Jugando al arremedo.

Depending on your usage and the context of the situation, this Mexi-Vocabulario word could very well be either an insult or a compliment. They do say por ahí that imitation is the best form of flattery. Pero bueno, let’s speak sin pelos en la lengua today… sometimes regardless of how “innocently” a person may emulate you or your behavior, there’s no other way to classify their actions than as completely offensive.

It’s one thing to laugh with me. It’s another thing completely to laugh at me.

Hacerme burla.

Or put more simply, que me estes arremedando is highly rage-provoking.

The Urban Dictionary has no definition for this word readily available, and some debate has been made about whether the appropriate Spanish word is arremedar or only remedar. Most sources recognize only the latter, but the Real Academia Española lists both in their directory of recognized Spanish-language words. We grew up with arremedar and that’s why I prefer that version.

Still, today, when something very specific made me start thinking about words like plagiarism, copycat, imitation, I couldn’t help but circle around to the act of arremedo. It kind of summed up what I was trying to say.

It doesn’t hurt that it was also a great new word for us to discuss together.

Thanks for the inspiration universo!

Angry Birds earrings, oh yeah! by Li Tsin Soon

Some things you just don’t have any control over. Por más que quiera uno, at times there is absolutely zero we can do to make things happen the way we want them to. Como quien dice: uno hace planes, y Dios se ríe. At least it feels like that anyway.

The unfortunate thing is when you are a little bit obsessive compulsivo, like some people que conozco, the thought of not having at least some perceived notion of control como que te desespera. Por experiencia I can tell you, it’s not a pretty feeling.

No sé. That’s what I’m thinking about today. Which coincidentally also made me think about the many different ways we have to express our disappointment… en español claro. Here are just a few that I thought about right now:

Joder

Ya ni la amuelas

¡No te digo!

Que absurdo

Que tonteria

Puro pinche pedo…

¡Y dale con lo mismo!

And my all time favorite of course…

¡CHEET!

You know those moments when you’re left with your mouth open? When somebody tells you something so shocking you just can’t help but stand or sit there unable to utter a single word for a couple of moments? Or when the chisme is so good que empiezas a mover la cabeza from left to right, then eventually your hands start fluttering back and forth as the chisme gets better and better, as if in some way your body is physically reacting to the juiciness of what you are actually hearing.

In those instances you might find yourself uttering these three words…

¡Ave María Purísima!

If you do, whether you’re fluent in Spanish or not, don’t fret! It’s sort of like you’re saying Oh My God! in English. Well it is actually, only that you’d be invoking the Virgin Mary’s name instead of Jesús’. Think of it as a great substitute for OMG! That three letter acronym is kind of overrated anyway if you ask me. ¡Ave María Purísima! is so much more dramatic and telenovela-esque.

That’s why I’d rather use it any day.

I tried looking up the phrase in the Urban Dictionary, ¡pero nada! Mejor I’ll tell you about how my momma used to use the word in her own vocabulary.

When someone told her some really bad news.

When someone told her some really sad news.

When someone told her something really scary.

When we did something extremely awful as a travesura.

When someone told her something extremely exciting.

When she was extremely proud or happy.

Basically, anytime the phrase could be used to accentuate her message, in whatever context. As with most of our Mexi-Vocabulario words and phrases, this one can also be used quite varyingly at your discretion.

¡Ave María Purísima!

Few other words in the Spanish language can insult you so specifically and succinctly as the word ¡igualada! Often paired with a gata as in ¡gata igualada!, this palabra can at once throw your social-economic status in your face and tell you to basically “shut the hell up!” and stop talking. The gata part here does not refer to a cat, but instead to a housemaid or servant who is not of the same class as the person they are attempting to speak with. An igualada, however, does not necessarily have to be a domestic worker.

The rule is when the palabra ¡igualada! comes out in a telenovela, things are about to get good! More than likely cachetadas are about to start flying, along with more colorful words like ¡zorra! Case in point, this scene with real life soap queen Gaby Spanic.

There weren’t really a lot of definitions out there for the word ¡igualada! …so I’ll just act it out for you too, jaja!

O sea, ladies and gents, allow me to introduce you to my new guilty pleasure. Cindy La Regia! She’s Mexico’s most famous niña fresa who’s been immortalized into an uber-popular cartoon character by artist Ricardo Cucamonga, and I just so happened to come across her singular style and sense of humor while I was looking up the definition for the word ¡regio!

We’ll get to that in a minute, but first I just want to share how insanely hilarious this character is, albeit a bit politically incorrect as well. I’ve been cracking up at her comic strips all evening, and I’ve even followed her on Twitter already too.

Pero bueno, now to the definition of regio. According to the Free Dictionary by Farlex, regio is 1) proper to regal or royal; 2) something that is magnificent or substantive; or 3) it applies to a ballroom that is splendid or majestic. The adverb definition by the same source means “used to manifest the acceptance of something in a very enthusiastic form.”

I’d say all of the above are correct. O sea, ¡que regio!

Now back to the business of Cindy. Enjoy these memes from her webpage :-)

There’s also an interview with her creator at the end from CNN Mexico.

Pues la casa. El cantón. The place you call home. Where you live. You know, ¡el changaro! That place that starts out with a couple of walls, a door, a window, or two, a place to sleep in, to sit down and have meals in, to watch whatever you want to on TV without anyone protesting. That place where you can walk around naked if you damned well please! And hey, we all do every once in a while.

No shame in admitting it.

It’s funny how a roof over our heads, a tub, a toilet, a fridge, a stove, can turn into things that make us feel safe and stable. The place where we can be ourselves, behind closed doors, where nobody from the outside world is looking at us… staring at us… judging us. The sense of intimacy that we build with those we share our innermost selves. A house turns into a home. A home a family. A family a part of us. A portion of our hearts, and who we are. Forever.

It really is forever. Even after we leave. No matter how many pages we turn on the road of life, a home, a real home, like one where there is love and compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and peace, a home like that, is ours forever.

And today’s Mexi-Vocabulario means precisely that. A home. There weren’t really any good definitions for this one online, but trust me. Changaro is home. May we all build beautiful changaros to call our homes. And remember for always all of the beautiful homes we’ve been fortunate enough to call our changaros.

G-rated words we say in Spanish to avoid R-rated ones

Angry stop sign by Toby Bradbury

Pues la mera verdad, there’s nothing quite like cursing in Spanish. The bad words just kind of roll off your tongue, y cuando estas enojado con mucha más razón. We’ve noticed that about ourselves over the years. When we’re angry and/or in a heated discussion we always go off in Spanish. Even if most of the time we don’t speak to each other en español, at least not 100 percent of the time. Sure, we throw in a word or a phrase here or there, but English just feels more natural.

I’m willing to bet a lot of you all do the same. In fact, I know you all do because we’ve been talking about language and culture ever since we launched this blog, what, about four years ago now? Yesterday, I asked a few of you on Facebook to help me with this blog post. I LOVE how in Spanish we’re always so playful with our words. And I started thinking the other day that this is especially true when we’re trying to avoid using R-rated words in Spanish. So we use G-rated ones instead.

Ya me estoy enredando, pero the point of this blog post was to share all of the hilarious G-rated words you all shared with me. Read them. Learn them. And add to the list! I want to learn as many of these words as possible, jajaja!

Cabrita Frita (Cabronsita)

No Manches, quema much el sol

¡Que PEN-sativo eres!

Es tuuuupendo y maravilloso

Camona

Gacho

Chinetas

Hijo-e-su

Chinelas

Hija de tu madre

¡Que bonito! ¡Ya veras!

¡¿A cóoomo no?!

Pretendejo

Chihuaha

CHEETOS

¡Bandeja!

¡Chinche vieja!

Tisnada

¡Me lleva el tren!

