Why Taboo Words Are Important in the Field
Working with a local Spanish-speaker in Oaxaca City, to finalize transcription of a Spanish interview with a member of the Zapotec community in June 2016. Today, I'm writing to you from somewhere in Mexico, where I'm spending the summer doing field research and writing. Over the course of my extended visits to this country since 2010, my Spanish has enormously improved. This means my interviewing has gotten more effective because I'm better able to listen in detail.
But there are many ways of speaking Spanish--any language, really--and among these, is the stylish use of slang, and colorful incorporation of taboo terms like swear words, profanity, and dirty words. Believe it or not, words such as these pop up in interview situations, and other contexts of field observation and participation. Sometimes it becomes my task to swear right along with my participants, or at least empathize with their animated excitement or frustration.
Speech communities are constantly innovating new turns of phrase, and American English is no exception. Can you imagine if you didn't know the loaded meanings of the now ubiquitous "balls" or "surfboard"? (Haha, you'll have to go urban dictionary for more information, I'm afraid that would be too much of a digression to explain here.)
In this blog post, I describe a recent episode in which I appropriately used some dirty slang here in Mexico, and how this led to a unique opportunity for intercultural learning. I also share a new list of dirty words I learned just last week in Oaxaca City, with a discussion of why I think these colorful words should be more purposefully included on your own list of survival vocabulary.
But there are many ways of speaking Spanish--any language, really--and among these, is the stylish use of slang, and colorful incorporation of taboo terms like swear words, profanity, and dirty words. Believe it or not, words such as these pop up in interview situations, and other contexts of field observation and participation. Sometimes it becomes my task to swear right along with my participants, or at least empathize with their animated excitement or frustration.
Speech communities are constantly innovating new turns of phrase, and American English is no exception. Can you imagine if you didn't know the loaded meanings of the now ubiquitous "balls" or "surfboard"? (Haha, you'll have to go urban dictionary for more information, I'm afraid that would be too much of a digression to explain here.)
In this blog post, I describe a recent episode in which I appropriately used some dirty slang here in Mexico, and how this led to a unique opportunity for intercultural learning. I also share a new list of dirty words I learned just last week in Oaxaca City, with a discussion of why I think these colorful words should be more purposefully included on your own list of survival vocabulary.
Spanish Idioms as Cultural Knowledge
My culturally embedded fieldwork here in Mexico is enhanced whenever I spend time trading gossip with local friends, or instigate impromptu interviews with street vendors. Our interactions consist of colorful expressions which distill cultural attitudes and communicate identity through a mixture of rhyme, euphemism, humor, and vulgarity. The way they use language informally is just as much a part of my intercultural learning as my experiences observing and participating in language classrooms. Each time we converse, I am reminded that language is more than a collection of words. Language is the impassioned imprinting of words with personal and cultural meaning. This is why we as researchers must take into account words in all their forms, because these describe the range of human experience.
Originally, my Spanish came from my formal schooling in Southern California, where we had a Castilian textbook and learned vosotros, even though we were most likely to speak Spanish with our neighbors of Guatemalan and Mexican descent. My first year of high school Spanish was the most meaningful--our teacher, Mrs. Casserly, was regarded as tough but fair, and she insisted that every week we memorize a new adage to add to our repertoire. I didn't know it at the time, but she was actively building our communicative competence.
Originally, my Spanish came from my formal schooling in Southern California, where we had a Castilian textbook and learned vosotros, even though we were most likely to speak Spanish with our neighbors of Guatemalan and Mexican descent. My first year of high school Spanish was the most meaningful--our teacher, Mrs. Casserly, was regarded as tough but fair, and she insisted that every week we memorize a new adage to add to our repertoire. I didn't know it at the time, but she was actively building our communicative competence.
¡La comida está para chuparse los dedos! The food is finger-licking good!
We also had to take turns doing cultural presentations. And so, it was in her class that I learned about Day of the Dead celebrations, and experimented with making champurrado, a corn-based hot chocolate drink, to serve my classmates during my presentation.
Needless to say, the champurrado turned out terribly, but the sayings I learned in her class continue to serve me well. I never learned any swear words from Mrs. Casserly, but her greatest service was to make her students aware of the cultural importance and utility of Spanish idioms. These have become stock phrases I can use to express precise meaning, and now I count vulgarities and other turns of phrase among this important category of colloquialisms.
Needless to say, the champurrado turned out terribly, but the sayings I learned in her class continue to serve me well. I never learned any swear words from Mrs. Casserly, but her greatest service was to make her students aware of the cultural importance and utility of Spanish idioms. These have become stock phrases I can use to express precise meaning, and now I count vulgarities and other turns of phrase among this important category of colloquialisms.
Let's Curse in Spanish: "To the Balls!"
An idiomatic expression is a collection of words with figurative meaning. Many such idioms are used to indirectly describe activities or events typically regarded as unpleasant or distasteful. For example, in Swahili, as well as in Spanish, there are a number of brilliant ways to describe being drunk--without saying you're actually drunk (not that I've made much use of these). In English, if we talk about being wasted, we may not be literally be describing drunkenness, but the meaning is understood.
