been lost). The suffix is often added to nouns to intensify their meaning. In Spain, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, the word has a stronger meaning with a very negative emphasis; akin to "faggot" or "poof" in the English language. In Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Mexico maricón or marica is especially used to denote a "chicken" (coward). In Chile, maricón also means "irrationally sadistic". Some examples of the uses of this word are: Eres una marica. ("You are a faggot.") Mano, eres tremendamente maricón. ("Bro, you are so gay!"; here maricón is used as an adjective) Yo sí soy maricón, ¿y qué? ("I am certainly gay—so what?") No seas maricón. ("Don't chicken out", "Don't be a pussy.", "Don't be an asshole.") ¡Qué maricón de mierda, ¿eh?! ("He's such a damn faggot, right?!") Devuelve la mamadera al bebé, que lo haces llorar. ¡No seas maricón! ("Give the baby back his bottle, because now you've made him cry. Don't be cruel!") Two important exceptions are Colombia and Venezuela; in Colombia, marica is used as a slang term of affection among male friends or as a general exclamation ("¡Ay, marica!" being equivalent to "Aw, man!" or "Dude!" in English). , whereas in Venezuela marico is used as the masculine form with marica being feminine. In Colombia marica can also mean 'naive' or 'dull' you can hear sentences like "No, marica, ese marica si es mucho marica tan marica, marica", (Hey dude, that guy is such a fool faggot, boy) This often causes confusion or unintended offense among Spanish-speaking first-time visitors to Colombia. Maricón, however, remains an insulting and profane term for homosexuals in Colombia as well. A similar case is seen in Venezuela, where the word marico is an insult; however,