Dateline: A random street in Tehuacán, Puebla
Who needs comedy writers? Life often provides plenty of comedy on its own, especially when foreign languages come into the mix.
While Asia is famous for strange, often hysterical, English-like slogans on T-shirts, sweatshirts, menus and more, Mexico, it would seem, is determined not to be left behind. As in Asia, in Mexico a smattering of English can often add an elegant, worldly touch to the normally mundane. Or sometimes not, if you actually understand English.
Oftentimes, the results are hilarious. I snapped the photo below while walking down the street in Tehuacán. I wonder if his girlfriend knows what his T-shirt means? Hopefully she has already enlisted him for wash day. Or maybe he’s just a random laundry mercenary, with no real loyalties. Who knows? I didn’t dare ask. All that washing seems to have left him with a pretty well-developed upper body. And you can never count on a stranger to share your sense of humor. Especially if he’s wearing it.
Mommy Dearest’s Mexican Love Child
In the early days of my Mexican Adventures, circa 2005, there was a brand of casual fashion clothing for young men called “Milk Fashion.” That one was pretty funny too. I used to have a photo of the entire logo, but the below will have to do.
Milky doesn’t describe too many Mexican complexions
And the only thing funnier than bad use of English by Mexicans? Why, it’s terrible translations of English into “Spanish” by Gringos, of course. It’s for different purposes, but the results are often hilarious. But that may have to await another post.
Finally, the photo below isn’t exactly a misuse of English, but I found it amusing nonetheless. Found in a hotel shower in Mexico City. And no. I’m not going to write about shampoo bottles. I’ll leave such humor to Steve Cotton.
Dial “H” for Hot
Have you seen any funny uses of English in Mexico? Please comment!
Saludos for now!
Not all, but most of the Mexicans I know will always say, “I will borrow you a computer cord” when they really mean, “I will loan you a computer cord”. LOL
And, in my case, no matter how many times I have told my Mexican friends the correct way to say this, they always revert back to the incorrect way. :o)
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Hola Cat!
In Spanish the same word is used for both borrowing and lending. So it’s a tough leap for a Spanish speaker to make to use the correct words in English. This is somewhat akin to our difficulties using “ser” and “estar” (which have an even more subtle difference than “borrow” and “lend”) correctly. And apparently Spanish isn’t the only language with this usage, as my Danish parents both used to have trouble with borrow and lend.
Saludos and thanks for stopping by!
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Like you, I’ve seen serious matrons with sparkly tees that say something like “Hot Mama”. For a moment I’ve thought of explaining the meaning to them, but then I said…nah.
What I find fascinating is how many Mexicans curse and criticize the U.S. but can’t resist wearing American tee-shirts, some with the American flag, and giving their kids American names. One of Felix’ kids is named Edgar and the youngest girl Jessica. With so many beautiful Spanish names (like Alfredo Santiago!) I don’t know why they’d resort to American names. The best compromise might be to give the kids ambivalent names such as Gabriel, Daniel or Isabel, which work in both languages.
Onwards!
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Hola Al! Yes, until Nancy mentioned it, I had totally forgotten the matrons wearing the “hot mama” T-shirts. And yes, Mexicans definitely have a love-hate relationship with the USA. In terms of names, I find the variety of names SOB to be quite refreshing. Sure, you run into the odd Edgar or Kevin, but there are a ton of interesting names like Thiago, or Eugenio, or Antonio. Thanks for commenting. Saludos!
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From the ‘leggings’ display at the local LaComer in San Miguel de Allende . . .
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Hola Ray!
Haha… that one got me to laugh out loud. She looks great, but don’t look at the portrait in her attic!
Saludos and thanks for the funny comment!
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The shower shot, of course, caught my attention. And I will bet the red bell delivers cold water and the blue bell (there is a joke embedded in that combination somewhere) hot. That combination has cousins in many a Mexican bathroom.
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Hola Steve! The water temperature was correct, though the bell icon left me puzzled. But yes, I’ve experienced bathrooms around Mexico where the hot and cold were hopelessly mixed up. So no comments relating to shampoo bottles? 😉 Saludos and thanks for stopping by.
