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Kendall Jenner's Vogue Brazil Cover Makes Spanish Speakers Giggle

By Ashley Brozic
Vogue Brazil

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You can't deny that Kendall Jenner looks amazing on the January cover of Vogue Brazil. But while everyone's talking about her "natural beauty" and "all sunny smiles," we can't get past one thing: that very bold headline that reads "CUCA FRESCA."

It's a pretty harmless Portuguese expression. "Cuca fresca," is a common phrase that means "cool head," an easygoing person, someone who doesn't get upset by much. (It's also the name of Snoop Dogg's obscure Brazilian liquor). But if you take the term "cuca" out of its Brazilian context, it starts to take on a very different meaning.

You see, in many Spanish-speaking countries, a "cuca" is the colloquial term for "vagina," and so a Spanish speaker would pass by a cover at the grocery store that very boldly reads "Fresh Vagina," with Kendall Jenner's face on the cover.

"Step into 2016 with the right foot, a fresh vagina." That's what a Spanish speaker makes of this cover. Naturally, the Twitter world is having a laugh:

Some Spanish speakers might gasp in abashment, some might giggle... and then giggle again. One point remains, however: different terms take different meanings in different languages, and editors should probably take this into account before stamping a word that could potentially mean "vagina" on a magazine cover, especially if it's Vogue.