¡O que la!

No que ochos cuartos…

Hijo de tu mal dormir

¡Pentonto!

¡A la V!

¡A la gran puchica! (Salvadoreño saying)

Bronca (instead of Cabrona)

Koo-lay

¡Ay, que calabaza!

¡Ay que la campana!

¡Hijo(a) de la chi…na poblana!

¡No te me achicopales!

Think of it as encouragement, coupled with just a little bit of good old fashioned guilt-tripping. It’s almost like saying “you can do it… just don’t let me down!” The very fact that me is included in the phrase, makes it completely personal!

You might as well be saying…

“I’m counting on you!”

“It’s all up to you.”

“Whether we sink or swim… you’re the only one responsible!”

But then again, sometimes we need that good, swift kick in the BE-HIND to get us going.

Sometimes we need that ¡oyeme tu! ¿quién te me crees? ¡pos este!

I personally like the word achicopales because it can also be used very tenderly. When you’re feeling mighty down, it’s also nice to hear someone say no te achicopales, without the exclamation points. It really does make a difference. As with most of the rest of the words we use in the Spanish-language, the meaning is in the context and the tone.

According to one definition I found online, ¡no te me achicopales! can also be defined as “don’t chicken out on me.”

I kind of like that interpretation too.

Like totally. We haven’t done one of these in such a long time that it was only fitting to start back up with an ¡Ay aja! I first heard this term while Juan was watching one of his novelas. The young chica fresa in the scene was expressing her disbelief for what she was hearing and she did so by uttering an ¡ay aja! Ever since then, those two words seemed to have captured a lot of momentum. I hear them all of the time now. Not only on television, but even at home when Juan and I take turns answering each other with the phrase.

And that’s precisely what it means. Although chances are if you Google ay aja right now you’ll come up with a lot of random findings that will leave you with more questions than answers. We did do that ourselves just for kicks. Surprisingly enough there aren’t really a lot of videos out there with just that expression. That kind of sounds like a job for Los Metiches, jajaja! There were, however, some memes out there to help get the point across.

Here are just a few.

But that still leaves us with the question we started out with. What does ¡ay aja! mean. It’s quite simple really. By definition, aja is an affirmation that implies either approval, satisfaction or surprise, depending on the inflection and tone used. Adding the ay at the beginning gives it a more sarcastic tone, sort of like an oh really! or an oh, really? You can use it playfully to respond to somebody when you don’t really believe what they are saying, or when you just want them to know you’re kind of excited about what you’re hearing.

You can use an ¡ay aja! too when you completely disagree with what you are being told.

So there you have it. Try it out for size. And tell us how you like or dislike this particular word.

For more fun words check out our Mexi-Vocabulario.

Cultura. How do you put it into words? It’s an expression of who you are. A representation of where you come from. A legacy that transcends your present, past and future. A connection deep enough to touch your soul and strong enough to pulse emotions through your heart. It’s like walking into a room full of strangers and feeling immediately at home. It’s stepping into a land you don’t call home and sensing the blood running through your veins coming to a complete standstill, as the earth and your body reconcile from the long journey behind now. It’s knowing where you belong, even though you’ve never been there. Its understanding the minuscule things you took for granted before, and showering yourself in the certainty of genuine tradition. Its not something to be explored or studied. You just live it.

To give the impression of having more than what you have.

To pretend to be someone you are not.

To flaunt material possessions that are not rightfully yours.

To buy more than what you can honestly afford.

Or in the words of Word Reference, (Méx) (=impresionar) to impress; (=achatar) to crush, overwhelm; (=dejar boquiabierto) or to fill with wonder.

Take your pick of the definition. Whatever the case, it’s one of those words that’s hard to resist using once you know what it means.

What other Spanish words do you like to use?

Crazy.

A little bit off.

Silly.

Goofy, even.

Just not exactly how they are “supposed” to be acting. That’s usually what it means when someone says chisquiado or chisquiada. The word itself, chisquear can be interpreted to mean to confuse or amuse others. So you know when someone is speaking to you and they utter a complete sentence, but the words are all backwards. You nod in agreement at first, but then when your mind tries to process the sentence you just heard, it says “hold on, that’s off!”

You usually muster up something like, “huh?” And the other person then either looks at you bewildered at why you did not comprehend them (usually because they have no idea how they said what they said), or they laugh and apologize for their confusing wording. It’s one of those things that happens to all of us. If caught in the right tone and spontaneity it can be pretty hilarious too.

That’s when the word chisqueado comes in. ¡Estás bien chisqueado!

Or at least it does in our case. I think that’s one of Anjelica’s favorite words actually.

¡Ukela chistosa!

¡Ukela! ¿No que no?

¡Ukela!

Believe it or not, each one of these expressions carries its own weight when it comes to defining the word ukela. Yes, you’re right, if you’re thinking it sounds a lot like the word ukulele. At least it’s spelled very similarly. But ukela is more a PG-version of saying words like chingao, or even ¡cheet!

The latter, of course, is one of my absolute favorites.

Never mind that along the road to improving my own Spanish I learned cheet is one of those words many would refer to as an anglicism. If you’re not familiar, a word or phrase borrowed from English into a foreign language. Think words like troca, parqueadero and washateria. All words that are a hybrid between English and Spanish.

I think those words are my favorite because they come to be naturally. They’re not imposed on us as part of our accepted vernacular. Instead, they become a part of popular vernacular because we exercise their usage more often than maybe we should. They’re organic, if you will.

And, well, for me, I’ve always found them more fun.

So in summary, but not really… ukela is that word you use when things just aren’t going your way. When you want to say so much more, but remember “less is more.” When you’re just about to get mad and then decide to just laugh instead.

¡Ukela! ¡No te digo!

This picture is pretty gratuitous, I’ll admit… but it very well might make you say ¡ukela!

Ay sí… mira que chistosito.

¡Que chistosito!

Ever heard that expression? Usually it’s accompanied with a head shake of dissatisfaction or a look that in today’s lexicon could be interpreted to mean “REALLY?!”

We heard it on the radio the other day. A guy was having the radio deejays prank call his wife in Mexico to find out if she was interested in another person… or if she was unfaithful, to be more frank. The lady didn’t take the bait and afterwards just kept repeating the following expression to her husband:

Mira que chistosito.

¡Que chistosito!

Que chistosito…

It started getting uncomfortable after a few seconds of the repetition. Enough for the deejays to quickly say goodbye to both parties and continue with their show. It was also pretty funny to listen to as impartial bystanders. We joked about what that next conversation between spouses might have been like. Let’s just say it probably wasn’t pretty. At all!

What’s your interpretation of this expression?

So according to Urban Dictionary “mijo” is defined as follows: Conjoined spanish slang of affection. Mi + hijo, “my son.” Can be said to any man or boy, usually by an older person. Can also mean “my dear” “sweetie” or “hun.” Also directed to guys by thier wives, girlfriends, or any female freind and/or peer.

Not sure I agree with that last portion about the usage by a significant other, but the rest of it is pretty accurate. This weekend my niece asked: “grandma always says ‘ay mijo’ when she talks, why does she say that?” It’s something she’s always said so her question kind of caught me by surprise.

Did she honestly not know what that meant? Just in case here are a couple of examples just to make the definition a bit more clear.

¡Ay mijo! Estás muy flaco…

¡Ay mijo! ¿por qué no comes?

¡Ay mijo! ¡no te dejes!

¡Ay mijo! Te quiero mucho…

¡Ay mijo! No te preocupes…

¡Ay mijo! Que tonterias dices…

¡Ay mijo! I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

I grew up being called a “sinvergüenza“. Whether it was for getting myself or my younger siblings in trouble; for trying to get too fresh with the señoritas, once I was old enough to; or just for being exactly what the word itself implies: shameless, in some way, has almost always defined me.

sinverguenza mexi vocabulario juanofwords

Angel or Sinvergüenza?