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I’ve seen lots of Mexican grannies wearing shirts saying in English “hot and sexy” or something like that – once even a really rude word I won’t even type. And about Hollister, I believe a lot of overstock type clothing gets sent to Mexico as well as badly made “seconds.”
Another funny thing I have noticed is that Mexicans love rap music in English but who-ee, some of it is just full of ugly sexual references and foul language… and often played without concern in normal restaurants or clothing stores. Sometimes I ask “do you know what that song is saying?” and tell them it’s really bad but usually just get a shrug.
Hope you get to Mexico soon, amigo.
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Hola Nancy!
Your comments made me chuckle, especially the Mexican grannies as I actually think I’ve seen such things myself. And the rap, oh yeah, funny. But the words aren’t any worse than the average narcocorrido. And yes, I’m dying to get back SOB. I’ve actually been thinking about when I began reading your blog how you and Paul were clearing out your house in Washington. I’m now in the middle of the same with my mother. What a tiresome process!!! So I can hardly wait to be done. Saludos and thanks for stopping by!
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I’ve seen many people who have absolutely no idea of what they’re advertising with their T-shirts, like a man contently displaying one with the legend “Pregnant” or something similar… I can’t remember a specific example, but somehow your post made me remember a Tweet thread I just read yesterday. It all started with a tweet from the Mexican ex-president Vicente Fox, who is now proposing that the production of opium poppy (Sp. amapola) be legalized in Mexico. Many people called him names and asked him to go home and continue enjoying his joint, others criticized his poor performance in office. Both Vicente’s tweet and the ensuing comments were all in Spanish, but then surprisingly some foreign woman tweeted “English, please”, and an ingenious guy quickly replied: “legaliseishon amapoleishon” and sent me right to the floor bursting into laughter. “Hahahaha, you’re so mean, you went too far”, retorted another woman in Spanish, and this guy justified himself with “Que aprenda español, que no mame” (She should learn Spanish, the fucker!).
What the guy did is a very common joke in Mexico — when you don’t know English, you just add “shon” to every word and that way you can pretend you can communicate in English. Saludos!!!!
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Hola Tino! Wow, that’s hysterical! And I learned something new (like I do from just about all of your comments, haha). I never knew the thing about adding “-shon” to words to fake English. But it makes sense, kind of like Americans add “-o” to make things Spanish. Kind of like “no problemo,” which personally drives me nuts. Saludos and thanks for stopping by!
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What does the word “Hollister” mean, a word so often seen on Mexican sweatshirts, etc?
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Hola Don Cuevas!
Hollister is an American brand of clothing aimed at teens with a focus on a surfing lifestyle. It’s run by the same people as Abercrombie and Fitch, and is aimed at a lower price point generally. Now what’s funny about the name is that Hollister is a town about 50 miles south of San José, California that’s about 35 miles from the ocean, and famous more for earthquakes than for surf. I hope this clears things up. Saludos and thanks for stopping by!
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Hollister was a store very popular in Canada about 10 or 15 years ago. They apparently only sold size small or medium and not large.
The sales staff had a very strict code of what they could look like. No tats, very preppy look.
Now no one here “would be be caught dead wearing Hollister or A&F.” Maybe all their unsold stock went to Mexico?
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Hey Cathie!
I think a lot of Hollister product in Mexico is actually pirated, though undoubtedly a lot has also come from the USA either as gifts or from people shopping stateside. Thanks for your comment; future ones (using the same data) will go through unmoderated. Saludos!
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In Mex. now? with your mom?
p
>
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Hola Penny! I’m still in Redding. Probably be back in Boston before Mexico. Saludos and thanks for stopping by!
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If you’re not in Mexico, what gives with the Puebla “dateline”? Inquiring minds wanna know. Like Penny, and about anyone else who reads it, I thought you were in Mexico.
And I don’t get the humor with the shower handles’ markings. Clearly, red is hot and blue is cold. Why the bell emblems is anyone’s guess.
That you’re still in Redding, well, condolences, amigo.
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Hola Felipe! The dateline is from where I shot the “Laundry Army” shirt. And the shower handle humor is the bell symbols. Looks like the plumber might have been moonlighting at TelMex. Or maybe he was a TelMex guy moonlighting as a plumber. In any case, I though the bell stickers were funny. Saludos and thanks for commenting.
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