The gay slang to know for your next vacation, according to Grindr

When traveling, gay travelers might encounter slang terms they don't understand, according to the hookup app Grindr. In a survey of over 3,400 users, 41 percent experienced slang getting lost in translation, with 36 percent experiencing this issue within the app itself, 17 percent in real-life conversations, and 14 percent during hookups.

In some cases, users have faked their understanding of what they were being told. Sixty-one percent said they pretended to know what their match was saying, hoping context would save them, while 53 percent said misunderstanding killed the mood. For example, one user misunderstood the term "dreier," which is German for a threesome, because they thought it meant "dryer" in English.

To help travelers communicate effectively, Grindr suggests learning words like "jetzt" and "gleich" in German, meaning "now" or "in a moment," and "pasivo," "activo," "papi," and "morbo" in Spanish, which mean "bottom," "top," "daddy," and "something kinky, sexually exciting, or adventurous," respectively. Other slang terms to know include "panthi" and "kothi," which refer to masculine and feminine partners who top and bottom in South Asia, and "1" and "0" in China, meaning top and bottom, respectively.

Meanwhile, "hospeda" in Portugal means a host or someone who can accommodate. Grindr's sex and relationship expert, Zachary Zane, emphasizes that language can add excitement to sex and flirting, but it can also lead to misunderstandings when traveling. To avoid confusion, Grindr offers an in-app translation feature that 31 percent of users have found helpful.