Mexican Spanish has Many Nuances.

This contributor lived for some years in Mexico and Spain. Therefore I can communicate in Spanish. I want a beer, a meal a woman, I know the right words…I can even write a letter in the lingo (lingo - lengua, language).

But am I bilingual? Not on you Nelly, as my Cockney friends might say. No one becomes bilingual in Mexico - or anywhere - unless they move to the new land at a very young age. I began to speak Spanish when I was about 35 and only became proficient from my fifties on working as a journalist and columnist in Mexico.

Some have more ability than others to learn a foreign language…I suppose I was about average. You don’t really become proficient until you enjoy speaking in another tongue than the one you were born with. Some say you need to find yourself dreaming in the language. That hasn’t happened to me but I do find myself eating a lot of tacos in my dreams!

Take the word “chingar,” for example. On the surface of it the meaning is “f--k, or “to rape“” (I am sick of having hypocritical Mother Google refuse ads on my stories while they run all sorts of pornography as it suits them so I abbreviate the magic word, etc., these days).

Yet chingar has so many other uses and connotations in Mexican Spanish, far more than in English and more than in Spain.

The word “chingar” is a mainstay among the Mexican blue- collar class and, in one form or another, may form about a third of the conversation. It’s original usage is mired in the Colonial times when the Spanish Conquerors often raped Indian women; their men folk forced to stand and watch covered by hostile muskets. (No wonder many emerging nations hate cruel Europe).

The raped women became the “chingada.” In Mexico, it is common to alter the Spanish curse, “Hijo de puta,” (son of a whore) to “Hijo de la chingada,” (son of a raped woman). Much of machismo also stems from these days where men were forced to witness their wives forced by soldiers to submit, yet were unable to act. Machismo today has many males acting violently towards spouses thought to be sexually unfaithful. To allows this to go on dubs the male a coward.

The worst insult a male can deliver to another in Mexico is “chinga tu madre,” “Rape your mother.”

“Vete a la chingada” means “go to hell.”

A “chingadazo” is a heavy blow or punch.

“No me chingues” means “Don’t annoy me.”

If someone gets one up on him, a Mexican may say, “Me chingaron.”

To call someone a “Chingon,” is actually to praise them…because they have been clever enough to “chingar” others. Less used, an irritating person may be called a chingaquedito.”

The most common usage is the shortened version “ching…” with a long pause after it while the deliverer sorts out whatever has inspired the swear word.

Also to do with the machos propensity to treat the female as a lesser being is that everything bad is called “madre,” (mother).

“Nuestra Madre,” of course, or “Our Mother” is the Virgin Mary.

Yet “me vale madre” means I could care less.

“Desmadre” indicates a situation of chaos.

“Una Madre” is something not to be considered.

“…tu madre” is just “chinga tu madre abbreviated.

A “madrazo” is a heavy blow.

A “Madreador” is hired muscle.

To have “poco madre” is to be without shame.

These are several more, yet the “Padre” or father, receives much less linguistic attention.

“Muy padre” is something very good but the padre is generally kept out of illusory language.

Mexicans are so adept at the double entendre and verbally jousting with one another is a great pastime in Mexico. The Gringo soon gets lost in the labyrinthine twists and changes of this language, a combination of Spanish, Indian dialects, French and even English. To have the last word is considered de rigueur and it will never be you, you will end up with “huevos“ in your face!

This isn’t much of a hub, just to keep my hand in. I find it hard to sustain interest in writing on hub pages and see many others also dropping out. A workman may be worth his hire, but not here.