I was a sinvergüenza when together with my brothers we used the hole in between our kitchen and the neighbor’s to soak her legs and feet with our water guns.

I was a sinvergüenza when I’d walk in to the mall wearing one extra large tee shirt and walk out wearing about four other smaller ones underneath.

I was a sinvergüenza when I’d blame my younger brother for all of my wrongdoings.

I was a sinvergüenza when I’d pretend I never got her calls in high school.

I was a sinvergüenza when I’d call in for two or three days at a time just to veg out in front of the television.

I was a sinvergüenza when I pretended to care more than I actually did.

I am a sinvergüenza now, since I will only share the many ways I have been a sinvergüenza in the past… not how I might still be one today.

¿Qué tienes tu de sinvergüenza?

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.

Writer’s Disclaimer: When I say mexi-vocabulario I don’t necessarily mean these words are exclusively Mexican, or only used by Mexicans. This is simply an expression of how they were introduced to me in our Mexican Spanish.

More Mexi-Vocabulario

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This one’s dedicated to a very special friend. Ya sabes who you are! ¡Tarado! How many times have you not wished you would have remembered this very especial Mexi-Vocabulario term in the heat of an argument. If you’re like me, anytime you’re de pelionero you just can’t think of the right zingers to spit out. You know what you want to say in your mind, but the words just won’t come out… at least not at the precise moment when you need them. So for you friends, please commit this palabra to your memorias right now!

tarado definition mexi vocabulario juanofwords

¡No seas tarado!

Our friends over at the Urban Dictionary offer two definitions for tarado: First, in Argentinian Spanish they say it’s the equivalent of “moron.” I’d say that’s pretty accurate. The other definition states Spanish word for dumb-ass or idiot, brainless person. It is not really offensive. This one is pretty accurate as well, because as we all know language – especially Spanish – is all about context. How you use any particular word makes all the difference in the world. Here are the non offensive uses of the word according to the online dictionary website:

¡Eres un tarado! = You are a dumb-ass!

¡Qué tarado! = What a dumb-ass!

Now keep in mind, the attitude of the person you are referring to with these “non offensive” usages will probably have a lot to do with whether you get slapped, or worse, after uttering them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said something like this with “non offensive” intentions and had my head bitten off… and vice versa for that matter. I’m just as bad as anyone else when it comes to just not being in the mood sometimes. Other English words offered as synonymous to ¡tarado! include defective, imperfect, stupid, crazy and nuts.

I’ll let you be the judge of how, when and if you use this word.

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.

More Mexi-Vocabulario

So this week’s Mexi-Vocabulario is completely the creative work of one of my readers. This individual asked to be identified only as JTO, and a couple of weeks ago had sent me this very comprehensive list of all the things the the word Madre means to us Mexicans. Sure, the immediate translation is mother… but there is so much more to this palabra! I had not posted the list until now because I was awaiting my reader’s approval to do so. I have only altered the list by simplifying the formatting and adding the English references on the left. If you have any more usages for the word ¡Madre! please leave them in the comments below, or send me your word of choice. I’d love to share it in a future post! And JTO, thank you once again!

The many meanings of the word "madre" in Spanish. Some good. Some bad.

TODO LO QUE SIGNIFICA LA MADRE PARA LOS MEXICANOS…

Happiness: ¡Qué a toda Madre!

Geographic location: ¿Dónde queda esa Madre?

Physical location: ¿Dónde está esa Madre?

Dietary reference: ¡¡Trágate esa Madre ya!!

Criticism: ¡Qué poca Madre tienes…!

Skepticism: No te creo ni Madres.

Vengeance: ¡Vámos a darle en la Madre!

Accident: Se dío en la Madre.

Visual reference: ¡No se ve ni madres!

Sense of Smell: ¡Huele a Madres!

Speculation: ¿Qué madres es eso?

Superlative: ¡A todísima Madre!

Expression of joy: ¡¡¡Está Poca Madre!!!

Surprise: ¡¡¡Madresss!!!

Speeding reference: ¡Va hecho Madres!

Ego reference: No me dío ni Madres…

Sense of Taste: ¡Eso sabe a Madres! (not good)

Past reference: No tuviste Madre (could be “you had no shame”)

Action: ¡Vámos hacer esa Madre!

Violent action: ¡¡Le rompiste toditita su Madre!!!

Motivating/Rushing: ¡¡Andale con esa Madre!!

Disorder reference: ¿¡Qué desmadre te traes!?

Insult: ¡Vales para pura Madre!

When swearing: Por mi Madre.

Operational reference: ¿Y esta Madre cómo funciona??

Failure: ¡¡Ya valió Madres…!!

Confrontational: ¡Qué poca Madre tienes!

Negative, as in NO: ¡¡¡Ni Madres!!!

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.

More Mexi-Vocabulario

Chuntaro is one of those words that’s not very easily defined. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve tried before, but just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it seems what is or isn’t chuntaro depends very much on who is employing this adjective of the Mexican vocabulario and why.

Okay… so we can probably all agree this is ¡bien chuntis! LOL!

Say for example, you’re at a quinceañera and you’re having a great time. Yeah, they’re blasting conjunto music, your aunts and cousins are working the buffet line of food which they prepared, kids are running around like crazy, zig-zagging through the dance floor, and of course, there’s probably more beer than anything else, but you’re pretty stoked about how nice everything looks. All of a sudden you overhear someone saying “Ay qué bola de chuntaros… that’s why I didn’t want to come!”

Inevitably your going to start looking more closely at your surroundings, wondering what exactly makes this pachanga so chuntara, and more importantly… if you yourself could be considered chuntaro as well! Again, now whether you think this is an insult or a compliment – to be described by such an adjective – depends on how you feel about the word chuntaro. Personally, I’ve embraced the chuntaro in me! It’s a part of who I am… of who I’ve always been, and you know what, I really don’t think there’s anything wrong with being chuntaro.

Of course, I won’t tell you that I’m fully committed to the chuntaro lifestyle tampoco. I know how to conceal it when I need to, LOL!

If you want a more formal definition, here’s what the Urban Dictionary offers:

Chuntaro: Mexican slang word, synonym for “naco” (1) an Indian or Indian-looking Mestizo (2) an uncultured or lower class person. Pronounced: CHOON-tah-roh i.e. That barrio is full of nacos.

As usual, me and the Urban Dictionary don’t necessarily see eye to eye. I don’t like their definition of the word chuntaro here.

For a more visual take on the word ¡Chuntaro! and it’s meaning visit Chuntaritos.com.

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.

More Mexi-Vocabulario

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This week’s Mexi-Vocabulario is a doozy of a tongue twister. I have to thank the reader who originally shared this word with me a couple of months ago when I first kicked off the Mexi-Vocabulario series. The word itself is the name of a small village in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, and quite frankly, it’s one of the hardest words ever featured here. Parangaricutirimicuaro as in Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutirimicuaro is located near the Paricutín volcano in the city of Nuevo Parangaricutiro. If you’re head’s already spinning from all of the parangaricutireo in this post, hold on… it gets better!

San Juan de Parangaricutirimicuaro

Here are a couple of popular tongue twisters employing the word:

El pueblo de Parangaricutirimícuaro se va a desparangaricutirimicuarizar. Quien logre desparangaricutirimicuarizarlo gran desparangaricutirimicuarizador será.

El Otorrinolaringólogo de Parangaricutirimícuaro, quiere desotorrinolaringologoparangaricutirimicuarillarse, el que lo desotorrinolaringologoparangaricutirimicuarillare, un buen desotorrinolaringologoparangaricutirimicuarillador será.

