Name Calling
Well, I guess I will never find out where my father got the word "tarayata". He was always laughing when he said it, sort of like calling us "rascals" when we were rough-housing with him. He was not prone to name calling, and being from Mexico, he spoke proper Castilian as his people had. My mother, who spoke a strange old 17th century Spanish dialect from New Mexico (according to my Spanish friend), one that I no longer hear, was not laughing when she called me "tonta, suata, surumata, tisica, fea, chirisca, prieta, trige~na" all in one breath. I must have been a handful, and I think I am the only throw-back in the family to our dark-skinned, kinky-haired North African-Moorish ancestors. I'm surprised I didn't grow up with an inferiority complex due to being made fun of by the "gueros" in the family. I just used to think they were the stupid ones, the politically incorrect ones that when losing an argument, would voice their prejudices against something I had nothing to do with. I guess they thought they had one up on me. I was surprised that in Mexico they use such terms as "negritos, chinitos, morenitos, inditos" etc. You are right, Maria, they are very politically incorrect, when even their president betrays that aspect of their society. Emilie Garcia Port Orchard, WA.
|
