MEXICANISMOS
Article from Guadalajara reporter
In England, I was once asked: What do they speak in Mexico? Mexican? While the question seemed amusing at the time, I was thinking about this over breakfast last Sunday while sitting in my equipal (a nahuatl word meaning "seat") at my favorite restaurant eating chilaquiles (from nahuatl meaning "to put in chilli sauce") and drinking my chocolate (from the nahuatl word chocoatl). I looked outside at the chipichipi (from nahuatl meaning "to drip" but in Spanish meaning "slight but continuous rain") and thought that, at least, in terms of vocabulary, there are Spanish words that seem very Mexican.
These are known as mexican-ismos. Such words sometimes come from indigenous words that Mexicans have put to use in Spanish. On the other hand, many English words (puncture, for example has become ponchar) have worked their way into Mexican Spanish. These words are known as anglicismos and are often frowned upon by language purists.
Indigenous words are sometimes adopted straight into Spanish or may be combined with existing Spanish words. Nahuatl, which is still spoken by over one million Mexicans, has made a major contribution to everyday Spanish, especially in the food area. Looking down the menu at that breakfast, I noted chilaquiles (a tortilla and chilli sauce dish), pozole (a meat and corn stew), tamales (a soft roll made from corn dough with a variety of fillings) and mole (a chilli paste dish). Drinks included chocolate and atole -- both nahuatl words. Even the ingredients reflected indigenous words: aguacate (avocado), cacahuate (peanut) and jitomate (tomato).
The menu also contained American English words that had entered Mexican Spanish, including lonche (derived from the word lunch but referring to a bread roll with fillings such as ham or panela -- a type of cheese), hot dog and hamburguesa (hamburger). Were there no Spanish Spanish words left?
Even the no parking sign outside the restaurant reflected the influence of American English: No Trocas (No Trucks). Camion is the usual word for truck in Spanish. The frustrated neighbor in front of the restaurant had put up her own sign to deter cars being parked outside her house: It read: Se ponchan llantas gratis (Tires punctured for free).
Inside the restaurant, another sign attracted my attention: No se permite la entrada a vendedores ambulantes (No street vendors allowed). Yet another mexicanismo came to my mind: ambulantaje (referring to the activities of street vendors). The word ambulantaje reflects the need to create new words in response to a particular phenomenon. However, the sign did not stop a Maria -- the name given to an indigenous woman who sells her wares on the city streets -- coming in and selling chicle (chewing gum) -- yet another indigenous word.
Mexicanismos can represent the past and the future. Archaic words may still be used in a particular country or region long after they have dropped out of common use in other Spanish-speaking countries. In his useful book, "El Español en America," Jose Moreno de Alba lists words such as dilatar instead of tardar (meaning "to be late"), prieto instead of moreno (meaning dark-skinned) and temblor instead of terremoto (meaning earthquake). At the same time, language users may make up their own words when they want to express new ways of doing things. For instance, the word videograbar is seen as a mexican-ismo meaning "to videotape."
Finally, my friend Ricardo turned up. He has just been to the tlapaleria (a nahuatl word for a paint shop) to buy chapopote (a nahuatl word meaning "asphalt") and invited me to the tianguis (a nahuatl word for market) to look for some huaraches (a tarasco word for "sandals") and a sueter (from the English word sweater). He asked me if I was going to work tomorrow, Monday. No, I said I had a touch of San Lunes -- literally meaning Saint Monday -- a Mexican expression referring to absenteeism from work on the first day of the week.
In England, I was once asked: What do they speak in Mexico? Mexican? While the question seemed amusing at the time, I was thinking about this over breakfast last Sunday while sitting in my equipal (a nahuatl word meaning "seat") at my favorite restaurant eating chilaquiles (from nahuatl meaning "to put in chilli sauce") and drinking my chocolate (from the nahuatl word chocoatl). I looked outside at the chipichipi (from nahuatl meaning "to drip" but in Spanish meaning "slight but continuous rain") and thought that, at least, in terms of vocabulary, there are Spanish words that seem very Mexican.
These are known as mexican-ismos. Such words sometimes come from indigenous words that Mexicans have put to use in Spanish. On the other hand, many English words (puncture, for example has become ponchar) have worked their way into Mexican Spanish. These words are known as anglicismos and are often frowned upon by language purists.
Indigenous words are sometimes adopted straight into Spanish or may be combined with existing Spanish words. Nahuatl, which is still spoken by over one million Mexicans, has made a major contribution to everyday Spanish, especially in the food area. Looking down the menu at that breakfast, I noted chilaquiles (a tortilla and chilli sauce dish), pozole (a meat and corn stew), tamales (a soft roll made from corn dough with a variety of fillings) and mole (a chilli paste dish). Drinks included chocolate and atole -- both nahuatl words. Even the ingredients reflected indigenous words: aguacate (avocado), cacahuate (peanut) and jitomate (tomato).
The menu also contained American English words that had entered Mexican Spanish, including lonche (derived from the word lunch but referring to a bread roll with fillings such as ham or panela -- a type of cheese), hot dog and hamburguesa (hamburger). Were there no Spanish Spanish words left?
Even the no parking sign outside the restaurant reflected the influence of American English: No Trocas (No Trucks). Camion is the usual word for truck in Spanish. The frustrated neighbor in front of the restaurant had put up her own sign to deter cars being parked outside her house: It read: Se ponchan llantas gratis (Tires punctured for free).
Inside the restaurant, another sign attracted my attention: No se permite la entrada a vendedores ambulantes (No street vendors allowed). Yet another mexicanismo came to my mind: ambulantaje (referring to the activities of street vendors). The word ambulantaje reflects the need to create new words in response to a particular phenomenon. However, the sign did not stop a Maria -- the name given to an indigenous woman who sells her wares on the city streets -- coming in and selling chicle (chewing gum) -- yet another indigenous word.
Mexicanismos can represent the past and the future. Archaic words may still be used in a particular country or region long after they have dropped out of common use in other Spanish-speaking countries. In his useful book, "El Español en America," Jose Moreno de Alba lists words such as dilatar instead of tardar (meaning "to be late"), prieto instead of moreno (meaning dark-skinned) and temblor instead of terremoto (meaning earthquake). At the same time, language users may make up their own words when they want to express new ways of doing things. For instance, the word videograbar is seen as a mexican-ismo meaning "to videotape."
Finally, my friend Ricardo turned up. He has just been to the tlapaleria (a nahuatl word for a paint shop) to buy chapopote (a nahuatl word meaning "asphalt") and invited me to the tianguis (a nahuatl word for market) to look for some huaraches (a tarasco word for "sandals") and a sueter (from the English word sweater). He asked me if I was going to work tomorrow, Monday. No, I said I had a touch of San Lunes -- literally meaning Saint Monday -- a Mexican expression referring to absenteeism from work on the first day of the week.
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