Los parangaricutirimícuaros se quieren desparangaricutirimicuarizar porque un parangaricutirimícuaro se quiere casar con una parangaricutirimícuara y dicen que van a parangaricutirimicuarizar a muchos parangaricutirimicuaritos y parangaricutirimicuaritas, si a los parangaricutirimícuaros logran desparangaricutirimicuarizarlos el que logre desparangaricutirimicuarizarlos gran desparangaricutirimicuador será.

Now a confession. I don’t think I can pronounce the word correctly myself either. It’s so hard, LOL! Mejor, let’s watch these folks I found on YouTube giving it a jab:

Now if you’re brave enough of to make a video of yourself attempting this word I would love to see it and feature it here también. Me lo mandan please.

For more about parangaricutirimicuaro Click Here.

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.

More Mexi-Vocabulario

There was another word that starts with the letter “R” that caught my attention this week, but of course, when I went to jot it down on the Memo app on my phone, the muy descarado turned itself off! Ahh!! I have been racking my brains out trying to remember what that word was. Sadly… it hasn’t come back to me yet! On the bright side, though, a dear friend reminded me of another word that also starts with the little “R” – it will have to do for now: ¡Ruca!

Un "ruca" muy bella.

As in esa es mi ruca (that’s my girl, my girlfriend, my chick, etc.). As you can imagine, just like with it’s synonym, mi vieja, you’ll want to wachale when you’re using either one of these words around your significant other. Anjelica hates it when I call her either word. So much so that I only employ them when I’m with the guys. Ahí nadie me dice nada. It’s like an accepted form of desahogo or something, LOL!

Pero anyway… before I keep digging a deeper hole for myself, mejor let’s look at some more formal definitions of the word ruca. These are a few of the more interesting ones from the Urban Dictionary (they really do have quite the variety of definitions for this one):

Girlfriend.
The one girl, that you would choose over every other.
A True love. Was first said by sublime in (waiting for my ruca) Which stated it meant girlfriend or True lover. Its meaning is different for each speaker.
‘Rü-kah; (noun) Etymology: Chicano Slang 1: a frequent or regular female companion in a romantic or sexual relationship.
In Spanish means old maid or older single woman.
In Chicano Slang it is mostly a derogatory term meaning older woman. Also means a tried woman, as in having been through the trials of life and living.
Can also mean an older woman of the barrio or older chola.
Meant to describe a girlfriend that has stayed by her boyfriend’s side through difficult times, with an affectionate undertone. Also, to describe in light, derogatory (sometimes affectionate) terms a tried or worn woman no matter the age, identifying her presumed life experience…
The person you curl up with

I definitely recommend you check out the other definitions for ruca on the Urban Dictionary. Some of them are pretty hilarious. In the meantime, if you have any other recommendations for words that start with the letter “R” leave them here for me.

Gracias!!

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I use this one a lot. In my writing at least. In real person, or en vivo y a todo color, not so much. In everyday conversations… cómo que no me sale. It’s one of those words that even if you don’t know what it means you can pretty much make the conclusion that it is not a very flattering one once you hear someone using it. Still, it kind of slips off the tongue, doesn’t it? ¡Chafa!

These could definitely be considered "Chafa".

A confession now. I’ll admit, after reading the detalles of the president’s recent deferred adjudication announcement I just couldn’t help thinking “¡Qué chafa! What a rip off!” Not that my intention is to be political – it’s not! I just had to get that off my chest. Why? Because! What about all of the other 10 million immigrants that don’t qualify for the deferred adjudication. Isn’t this the ultimate rip off for them?! Oh, I’m sorry you’re not young enough to qualify. Oops, it doesn’t matter how many degrees you have, this doesn’t apply to you either. So sorry.

Agh, it’s just what the Urban Dictionary says about something that can be described with such a word: Something of a very low quality, often made to appear like the real thing. Word very widely used in Mexico. Also: fake or crude forgery.

Hopefully it’s just me being a pessimist. I am quite good at that you know. Whatever the case, and back to the all important Mexi-Vocabulario word of the day, of course, chafa can be used to describe a person, place or a thing. It really is quite the versatile palabra. Think of it as similar to the word ghetto in a way. People often like to describe things that are synonymous to chafa with that word in the English language. And for extra credit, find something you’d describe as ¡bien chafa! and tell someone about it. You’re welcome to leave your sentences here too.

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Porque aunque nos toque trabajar mañana, hoy nos la pasarémos en el despapaye. Okay, I’ll translate. Because even though we have to work tomorrow, today, we’re going to party like there’s no tomorrow anyway, jajaja!

En el despapaye y’all!

Tell me I’m wrong? Yeah… I thought so! Pero any-guey, despapaye is also one of those words in our Spanish language that is easily interpretable, almost exclusively by it’s simple intonation alone. By definition, it is not so easily found. The Real Academia Española, in fact, only references another Spanish word which it considers similar in definition – desorden. So now we’re at a twofer. What does desorden mean you might be asking. Let’s matar dos pajaros de un solo tiro – I’m not translating that one.

According to a query on WordReference, despapaye can best be defined as desorden, alboroto, fiesta, relajo, or desmadre. In English, disorder, riot, party, relaxation or dread (quite the literal translation on that last one, if you all don’t mind).

You get the picture right?

Basically, having a good old time, with very little care in the world. Just don’t overdo it. As they do say – tomorrow, after all, it is back to reality!

Again, Felices Fiestas Y’all!

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mexi vocabulario juanofwords adio definition

Good for the chisme.

¿Adió, a poco nada más te hizo mala cara?

¿Adió, y esta qué se cree?

¡Adío! ¿Y a mi qué?

Fíjate que fulanita se peleó con el marido ayer.

¿Adió?

If you haven’t guessed by now, today’s Mexi-Vocabulario is all about that very short and simple word we Mexicans love to use to spice up our conversations. Especialmente when we are in el chisme. It means something similar to “really,” as in: 1) that you honestly don’t believe what your comadre or compadre is telling you, or 2) that you do believe them, but that you just want to be extra dramatic and that you want them to repeat whatever it was they just said. If you’re thinking “oh no, that’s really not me,” you should know equally metiche vocabulary also includes phrases in español like: ¿a poco? ¿de verdad? ¿no me digas?

Admit it. You know it feels good to use them!

Now if you’re thinking, or saying, “¡ay no mames guey! That’s not what that word means!” …pues, you’re just going to have to take my word for it! There aren’t any formal definitions of adío in the Real Academia Española, or even the Urban Dictionary for that matter. Well, there are a couple for “adio” without the accent, but they are talking about something completely different. Some of them are pretty hilarious if you get a chance to read them.

Pero bueno, keep the Mexi-Vocabulario words coming! I want to thank my compatriota Paty M. who sent me this palabra and was gracious enough to let me share it with all of you! Not only are we paisanos, we’re also from the same part of Mexico también!

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¡No seas embustero! Don’t be a liar! We could probably leave it at that and you all would understand what this word means. Pero, well what’s the fun in that?

Embustero.

Mejor, let’s let two of the world’s biggest divas sing to us about the word embustero. “Aww man, is this turning into Plaza Sesamo or what?” No, it’s not! But how many times can we share a song by Beyonce and Shakira about one of our words?

Ustedes just play along for a minute… or three minutes and 26 seconds.

If you’re still wondering what an embustero is – not that Beyonce’s Spanish is hilariously hard to understand or anything, jaja – it basically means a liar. An embustero is a liar. Someone who consistently lies about everything and anything just for the sake of it, for no other particular good reason than they just enjoy it.

A ver, a few words of wisdom here. My mother has always said el que nada debe, nada teme. Loosely translated, he who owes nothing, fears nothing. In other words, en este caso, if you’re honest with yourself and with others you don’t have to worry about keeping up with your lies. In can be exhausting after a while. Aunque también es cierto, ¿quién no tiene sus secretos?

