Tormentor is a word that is used in South American countries like Argentina and Uruguay to describe a person who is lazy, lazy and not very hard-working. The term is also used to name, in a derogatory sense, someone who usually wanders or someone considered a scoundrel.
For example: “Lucas is a tormentor: he is forty years old and does not work because his parents support him”, “When he was young he was a tormentor, he left my house on Friday afternoon and did not return until Monday”, “The deputy he described the governor as a criminal who became a millionaire thanks to taxpayers’ money ”.
In addition to the above, it must be established that there are countries that use this word very clearly and with an equally forceful meaning. Thus, for example, both in Uruguay and Argentina it is common for it to be used as a synonym for shameless.
However, in Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic, the term is used to describe someone as a homeless person who does not have any type of fixed address. Also with that meaning it can also be used in Argentina.
The etymological origin of tormenting is usually a matter of debate. Many believe that the concept was born in Argentina in the 1930’s, when the sewer pipes being built allegedly mentioned the A. Torrans brand. The linyeras who took refuge and spent time in those tubes, therefore, were called atorrantes. A similar version indicates that the tubes were actually used to channel underground rivers and bore the inscription torrents (“torrents” in French). Still others claim that tormenting actually comes from the beggars who rested on the tubes and got “stuck. “
Beyond its origin, today the most common use of the word is associated with laziness or impudence. A tornado can be a liar, a trickster or someone who lives partying.
It should also be noted that there was also a television program that was titled with the word that we are analyzing. Specifically, we are referring to the “Atorrantes” space, on Argentine television, more precisely on Channel 26, although later it would also be broadcast on Azul or América TV.
Halfway between journalism and humor was this production that was broadcast for three years, from 1996 to 1999, and that was developed from interviews, games, reports or chronicles, for example. It was broadcast on a daily basis, at midnight, and in it were figures of the stature of Pato Galván, Sofía Gala Castiglione, Mariano Cabrera, Fernando Fernández or Adriana Chaumont.
It is possible to mention that there is even a positive meaning of the term. There are times when an individual is classified as tormenting when he has charisma or shows cunning: “My son is a tormentor: when he wants me to give him permission to go dancing, he looks at me and smiles because he knows that, this way, he convinces me right away ”.
Starting from that meaning, we have to say that the term tormenting appears in a song that the Spanish singer Joaquín Sabina dedicated to the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat. In this way he wanted to show his friendship and admiration. And he did it with a song where he defines him as “universal tormenting”.
