Why are Costa Ricans referred to as Ticos and Ticas?
Costa Ricans have been long called Ticos by people from other countries who find certain Costa Rican diminutives intriguing. In Costa Rica, as in some other regions, when a noun ends in ‘to’ or ‘ta’, the ‘it’ morpheme is replaced with ‘ic’; for example, momentico, which means a small moment. This practice gives words a diminutive but affectionate quality.