Anywho, the pronunciation is M-boo-stair-oh.

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mexi vocabulario chiflado definition juanofwords

Have you been called a Chiflado(a) before?

Uuy… I’ve been called that one more than once. As a matter of fact, there’s a rather funny story about how big of a Chiflado I was as a kid. It involves my two eldest sisters, my cuñado, and a banana… that somehow ended up splattered all across my hair by the end of the night. It’s a long story, LOL! Mejor, read the linked post.

Today, I wanted to talk to you about that pesky little label that so many of us got growing up – ¡Chiflado! Subsequently, I think us guys sort of get the short end of the stick when it comes to being called Chiflados as adults too. It’s like anything we ask for that requires even the teeny tiniest of extra efforts automatically results in us being called big old Chiflados. Pero, I guess that’s a tale for another time. My problem with the word Chiflado is not necessarily being called it. Instead, being called a “spoiled brat” – yes, that’s the translation in English – for no good reason.

Say for example, a man says echame un lonche mañana, please. You guessed it! Yes, he’s a Chiflado. If he doesn’t like certain things like body wash, only jabón by the bar… yup, Chiflado. He won’t cook if there’s nothing to eat. He claims to not know how to iron. He’ll only eat certain foods, and sometimes only from one or two particular brands. He can’t get his hair cut from any other place that’s not the one he likes. Oh yeah, all grounds for being Chiflado. Now I won’t say any of these don’t merit the label, but you know, it’s only human nature to want to be chiflado (pampered in this instance) every once in a while.

Remember when you were a kid? If you didn’t want to get out of bed until your mother came to caress your hair, if you got all excited when mamá would make your favorite dish, if you didn’t want to share your brand new toys, if you grasped too many candies in one handful, if you cried because they made you share, if you talked back or stuck your tongue out… you were always a Chiflado! Right, you didn’t like it verdad?

Nobody does!

So the next time you get the urge to call someone a Chiflado, make sure they actually deserve the label. Especially if it’s the man in your life, jaja! Consider this a public service announcement

But back to the point of this post. What does Chiflado actually mean?

The Urban Dictionary says: 1. Conceited 2. thinks he/she is too fly 3. Vain 4. A know- it- all 5. Cocky 6. To act with attitude

The Merriam-Webster dictionary says: 1) the adjective means nuts, crazy 2) the noun means crazy person, lunatic

They’re both kind of right, but not really. To me chiflado as a noun or an adjective means spoiled. Either being spoiled or wanting to be spoiled. Pero, hey that’s just this Chiflado’s opinion.

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The scorching heat of a pepper seed can definitely burn.

Kind of ridiculous, that as much as I love hot sauce and really anything spicy, I’m just now getting around to writing about this Mexi-Vocabulario word: ¡Enchilar! As in me enchile, te enchilaste, nos enchilamos. Basically, that the spice in something was so hot it burned. Though you can also use the word to mean you’re getting angry, you are angry, or you were angry.

Here are some examples:

¡Me enchile bien feo!

Mejor ya bajale… me voy a enchilar.

Ayer, me enchilaste con ese comentario.

Not that I’ve had any of these uttered to me or anything, jajaja. At least not lately. What really got me thinking about enchilar as Mexi-Vocabulario were a couple of comadres the other day. Well, that and my metiche eavesdropping on their conversation. One of them was going on and on about some tamales another one of her comadres had made. Apparently they were pretty spicy. I know so because she kept saying it over and over again… to the point that at one point during their conversation I caught myself rolling my eyes. I know. ¿Quién me manda andar de metiche? So I just shut up and kept listening.

Nombre comadre estaba bien picoso. ¡Me enchile bien feo! Bien picoso estaba… no me enchile con una mordidita comadre. Una mordidita bien chuiquita. Me enchile bien feo. Fijese, estaba bien picoso. Aeeyyy, no le digo… She went on like this for another 10 minutes before they changed the conversation to something less interesting. I stopped listening after that.

Still, afterwards I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Por algo siempre digo that the best inspiration in life always comes from life itself!

Now it’s your turn. Go eavesdrop on a complete stranger’s conversation yourself.

Add some spice to your life!

Just don’t hold me accountable if you get slapped.

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By definition, they would be better classified under the category of anglicisms. Anglicismos. In the world of Spanish journalism, probably the worst mistake any young pocho reporter could make. I should know. It was me who was constantly getting corrected for using anglicismos when I was writing in Spanish… all those years ago now. Yet, I had all but pretty much forgotten about all of those horribly bad memories – kidding – until one of my old friends, coincidentally one of my journalist buddies from those days, made the suggestion that I write about anglicisms too.

I’m not sure how often I’ll write about anglicismos. I guess that ultimately depends on how much you all might like the idea, or not. If you do, and you have words of your own that you’d like to add to this list, or see in another post, let me know, and we might play this game again. It could be a good compliment to our regular Mexi-Vocabulario?

These are the Top 10 Anglicisms that I use:

10. Troca – Truck. In reality one should say camioneta, but I grew up in Texas and a lot of people here, well, we just say troca.

9. Yarda – Yard. As in your lawn. The correct word in Spanish is patio. Although I’ve never been comfortable with saying voy a cortar el patio. It just sounds funny to me.

8. Parqueadero – Parking lot. At one point, I had actually made the transition from parqueadero to estacionamiento, but then I thought, why am I correcting my parents’ on their Spanish… and I stopped.

7. Estop sign – Stop sign. I don’t really use it all that often. Only when giving directions in Spanish. Though the correct word in Spanish is alto.

6. La movie – Movie. It should be pelicula or even cinta, but movie is just as acceptable these days también.

5. Mapear – To mop. This is another one of those words that we just grew up with. Even though I know it might be better to say limpiar I can’t really avoid saying mapear.

4. Textear – To text. How else would you say that? Seriously, I’m kind of stumped on this one. Other than to say te mando un texto.

3. Chance – Not as it is pronounced in English, although it means the same exact thing. This word I pronounce more like cha-n-se. I guess the right word instead would be oportunidad.

2. Sorri – An apology. I’m sorry. To apologize. This one I just like because Niurka made it popular with her I’m sorri for you. Instead, use disculpa.

1. Chequear – To check. I’m always telling someone to checar, chequealo, chequear something. Guilty as charged! The correct terminology might include verificalo or compruebalo instead.

The art of being chuleado.

To chulear. To andar chuleando. To make someone feel chuleado. In truth, you could even chulear an inanimate object, or place, basically by making said person, place or thing feel extra especial. See below examples:

Hay que linda esta la niña.

Hola mi gordita preciosa.

Aeeyy… estos tacos están de lo más sabrosos.

Este estado tan grande… who knew Texas had so much to see?

The latter is what we’re hoping we’ll be able to say next week when we’re done with our Texas Road Trip… although in a way we already know it’s true. Pero bueno that’s besides the point. Chulear is one of those words that was taken, over time, from an adjective to a action verb en español… not exactly sure why, but it was. You might also recognize it from its root word of chulo, which basically means handsome in Spanish. At it’s most basic, chulear means to pay someone a flattering compliment.

So ¡orale! a chulear a sus parejas.

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tragon definition mexi vocabulario juanofwords

Coincidentally, I just watched this movie – ‘Lbs’ – this week. It was all about being a tragón!

¡Tragón! ¡Comelón! ¡Ya deja de estar comiendo! For some reason those words don’t seem all that unfamiliar to me. Aunque por lo menos, someone should have told me that later on in my life it would be perfectly okay to be considered the family “garbage disposal.” Maybe then I wouldn’t have greedily scarfed down that large pizza and two liter coke in the darkness of my own bedroom so that nobody would ask me for any of my food, back when I was in high school. Sometimes I still wonder what that delivery driver must have been thinking when I crept out of my bedroom window to pay him before he got to the door. I weighed about 250 pounds back then, was full of pimples, and had red highlights in my hair, so you can just imagine!

