Language

The other day, my aunt Carmen sent me a message telling me that i should blog about her favorite story about me from when we lived in Matamoros; i only really know it from hearing her tell it.

I would be about five years old and the nurses that were providing immunizations had set up at the mercado Trevino Zapata, where my mom and aunt had their store. So, mom takes me to the nurses to get my shot, but i was having none of that; so, i took off running and screamed: "no me piquen, viejas putas!"

That's the story. I don't know how cute it is, but i tell it here to illustrate a point about language: literally translated what i screamed at the nurses means: "don't stick me, old whores"; but, translating for a parallel intent in english it would be more like: "don't stick me you slutty bitches". Of course, i'm not talking about my intent, but the intent of the men i learned these disrespectful words from. I hung around this market a lot while my mom was working; there were and still are vendors of all types there, and back then, apparently, plenty of young and middle aged men who worked there or just hung out, who weren't exactly Rhode Scholars; i was their go-fer, mostly buying cigarettes for them.

Actually, "vieja" means old woman and is used like "my old lady" in english; but, "vieja", used with the right tone--well, you might as well say "bitch". "Puta", no matter how you says it, always means the same thing. And here's some layman's anthropology to go with that spanish lesson: Mexican men, of a certain class, when faced with women who have hurt them, or feel threatened by them will not only label them as a "bitch", but question their chasteness; and these are the guys i'm learning spanish from at age five. What should be impressive, though,
is that, at that age, i spotted a woman who was about to cause me pain, and chauvinistic and rude as it was, i got the terminology
correct.

In the end, i was caught and given my shot, which should be punishment enough; although, i did get a parting shot of my own, at the nurse: vieja puta! My mother said that when we moved to Burkburnett, i stopped using those words.