Chilean expression meaning "immediately" that everyone understands actually means "in twenty minutes" — the gap is the point, not a mistake.
Al tiro is what Chileans say when they mean something will happen quickly — except everyone knows it won't. The phrase literally translates to "on the shot," evoking the speed of a gunshot, but in practice it means "in about twenty minutes." This isn't miscommunication. It's a shared understanding so universal that Chileans call it "the national lie."
The expression emerged in the 1980s-1990s as distinctly Chilean slang, unused anywhere else in the Spanish-speaking world. By the 2000s, the gap between what al tiro claims and what it delivers had become culturally codified — not as deception, but as social lubricant. Saying "I'll do it immediately" when you mean "I'll get to it soon" keeps interactions warm and agreeable without the pressure of actual immediacy.
What makes al tiro fascinating isn't the lie itself — it's that no one pretends otherwise. The phrase reveals a culture that values appearing helpful over rigid punctuality, where flexibility with time commitments is understood as kindness rather than unreliability. It's a citizenship test: if you think al tiro means right now, everyone knows you're an outsider.