¡Pobrecito! Now that I think about it como que I remember him jumping back a little bit at first, jajaja! I paid him – even gave him a tip – and climbed back in my window.

Afterwards, when all the pizza and coke were gone, I remember laying on my twin sized bed, with the red-tiger-San-Marcos on it, and just thinking to myself ¡Ay, que tragón eres cabrón! Why did you just do that? There were many more episodes like this one in my life as the years progressed, though I never really understood why I have always been such a tragón. Even now, even though I do now know the difference between healthy and unhealthy eating, I often can’t help myself from rushing through a meal just to be done with it. Once I’m done, I start picking on Edgar and Anjelica’s plates. Once their full or they don’t want anymore, all they have to do is push their dish in my direction. My parents did always say ¡la comida no se desperdicia!

Don’t worry mis jefitos. I’ve been on it for the past 33 years!

That is, after all, the very definition of the word tragón. As defined by the website Mexico Guru, tragón means: pig, glutton; greedy. Personally, I’d say that’s a bit harsh… pero bueno, if the shoe doesn’t fit all it means is that I don’t have to wear it!

It’s more comfortable that way anyway!

¡Un saludote a todos mis tragones out there!

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Chambeadora, La Raza!

A chambear… ¿pues qué más nos queda? No hay de otra. Because 1) yesterday was Labor Day, a time to honor all of the gente bien chambeadora that have made things like holidays, overtime pay and weekends possible for all of us, and 2) because how many of us did not hear or speak these same words yesterday when we were talking about going back to work today… the day after our holiday. The truth. Who really wants to go work anyway? The day after a holiday, mucho menos!

Pero bueno, ¿qué le vamos hacer?

That’s the thing about us Latinos that makes us bien chambeadores. We’re used to things not going our way; we know when you least expect it is when you get the wind knocked out of you; we’re not afraid to get back up, and get back up, again, and again, as many times as we have to; we’re used to getting the short end of the stick and making it work for us anyway; we don’t assume things will just be handed down to us in any way; y desde luego, when life gives us lemons we know how to make darn good limonada! jajaja… Okay, so I had just been waiting to use that last phrase.

¿Qué le vamos hacer?

But it is true! We are bien chambeadores.

If you’re still not sure about what chambeador or chambear mean, it really is pretty simple. Chambeador means hardworking. Chambear means to work hard. That’s it.

¡Ahora sí, ponganse a chambear todos! No me vayan hacer quedar mal.

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¡Te la bañáste compadre, jajaja!

¡Te la bañáste!

¡Nombre, ya ni la amuelas!

¡No te la acabas!

All variations of the single act of bañársela, or perhaps more comprehensible, as the act of overstepping one’s boundaries, be they self-imposed or otherwise. In non-mexicano or straight up Spanish, you might assume this Mexi-Vocabulario term might have something to do with taking a shower… or a bath. You’d be wrong! Instead, to bañársela has everything to do with being inappropriate and/or even to some degree, kind of immoral. Por lo menos, according to the definition in Spanish: exceder los límites de la moral y de las buenas costumbres preestablecidos.

In English, to exceed moral limits and pre-established norms of good manners.

Uyy, kind of heavy verdad?

The most immediate example that comes to mind – and don’t judge me folks – is Teresa from The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I have been faithfully watching every single episode of these shows on YouTube, LOL! We don’t have cable at home remember. Pero, pues… in my book she’s the epitome of inappropriate.

I can almost hear Doña Lucha yelling at the television: ¡Nombre, mijita te la bañáste!

What’s your interpretation of this palabra?

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Y a Lo Que Te Truje Chencha Pareja viejos peleando juanofwords

¡Los viejos peleando!

So this is less of a Mexi-Vocabulario, and more of a Mexi-Frase! But how many more of these Mexi labels are you all going to let me get away with? No sé. Mejor, I’ll play it safe and file this under Mexi-Vocabulario. So… how many of us have not already used this rather popular Mexican phrase?

It quite literally can be used in any which way we choose, depending on our intonation and the situation of course. Pero say someone says to you ¡A lo que te tuje Chencha! while you’re getting ready to sweep or mop the floor, if they do it in an an angry tone you might get insulted and/or angry. If they say it with a smile on their face or then laugh afterwards, on the other hand, chances are you won’t be as angry and you’ll probably just take it as a harmless joke. Finally, if it makes you feel uncomfortable or dirty, you might be in a more inappropriate situation.

Why would you be in an appropriate situation while you are sweeping or mopping? I don’t know? That’s just my crazy brain coming up with crazy scenarios in my head!

Mejor… if we take the word at it’s face value and try to translate it literally to English, this is what it might mean: And what I brought you for Chencha! Who is Chencha? I have a Tía Chencha, but no, we’re not talking about her here. – Don’t even get the rumors started! Instead, Chencha can be interpreted to mean anybody… kind of like saying “hey you!” – or even John or Jane Doe. So more appropriately translated it would be something more like this: you know what you’re here for; you know what you need to do; or even you know what I want.

Come to think of it, these all sound kind of bad too.

It’s not only a bad word I promise!

How do you most often mean this phrase when you use it?

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Miss Celie from ‘The Color Purple’

Because if ever there was a time to be ocicón… or ocicóna, it is today.

Although probably not entirely in the way you might be thinking.

No, not to yell at the top of our lungs for no good reason. Though if you were anything like me as a kid that was a regular occurrence throughout your childhood for which you were likely quieted down more often than you’d like to recall with a stern and swift ¡callate! Today, however, there will be no ¡callátes!

There shouldn’t be, I mean.

Today you should sentirte con todala confianza to raise your voice and say “I will be listened to!” in true ocicón fashion. But what does it mean to be ocicón?

If you can believe it, the Urban Dictionary doesn’t even offer a definition for this Mexi-Vocabulario word yet. That’s a first, I know! Well not really… but still. Instead, you’ll have to trust my definition of this word. All 100 percent of my mexicoamericano understanding of the palabra.

Well then, ocicón to me is the act of of NOT shutting your mouth, of saying what’s on your mind, of not backing down when someone challenges what you are saying, and yes, even of sometimes sticking your foot in your mouth precisely because you can’t shut your mouth. I’m not saying it’s always a good thing, but sometimes – like today – you just need to be a little ocicón to let people know you are here.

Or said in another way, in the words of one of my all time favorite movie characters, Whoopi Goldberg as “Celie” in the The Color Purple: I’se poor, black, I may even be ugly; but dear God, I’se Here! I’se Here!

Go and be ocicones!

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Salma and her scene-stealing wig!

This post is dedicated to the one and only Salmita Hayek. No, not because I am a huge fan. Yes, she is definitely hot, and yes, it’s probably weird that me, as a man, find her incredibly annoying and not very talented at all. Considering the fact too that I worship the floor JLO walks on, talks on, dances on, shakes her bon-bon on – I could go on, but I won’t – it probably stands to reason that some of you (probably many of you) will disagree with me entirely.

There, you can even have your pause right now to insert your sarcastic remark or comparison of my preference for JLO over Salma. Go ahead. I’m used to it by now.

You see what really got me thinking about Salma Hayek as Chonguda or Chongalicious – which by the way just means someone who always styles their hair in ponytails (chongo in singular) all of the time – was her role in the movie Savages. I won’t even go into how awful that film actually was. Suffice it to say the source of my entertainment during those roughly two hours of my life was one and one only. Salma’s pitch black wig! It was so big and ugly. Not to mention it didn’t really compliment the mexicana’s usual vivaciousness. It actually overshadowed her and her performance. Not to mention everyone else’s.

