Cómo descubrí que soy doble de Ricky Martin

What does “igualito a” mean in Rioplatense Spanish?

Rioplatense Spanish (Argentina, Uruguay) leans on the diminutive -ito / -ita not to make things smaller but to make them exactly so. Igual means “the same”; igualito a means “exactly like, the spitting image of.” A dad calls a baby igualito al abuelo; a fan looks igualita a Shakira. The diminutive signals warmth and precision at the same time.

In this clip, an Argentine man explains how he became Ricky Martin’s official Argentine lookalike: he saw himself in profile one morning, told a relative “voy a hacer el Ricky Martin Argentina”, posted a viral video mowing his lawn, and earned the nickname jardinero. The whole story rides on igualito a Ricky Martin.