It's Monday and the big game is on tonite, not the game I wanted but still the game. Ohio St. vs. Flordia. Not because Florida beat UCLA but I think I am rooting for Ohio St. My reason simple that they are the Big 10 and I think the East coast teams get too much hype. GO BUCKEYES!!!!
This morning I volunteered my eye for color by helping our friend Manuela find a good color for a dress Ronn is making for her. We went to Michael Levine’s downtown. It was an adventure as she had her young daughter with her, Antonia who is on spring break. I had to make sure the things that came out of my mouth were suitable for a 12 year old… especially since she is a super chigona from El Serreno who is attending Claybourne in San Marino and God forbid she picks up one of my xicano slang words and gets the boot at school for being brown and having attitude… “Ayi Dios!”.
The adventure was fun but all the time I had my eye on one of those hotdogs that they ladies make on their little carlitos wrapped in bacon and dripping with all that fat… boy did it make me hungry. Well needless to say I found out that I was not the only one who was craving one… but we were good and bypassed them.
I am always happy to see all the creative mother’s who still go and buy beautiful fabrics in which to create their daughters/sons/husbands/comadres/compadres/tio/tias/etc. etc. mas y mas ropas (boy that’s hard to type). My mind just images all kinds of things about them, where they live, how they live and why the hell would they choose that fabric? But it puts me in the mood to be more creative. I also found it fascinating that after all these years we Latino’s have been in the city of the angeles and the pinche manikins still have no curves… well at least in front, for some reason they all had really big behinds… but very flat fronts! What’s up with that? I kept on looking at Manuela (who is blessed with… well you know) and these manikins and the styles on them and thinking “I hope the front stretch as good as the back”.
LATE BREAKING NEWS FROM JENNY LENS.. “the girl with the camera eye”
Mark,
PASSOVER!!! It’s Passover! Loved the blog, but you need to add line breaks between paragraphs.
You sure have a lot to say all at once.
I couldn’t stop laughing. You have a wonderfully lively way of expressing yourself.
Will you please translate!! Lots don’t know what is LGBT (I just found out this weekend cos I saw a ref somewhere about Jewish LGBT actors/actresses and found a list on wikipedia). What’s chiladas and chanclas and tres flores and nagas! Damnit, I hate it when people use terms that drive me to wikipedia.
We don’t all live in your world, but we want to share it. And you want people to respond. Many many people in LA and elsewhere have no idea what these words mean. And if you want to reach people, don’t make them feel like they are being deliberately excluded.
Love love love you.
Talk to you soon.
OK FOR MS. LEN’S SAKE AS WELL AS OTHERS:
I have copies this from “The Adventures of Connie Chancla” so I can not take the credit but it’s a Calo Glossary of Slang, Profanity & Vulgar Expressions ©Maria Elena Gaitan, 1998.
The following vocabulary is a humorous sampling of slang, profanity and vulgar expressions regarding Chicanos, Mexicanos, women, workers and immigrants. Profanity might well be considered a substitute for war. Instead of hurling a stone, spear or bullet, we hurl an epithet, an insult or a ‘palabrota’. So, if the chancla fits…
AGACHADO: Underdog; stoop laborer; oppressed person.
¡AY GüEY!: (Literally) Oh You Ox! Oh you Beast of Burden! A stupid person.
ALAMBRISTA: An undocumented Mexican human being who came across the border by crawling under the barbed-wire or ‘Alambre’.
AZTLAN: The Capital of Pocholandia.
BEANER: A derogatory term used by gringos towards Chicanos, meaning half-breed, ill-bred, a degenerate expression of North American culture, particularly in the Southwestern United States. (See POCHO).
CHANCLA: An old shoe.
CHINGAR: To strike, hurt, oppress, irritate or #uck someone over: ¡Ya no chingues!
CHUNTARO: (See ¡NO SEAS INDIO!).
ESQUINEROS: (Literally) Corner People, a term referring to day laborers in the U.S.
JAROCHO: The offspring of Indian and African parents.
JODER: (see CHINGAR).
LA LINA: (Literally) The Line, The U.S. /Mexico Border.
LA MIGA: A term denoting the armed border military apparatus otherwise known as the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
LA TUYA: (no not Michael Jackson’s sister!) Yo Mama!
MOJADO: Wet; Wet Back
NACO: A derogatory term used by City Slickers to denote County Bumkins as unsophisticated, rural, or country. (See ¡NO SEAS INDIO!).