I still can’t believe all those A-listers were so awful in this movie?! And the thing is I can’t even put my finger on it as to why – besides the bad writing, poor character development and shoddy acting chops brought to the table by all of the actors (okay, maybe I can). It was just so bad.

Salma Hayek’s wig though, had a life of it’s own. It literally shined on screen, it captured every scene, and even when it was dramatically ripped off of Salma’s hair and slammed on the floor, it was riveting, and the center of attention in every single frame of that scene. I would give the damn thing and Oscar if I could, jaja!

Pero en serio, I guess that’s what chongos, chongudas and chongalicious mean to me. I can’t take my eyes off of them either. There’s something beautiful about them, despite how disturbingly wrong they might look on some people in some cases.

Thank you Salmita for letting your wig do all of the acting this time!

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Mudo. For the past couple of days I’ve been just that. Silent. Unable. Unwilling perhaps. To say much of anything at all. Every time I’ve tried to sit down and think about writing something cohesive, or at the very least putting a few words together that made any kind of sense at all -“good enough” to share with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, this website, and by extension with you – I’ve just come up with …nothing.

Not a damn thing at all.

Why? I haven’t the slightest clue. But that’s just where I’m at right now.

I guess you could say I’m shooting blanks. I’m 33 years old, going on 34, and I’m shooting blanks!

meme baby gacho definition mexi vocabulario mexi vocabulary juanofwords

I concur. That baby looks ‘medio gacho’ too, jaja!

So apparently I’m this. Or this is me. ¡Gacho! According to WikiLatino, unpleasant and ugly. If we go by the Urban Dictionary‘s definition instead, the opposite of “chido”, which means cool, so “gacho” would mean ‘not cool’ or ‘stupid,’ but not so much the word “stupid” but think of it as the opposite of cool… whatever word that may be. Confused much? Don’t be! You know what I’m trying to say ese(a)!

Well, let me tell you, I’m almost okay with being everything on that list, except feo. Excuse me, but my momma didn’t make any ugly babies! Punto y aparte.

To me gacho is closer to the word sangron, which in my Mexican Spanish refers to someone who can be rather unpleasant, irritating, irritated, annoyed or annoying to be around. Not all of the time, although you could be gacho most of the time. Gacho could even be mean or unscrupulous, but I don’t think I’m either of those. If you think I am, pues don’t tell me! Remember that social norm we’re all supposed to follow: if you don’t have anyhing nice to say don’t say anything it all. Well yeah, don’t tell me.

I am gacho some of the time. I won’t deny it. We all are. It’s part of being a human being. And I would argue también just part of being Latino. In my case, bien mexicano! So go figure…

I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
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That feeling you have after just waking up. When you’re kind of awake, but not really. More asleep, going through the motions, a little bit angry, grumpy, annoyed, just generally in an unpleasant mood all together. Yes, in that precise moment you are exactly what this particular Mexi-Vocabulario word defines. ¡Modorro!

You probably look a little something like this too.

¡Modorro!

I used to hate it when my parents would wake me up from a nap to “go do something,” no matter how important it might have been. In those days it seemed like nothing could shake the zombie-like feeling that would always come afterwards. On top of it, my brothers would inevitably find a way to get on my nerves every single time too. There I’d be, yelling and screaming, throwing out my arms aimlessly and as if though they were lifeless really, still not fully awake, but awake enough. Just enough to be able to fight off my brothers in defense of my own pereza and lack of interest in joining the rest of the world going on around me at that precise moment… and sometimes for at least half an hour afterwards.

Okay, so sometimes the feeling would last all day!

These days, though, I don’t get modorro much anymore. Hmmm… is that a sign? Is it normal? No sé. But I do like waking up Edgar now myself and watching his modorro reactions. It’s kind of entertaining honestly.

What?!

We all have to get our kicks somehow, right?

I don’t even think he minds much …anymore, LOL!

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mexi vocabulario mandilon definition juanofwords

Photo by Espangrish.com.

Since we’re on the subject of LOVE anyway… why not take it there. Where? You might ask. To that place where so many of us men end up going, or at the very least get accused of going there anyway, when we finally find our true media naranja. We’re all in love, cómo dice la Katy Perry, on Cloud 9, feeling like there is nothing in the world that can knock us back down into reality… and then, BAM! All of a sudden – inevitably really – someone says to us “¡Mandilon! You’re all domadito now!”

As in tamed, domesticated, complacent, docile, weak, and probably worst of all “whipped!”

That’s precisely what the Urban Dictionary defines as Mandilon:

A male that is demasculated.

A.K.A: Whipped

In Mexican:
Jose was going to go out partying with his buddies, but his girlfriend told him he had to go shopping with her and her mother. He doesn’t wear the pants in that relationship.

OUCH!! To put it in only one word.

There are plenty of other more graphic definitions of this same word out there, some of them even on the same link I’ve shared with you here, but you can check those out for yourself. What do you think? Is this the “right” definition for the word Mandilon, or is the word itself a figment of our imagination? A sexist or otherwise discriminatory or offensive thing to say to anyone?

¿Quién sabe? I’ll let you be the judge of that for yourself también.

What I do know is that it’s not a popular word for many of us. Pero bueno, one thing about it, you can’t deny Mandilon is part of our popular vocabulary and culture.

Personally I don’t consider myself Mandilon. But wait a minute… isn’t that what all the mandilones say?! LOL!

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mexi vocabulario pachorrudo definition juanofwords

Homero Simpson, pachorrudo.

O sea, no me lo tomen a mal …but you know as well as I do that we can all be bien pachorrudos when we want to be. Those days when despite how much we may push ourselves mentally, going through all the things we have to do on our list, we just can’t manage to make ourselves get up and out of the bed or off of the couch. If every action begins with a first step on these days we’ve made up our mind that we’re not performing any actions at all! I kind of look forward to those days if I’m completely honest.

En español you could say you’re just bien pachorrudo, or you’re in a pachorrudo mood.

Sigh! The Urban Dictionary doesn’t even have this word defined either. ¿No les digo? ¡Cómo que nadie nos entiende a nosotros los inspirados, jajaja!

I did find this video definition though. Kind of cool, I think.

In English: someone who is excessively calm and/or who has a complete lack of concern for anything. Hmm….

Sound familiar? Eh! Eh! LOL!

No pues no… it happens to the best of us. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

Oh wait, or is that showing a lack of concern?!

¡Ay Dios Mio! I’m out of control…

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A couple of weeks ago I was watching the novela Amores Verdaderos with my mom. I haven’t been watching a lot of telenovelas lately. I still think Kate Del Castillo’s La Reina Del Sur has pretty much ruined all telenovelas for me right now. Every time I try to watch a new novela I just want to see more guns and violence and salty language. ¡Quiero que se porten bien mal, jajaja!

Anyway, as we were watching my mom’s novela this character came on screen. Her name in the show is Polita and she’s the housemaid. You know, the usual. She talks loud and fast; she’s really hyper and positive; and bien trabajadora! Think of her as a cross between La India Maria and Don Cheto, not too tonta but not as tosca as Don Cheto. Wow, that’s a whole Mexi-Vocabulario dictionary right there! Pero I digress…

So as we were watching I said ¿¡y esa!? ¡está bien chapeada! The operative word in that phrase is chapeada. My mom busted out laughing as soon as I said it and for a minute or two she couldn’t stop grinning in amusement.

That got me thinking. Not a lot of people use that word. I have honestly only ever heard my mom use it to describe what could best be described as rosy cheeks. O sea someone who has really rosy pink cheeks. They don’t necessarily have to be chunky or chubby, gorditos (or whatever you want to call it). Flacos and Flacas can be chapeados too.

Online the closest translation to English I found was either flushed or blushed.

That sounds about right too. Do you ever use this word? Have you heard it before?