"I was drunk" - Nimepigwa na nyuki (Swahili) - Lit. "I was stung by bees"
"I was drunk" - Estuve bien peda (Spanish) - Lit. "I was so winded"
At the end of last month, I came down to Mexico where I've been interviewing local speakers of Zapotec, Spanish, and Swahili while I complete my book manuscript, Zombies Speak Swahili. Because of a hilarious set of exchanges I set off with my use (some would call it ridiculous--I call it skillful) of the phrase "a huevo", literally to the egg, as part encouragement, part dirty reference, I started the surreptitious task of updating my cheat sheet of dirty words and phrases in Mexican Spanish.
Today, my dirty cheat sheet is a mixture of words written in different handwriting into the pages of my small, black field notebook, and a Notes file on my iPhone co-opted from another themed list of to-dos. To be fair, I had learned to say a huevo from the downtown group of speakers I used to regularly hang with at a local dive bar during my earlier Mexico City fieldwork. Our group was propped up by a loose clique of friendly guys, and between them, they had plenty of macho things to say as we drank through a case of Indio beers. So it's interesting to consider that maybe I learned from them, in part, to talk like a guy. (Don't worry, there's more about me and this group of dedicated bar-goers in my forthcoming book, if you're interested! *grin*)
Today, my dirty cheat sheet is a mixture of words written in different handwriting into the pages of my small, black field notebook, and a Notes file on my iPhone co-opted from another themed list of to-dos. To be fair, I had learned to say a huevo from the downtown group of speakers I used to regularly hang with at a local dive bar during my earlier Mexico City fieldwork. Our group was propped up by a loose clique of friendly guys, and between them, they had plenty of macho things to say as we drank through a case of Indio beers. So it's interesting to consider that maybe I learned from them, in part, to talk like a guy. (Don't worry, there's more about me and this group of dedicated bar-goers in my forthcoming book, if you're interested! *grin*)
When I said a huevo this time in Oaxaca City, it was now 5 years later, and I was seated with a small group of lively, trendy Oaxacans, and a few American researchers. In that moment, I knew I was taking a slight risk, but I wanted to participate--stay silent too long in the local language, and people begin to lose faith that you can follow the fast-flowing conversation. So when someone in our party successfully downed a hefty serving of the strong alcoholic mezcal, I festively blurted something like "To the balls!" And we had a good, hearty laugh. Funny thing is, I've never had that phrase translated to me in English, but it was always chased by a lot of vulgar Swahili from the guys in our dive bar clan who would chant "dume, dume" (male, male), so that's how I've come up with my English interpretation. Let me know if you have a better translation!
Anyhow, folks sitting around the table this summer were surprised by my sudden turn of phrase--so surprised, in fact, that their jaws were agape. The next things to immediately come out of their mouths in Spanish were a mixture of "where did you learn that," "who taught you that," and "look at her go!" Meanwhile, the Americans at the table traded puzzled looks. They would soon catch up. On my side, I was thrilled both to learn that the phrase still carried motility, but also that its use signaled that I could hold my own.
In an important way, using this culturally appropriate and daring phrase was helping to prop up my identity as a Spanish-speaker. Now our Oaxacan friends were offering to teach me a few more unsolicited, dirty phrases. I copiously added these to my cheat sheet during their impromptu lesson (an observation that really had these speakers cracking up with laughter). They egged me on, and eventually I told one of my informal instructors to fuck off: "Vete a la chingada," I said, practicing the phrase, but also using it as a playful dig. We had a good laugh with that one!
Anyhow, folks sitting around the table this summer were surprised by my sudden turn of phrase--so surprised, in fact, that their jaws were agape. The next things to immediately come out of their mouths in Spanish were a mixture of "where did you learn that," "who taught you that," and "look at her go!" Meanwhile, the Americans at the table traded puzzled looks. They would soon catch up. On my side, I was thrilled both to learn that the phrase still carried motility, but also that its use signaled that I could hold my own.
In an important way, using this culturally appropriate and daring phrase was helping to prop up my identity as a Spanish-speaker. Now our Oaxacan friends were offering to teach me a few more unsolicited, dirty phrases. I copiously added these to my cheat sheet during their impromptu lesson (an observation that really had these speakers cracking up with laughter). They egged me on, and eventually I told one of my informal instructors to fuck off: "Vete a la chingada," I said, practicing the phrase, but also using it as a playful dig. We had a good laugh with that one!
A Brief List of Dirty Words, or A Guide to Cursing in Spanish
I now share with you the collection of idioms and taboo insults I've recently collected. I hope these will help prepare you for your next trip to Mexico. Beware though--too many ill-timed uses of chingada (hell) or pinche cabrón (fucking asshole) depending on the community you're in, and you might find yourself contending with someone's fists.
- Hijo de tu pinche madre = son of a bitch
- Parió tú = No manches (You've got to be kidding)
- Vergita = "little dick" (term of endearment between women)
- Me lo voy a fajar = I'm going to fondle it
- ¿Te calló veinte? = You get it?
- Metetelo por el culo = Go shove it up your ass
- Que pedo = que pasó (What's up?)
- Es su pedo = es su problema (It's your problem)
- Pajaritos = bolas (balls, testicles)
- Palomitas = opposite of pajarito
- ¡Hasta la madre! = ¡Hasta acá! (I've had it up to here!)
- Ponte trucha, Ponte pilas = Ponte atención (Liven up! Pay attention!)
- Cachondo = sexy, fetching
So, next time, consider that when a learner asks how to say "F*ck Off" in the target language, they're probably not asking so they can later insult you, but more likely it's because they want join in on the fun! Expletives, idioms, and taboo insults are just as much a part of survival vocabulary as anything else.
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