BajaNomad

Chilango according to the DRAE.

fdt - 3-7-2005 at 05:11 PM

One time in La Paz I was told that people from Tijuana are Chilango Light

JESSE - 3-7-2005 at 05:21 PM

Maybe we should rent an island for all the chilangos, french, argentinians, and gringos to go on vacation.

Bruce R Leech - 3-7-2005 at 05:30 PM

I think it may be the equivalent of gringo but not P-nche gringo. I have many Friends in and from Mexico city. and they use the term all the time. they refer to theme selves as Chilangos.

Braulio - 3-7-2005 at 06:01 PM

Careful Jesse - according to the DRAE you're a chilango.

fdt - When I've heard the expression "chilango light" I've always figured it refered to offspring of chilangos that lived somewhere other than the DF -folks with the same mentality but just not quite as harsh.

Bruce - yeah - context is everything - even "P-nche gringo" can be used affectionately. That's why dictionaries are useless past a point.

Bruce R Leech - 3-7-2005 at 06:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Braulio
Careful Jesse - according to the DRAE you're a chilango.

fdt - When I've heard the expression "chilango light" I've always figured it refered to offspring of chilangos that lived somewhere other than the DF -folks with the same mentality but just not quite as harsh.

Bruce - yeah - context is everything - even "P-nche gringo" can be used affectionately. That's why dictionaries are useless past a point.


do you think it relates to mentality or geographic location?

Braulio - 3-7-2005 at 06:38 PM

Both Bruce - and I don't mean to be evasive. And it can be either perjorative, humorous, or just plain matter of fact.

Context is everything.

I think I mostly use it to describe a type of mentality or maybe customs (esp. linguistic) - but I've heard it used in many ways to define something about folks from Mexico City.

JESSE - 3-7-2005 at 08:31 PM

Its an attitude

bajalera - 4-5-2005 at 10:52 PM

Well at least chilango was there. My old [1970] Royal Academy dictionary goes right from chilanca to chilaquil [and that was certainly a surprise--I didn't know there was a singular of chilaquiles].

And incidentally, what do you Nomads who speak Spanish as a first language feel about dictionaries that put the Chs in with the Cs?

Lera

[Edited on 4-6-2005 by bajalera]

Braulio - 4-7-2005 at 09:54 AM

Lera -

I'm not a native spanish speaker but here's my 2 cents.

Ch, ll, and rr aren't really separate leters - they're called "d?grafos" (digraphs) - that is they're composites of 2 leters.

Most spanish dictionaries since the mid-90's don't alphabetize d?grafos as separate letters - that was something the Spanish Academy decided. I assume they made the decision to make digitalization easier and to keep things more in line with other european languages (esp the anglo keyboard).

Personally I think that the written accents will eventually go - most email I get in spanish does not include it anymore.

The "Academy" is something a lot of us like to beat up on - after all, a lot of indigenous people were beaten up for not speaking the royal spanish way (the sword and the cross and all that).

I think most people would agree the the DRAE and other academic dictionaries are really limited in their usefulness for anything but high falutin castilian - but personally I think that's the best place to start for folks that want to learn spanish.

For example - if you wanted to translate troublemaker - according to the DRAE you'd probably come up with something like "fabricante de l?os" - but on the street in Mexico you'd be a plain old "cabrona".

Anyway - that's my take - culero pomposo que soy.

Braulio - 4-7-2005 at 03:41 PM

Actually the drift has already begun. Take a look at the use (or lack) of accents of capital letters in spanish newspapers - especially online but copy also. The COPA AMERICA should be the COPA AM?RICA. According to the academy capital letters should be accented just like lower case.

I have a web site in spanish - most search engine registrations require that you not use accents for things like title and description - and in some cases key words. Same thing with smart cards in spanish - or filling out many forms over the internet. Ditto with proper names in forms.

I'd bet that if you took a survey of just keystrokes (not necessarily mass media - but including email) that most folks are not using accents - except maybe in cases where there would be an ambiquity.

But - yeah - time will tell. Maybe some techological things will happen to make them a little easier to work in.

Saludos man.

[Edited on 4-7-2005 by Braulio]

bajalera - 4-7-2005 at 08:06 PM

Thanks, Braulio, for all that interesting info. Bilingual dictionaries don't always have translations for words used in the 1700s, and sometimes the Academy dictionary is helpful on those. [And sometimes not.]

The idea of being just a plain old cabrona has no appeal at all. I wanna be a fancy one.

Lera

Martyman - 4-8-2005 at 01:23 PM

I just took a perjorative for my P-nche hemorhoids!

Braulio - 4-8-2005 at 04:38 PM

Nice contribution Mayateman.

I doubt that we disagree on much Lencho - I think the more spontaneous messages (IM,text on cellphone, foros, etc.) tend to use fewer written accents and more formal ones are likely to include them.

Yeah - originally publishers in spanish were using a form of ASCII from the US that didn't allow for accented capitals. But that was some time ago.

Chau.

JESSE - 4-8-2005 at 04:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Braulio
Nice contribution Mayateman.

I doubt that we disagree on much Lencho - I think the more spontaneous messages (IM,text on cellphone, foros, etc.) tend to use fewer written accents and more formal ones are likely to include them.

Yeah - originally publishers in spanish were using a form of ASCII from the US that didn't allow for accented capitals. But that was some time ago.

Chau.


Mayateman:lol:

Don Jorge - 5-11-2005 at 07:18 AM

Back in the early 80's a retired engineer from Mexico via Los Angeles opened a restaurant in San Antonio de las Minas. This was the first restaurant in an area which has since become very popular as a breakfast in the country for the Ensenada gente de razon.

Jorge's El Meson restaurant became very popular for his genuine salsas, home cooked meals and his fresh baked apple pies with cheese. However, he did not like chilangos and was terrible with people. He even put up a sign explaining his dislike of chilanagos.

Eventually and sadly, his wife died of cancer and after she was gone his workers sued him and won and took over the business which they still run, albeit with much more competition in the area.

My chilango business partner was thrilled when Mustafa built his restaraunt down the road. He refused to stop at El Meson, as did most chilangos.

I always wondered, apart from the merits of the workers case, if openly hating chilangos did not hurt his chances in a system so influenced by the people and politics of Mexico City.

My lesson learned: In Mexico, I may be a gringo, even may be a P-nche gringo, and they may be chilangos, but, in Mexico they are not P-nche chilangos.

Don Jorge

Baja Bernie - 5-14-2005 at 01:57 PM

Now, that, I really understand!