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mexi vocabulario chorro definition juanofwords

Un chorro de dulce.

As in a lot. No, not just a little bit of a lot. But a lot of a lot. ¡Un chingo! Some might say. ¡Un chorro! To be more color de rosa with our choice of words. Not that you have to be of course.

It had been a long while since I had heard anyone say this word anymore, but just the other day someone uttered it to me in a very matter of fact way. Immediately I was jotting it down on my notes. “Now there’s a great Mexi-Vocabulario word,” I thought as I profusely jotted down chorro between the words chapeada and mandilon on my ever growing list!

My trusty friends over at the Urban Dictionary (being sarcastic there) define chorro as:

juaSpanish for the “ishts” or diareah; aka hershey squirts.

Uhm… Ewww! ¿Cómo la ven? What’s your definition of the word?

¡Ya me dieron un chorro de ganas de saber!

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Pos for me they’re anything but useless, but for some they might as well be trash. Thrown right in there with all of the other undesirables that we find no use for anymore right before we send them off to massive landfills. It’s funny actually. The irony of life is such that when I first moved into my current neighborhood I kept hearing people say “las ragas, las ragas.”

I didn’t know exactly what they were talking about, but my Spanglish was good enough to decipher that it had something to do with rags… tiliches, if you will. You see just a couple of streets from where I live, a couple of blocks from one of the elementary schools in the barrio, people actually work all day sorting and packing old ugly rags that nobody wanted anymore. Some of them end up in thrift stores. Probably at one near you. The better clothes that is. The rest are sold across the globe as precisely that – rags. Tiliches that can be used to clean, to soak, or to do all kinds of other stuff.

It sounds kind of crazy, it’s true. Pero, you know, for someone who grew up with a mother that used to make quilts out of old shirts, jeans and shorts, this all seems quite logical también. ¿Apoco no? For an alternate definition, of course, I consulted the old Urban Dictionary to see what they had to say.

Specially used in Costa Rica (or Central America): an all purpose word which means “unuseful thing.”

Well… that’s another way to look at it. What’s your definition of Tiliches?

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Words in Spanish… that we use when we’re angry!

Anger In The Eyes by Robert McGoldrick

Either I’ve been watching way too much Spanish-language television lately, or I have developed my own way of getting rid of Writer’s Block in Spanish! These are words we say in Spanish when we’re angry.

Chingao

Chingadera

Mierda

Madre

Pendejadas

Idiota

Imbécil

Inútil

Maldito

Malvado

Cobarde

Canaya

Desgraciado

Menco

Tonto

Bruto

Burro

Ignorante

Mentiroso

You’re free to add your own in the comments section below.

You know when you're in a real canijo mood?

Photo provided to me by @Chookooloonks at #BlogaHouston

I’ve been in a real canijo mood lately. Not for any particular reason. Nobody has made me angry. Nothing has drastically changed. Usually it’s when change happens in my life that I start getting all testarudo, corajudo and just generally in a bad mood. I’m quite good at being canijo actually. You can ask anyone.

If you’re wondering what I mean by canijo, think of it as a cross between angry and bitter, with a twist of sarcasm. That’s about what it means in my version of Mexican Spanish.

Tonight though, this picture I’m sharing kind of reinvigorated me to try and start thinking more positive again. I function better when I focus on the good things in life. The days that will get better ahead. The moments that made me happy. The people that I love. And who love me back. That’s what I want to start focusing more on. Because remember, there’s always hope even in the most desperate of situations.

I need to get that engraved somewhere. (where the sun does shine!)

Lately we’ve been having a lot of conversations about thinking big. As in thinking beyond the limitations placed on us, either by ourselves or by others.

In truth, the subject is one that resonates with me very much. It does because I think it really speaks to some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my own life. A veces, en algunos momentos de mi vida, the biggest obstacles that I have needed to overcome were internal. It wasn’t so much who told me what I could or couldn’t do. Nobody has ever really placed those types of limitations on me. Instead, at times my own personal beliefs (or disbeliefs more to the point) have been what have held me back from doing or wanting more.

I think we all probably struggle with believing in ourselves at one point or another. So from somebody who’s been there and is still there sometimes, no te achicopales.

You can do it!

Pellejo.

It’s one of those words I’ve heard all of my life. Although until one of our recent road trips, I had all but forgotten about it to be quite honest. We were driving to California, past New Mexico somewhere, when all of the sudden the deejay on the radio started saying pellejo over and over again.

It really took me back to all of those times I’d heard my parents, my uncles, my aunts, their friends, and so many others use this palabra in Spanish.

Back then all it would make me think about was the papada on a turkey. You know, the turkey neck. Because after all pellejo in it of itself is basically referencing one’s skin.

I told Anjelica about it and we had a little conversation about what the word actually means when it’s used in references like: me salve por el puro pellejo; sali, pero con el puro pellejo.

We both agreed on the meaning in the end. Basically that you avoided something “by the seam of your pants” or “just barely.” The idea being that you just avoided or completed something, but pretty much just by a stroke of good luck or something.

Now if you’re looking for a more technical definition, here’s some of what WordReference has to offer:

– Piel quitada del cuerpo del animal.
– Piel de los animales.
– Toda la lana que se esquila de un animal.

UrbanDictionay does not yet have a definition in their database for this word.

Should I go in an add one?

This is part of a collaboration with DriveShop. All opinions expressed are my own.

As in ¡echame un aventón!

Give me a lift. A ride.

That’s what we got the last couple of weeks on the 2018 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Limited edition. Un aventón around the whole city, for two weeks. This was the latest Toyota model we got to test drive and experience as a familia.

I’ll come back to that in one second. Now, if you’ve ever been offered un aventón the root word that might have crossed your mind is aventar (to throw), and you might have thought – why am I being asked if I want to be thrown? Wait, am I being thrown out? Or wait, should I be throwing something away?

All fair questions. Nobody is judging. But consider for a moment the Urban Dictionary’s definition for aventón. Oh wait, they don’t have one. Instead let’s look at what Google offers from a very cursory search:

1. Acción de empujar a alguien. / Action of pushing someone.

2. Llevar a un pasajero gratuitamente en un vehículo. / To drive a passenger free of charge in a vehicle.

Ding, Ding, Ding. Number two is correcto, and it’s also what made me think of this word when I was remembering our recent experience with the 2018 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Limited.

This compact SUV was a little smaller than what we’re used to (a full-sized SUV), but not by much. It was a lot bigger than the version my sister drove around in the late 90s, early 2000s. Plus, this one came fully equipped with all the bells and whistles that make any driver happy.

She loved her RAV 4, by the way. I think now I understand why a little bit better.

Literally, as in: Don’t Stain.

But that doesn’t make any sense, of course.

Instead let’s think about this word in the practical form.

When you make somebody mad because your bad decision is affecting them, they might tell you: ¡No Manches!

When you’re lying and pretty much everyone knows you’re lying. ¡No Manches!

When you take advantage of another for whatever reason. ¡No Manches!

Yup, it’s not a very positive phrase you want to be addressed to you very often, if at all.

According to our friends at the Urban Dictionary, there are three Mexican idioms that fit the bill for the definition of this word: 1) Stop kidding around. 2) Don’t jerk my chain. 3) No way or whatever.

I’d say it can also have some pretty aggressive and much uglier meanings in Spanish, but I’ll let you figure out what those are on your own.

Have you ever used this word?

What was your interpretation of it if you have?

Get more Mexi-Vocabulario!

It’s getting no, and not taking it for an answer.

It’s being told that you can’t, and figuring out how to do it anyway.

It’s being willing to work.

It’s being willing to sacrifice.

It’s being willing to do what you need to do to get to where you’re going.

And when things don’t work out as planned…

it’s getting back up… (eventually) and starting again.