¡NO SEAS INDIO!: (Literally) Don’t be an Indian! Don’t be stupid!
PELADA RASCUACHE: A coarse rowdy woman.
PELADA RASCUACHE CABRONA: A coarse rowdy mean woman.
PELADA RASCUACHE DE BUEN CORAZON: A coarse rowdy compassionate woman.
PELADA/PELADO: Coarse; poor; low-class person.
PENDEJA/PENDEJO: A person of limited intellectual capacity; a dummy.
PINCHE: A derogatory qualifier that can be used as a noun or adjective used in a similar fashion to the English profane word ‘#ucker’ as in ‘#ucked-up’ or ‘#ucking’: ie ‘No seas pinche;’ ‘La pinche migra.’ The word pinche can also be diminutive or augmentative as in ‘Pinchisismo Ron Unz’.
Side note on this one: If you want to a good laugh (those of use who grew up with the word ‘pinche’) then check out http://www.pinche.hvdgm.nl/
POCHA/POCHO: A derogatory term used by Mexicans towards Chicanos, meaning half-breed, ill-bred, a degenerate expression of Mexican culture in language, dress, manner and attitude. (See BEANER).
POCHOLANDIA: The place where Pochas and Pochos flourish in harmony with La Madre Tierra.
OK, that ought to catch those of you who don’t know the slang up to date!
Finally on this day I want to plug my good friends Cita y Ricardo. They are truly amazing people. As artist their music is not only unique but is visually a must to see if they are playing in town. I will write more about Cita y Ricardo tomorrow.
OK that’s it kiddies… as for the chisme of the day, well I think enough was written above so now tell me yours!
Mark
9 comments:
i love what YOU're doing, and how YOU're doing it. why add line breaks??? i can see the different paragraphs. keep expressing YOUrself YOUr way. YOU've always drawn people to YOU all on YOUr own and YOU always will.....without following all the rules. people can't help but love YOU.
oh yeah...i didn't get to the end before i went on with my other comment. guess i should have my own blog because i'ze likes to talk as much as you! anyway, cita Y ricardo are AMAZING!!! seeing them is a must. so mandog, write more about them tomorrow as you have so promised!
and please, express YOUrself YOUr way...there's always gonna be people that don't get it, and if they feel excluded then that's their own self-esteem issue that they need to deal with. you put up some help with the slang, but they dont' know a damn thing about congugating those verbs! :)~ love ya!
Jenny, I love my brother more than anyone ever will. I’m pretty certain that we also have a very special relationship that is only getting better now that I’m all grown up. I know that I also “get” him, since I am a lot like him. I have always looked up to him since I was a kid. I’ve always envied him, and he's always inspired me. I do know how to spell conjugate when I am not drunk. I didn't say that you have self-esteem issues. I was speaking of the others you made reference to when you wrote "And if you want to reach people, don’t make them feel like they are being deliberately excluded." My comments were not a personal attack against you. I wasn't angry at you either. And I most certainly wasn't analyzing you (although I am somewhat of a behavior analyst being the Program Director for a behavior management day program for adults with developmental disabilities). How did I demean you? It wasn’t about you at all. Are you that self-centered? My words were meant to be encouraging to my brother. I know that you love my brother. I do too. My words were to encourage him to keep doing things his way because, as you know, he is a very unique individual and will draw people to him just being himself. He doesn’t need to conform to the norm. Don’t other people’s connections have to do with “being creative, thoughtful individuals who recognize the goodness and unique qualities” of one another? I am a professional who understands the importance of ensuring that written communication is done in such a way that it reflects positively on the writer. I just feel that those who choose to have a blog have found a forum in which they can truly be themselves without having to abide by the rules that restrict us everywhere else daily. The people that get it will be the ones that truly enjoy it. And that’s a real connection. There will always be people who don’t get it. We shouldn’t always have to explain ourselves to try to connect with those that don’t. That’s just unnatural.
i forgot...
jenny, i love your work. if you didn't notice, the comment i wrote in response to mark's "Next year BRUINS!" thanked him for the info on your webpage. i showed off your photos to my husband. i just wish i could get mark to send me some of the pictures you took of him.
Estimado Mandog, I got a google alert concerning the posting of my calo glossary from my performance of The Adventures of Connie Chancla. Thanks for the credits. I will be publishing a couple of books this year that may well include the word "pinche."
Saludos y todo lo mejor,
Maria Elena Gaitan
"Chola Con Cello"
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