Jugando al arremedo.

Depending on your usage and the context of the situation, this Mexi-Vocabulario word could very well be either an insult or a compliment.  They do say por ahí that imitation is the best form of flattery.  Pero bueno, let’s speak sin pelos en la lengua today… sometimes regardless of how “innocently” a person may emulate you or your behavior, there’s no other way to classify their actions than as completely offensive.

It’s one thing to laugh with me.  It’s another thing completely to laugh at me.

Hacerme burla.  

Or put more simply, que me estes arremedando is highly rage-provoking.

The Urban Dictionary has no definition for this word readily available, and some debate has been made about whether the appropriate Spanish word is arremedar or only remedar.  Most sources recognize only the latter, but the Real Academia Española lists both in their directory of recognized Spanish-language words.  We grew up with arremedar and that’s why I prefer that version.

Still, today, when something very specific made me start thinking about words like plagiarism, copycat, imitation, I couldn’t help but circle around to the act of arremedo.  It kind of summed up what I was trying to say.

It doesn’t hurt that it was also a great new word for us to discuss together.

Thanks for the inspiration universo! 

You know those moments when you’re left with your mouth open?  When somebody tells you something so shocking you just can’t help but stand or sit there unable to utter a single word for a couple of moments?  Or when the chisme is so good que empiezas a mover la cabeza from left to right, then eventually your hands start fluttering back and forth as the chisme gets better and better, as if in some way your body is physically reacting to the juiciness of what you are actually hearing.

In those instances you might find yourself uttering these three words… 

¡Ave María Purísima! 

If you do, whether you’re fluent in Spanish or not, don’t fret!  It’s sort of like you’re saying Oh My God! in English.  Well it is actually, only that you’d be invoking the Virgin Mary’s name instead of Jesús’.  Think of it as a great substitute for OMG!  That three letter acronym is kind of overrated anyway if you ask me.  ¡Ave María Purísima! is so much more dramatic and telenovela-esque.

That’s why I’d rather use it any day.

I tried looking up the phrase in the Urban Dictionary, ¡pero nada!  Mejor I’ll tell you about how my momma used to use the word in her own vocabulary.

When someone told her some really bad news.

When someone told her some really sad news.

When someone told her something really scary.

When we did something extremely awful as a travesura.  

When someone told her something extremely exciting.

When she was extremely proud or happy.

Basically, anytime the phrase could be used to accentuate her message, in whatever context.  As with most of our Mexi-Vocabulario words and phrases, this one can also be used quite varyingly at your discretion.

¡Ave María Purísima! 

Crazy.

A little bit off.

Silly.

Goofy, even.

Just not exactly how they are “supposed” to be acting. That’s usually what it means when someone says chisquiado or chisquiada. The word itself, chisquear can be interpreted to mean to confuse or amuse others. So you know when someone is speaking to you and they utter a complete sentence, but the words are all backwards. You nod in agreement at first, but then when your mind tries to process the sentence you just heard, it says “hold on, that’s off!”

You usually muster up something like, “huh?” And the other person then either looks at you bewildered at why you did not comprehend them (usually because they have no idea how they said what they said), or they laugh and apologize for their confusing wording. It’s one of those things that happens to all of us. If caught in the right tone and spontaneity it can be pretty hilarious too.

That’s when the word chisqueado comes in. ¡Estás bien chisqueado!

Or at least it does in our case. I think that’s one of Anjelica’s favorite words actually.

¡Ukela chistosa!

¡Ukela! ¿No que no?

¡Ukela!

Believe it or not, each one of these expressions carries its own weight when it comes to defining the word ukela. Yes, you’re right, if you’re thinking it sounds a lot like the word ukulele. At least it’s spelled very similarly. But ukela is more a PG-version of saying words like chingao, or even ¡cheet!

The latter, of course, is one of my absolute favorites.

Never mind that along the road to improving my own Spanish I learned cheet is one of those words many would refer to as an anglicism. If you’re not familiar, a word or phrase borrowed from English into a foreign language. Think words like troca, parqueadero and washateria. All words that are a hybrid between English and Spanish.

I think those words are my favorite because they come to be naturally. They’re not imposed on us as part of our accepted vernacular. Instead, they become a part of popular vernacular because we exercise their usage more often than maybe we should. They’re organic, if you will.

And, well, for me, I’ve always found them more fun.

So in summary, but not really… ukela is that word you use when things just aren’t going your way. When you want to say so much more, but remember “less is more.” When you’re just about to get mad and then decide to just laugh instead.

¡Ukela! ¡No te digo! 

This picture is pretty gratuitous, I’ll admit… but it very well might make you say ¡ukela!

It’s no secret that learning bad words in another language is WAY MORE fun than actually learning proper usage. It just kind of comes more naturally, ¿apoco no? That’s also kind of why we started our Mexi-Vocabulario series a while back. We need to pick that series back up… speaking of that. Pero anyway, the point is according to folks from the movie The Hateful Eight, even the stellar cast of this film couldn’t resist learning a few choice words en español… courtesy of Mexican actor Demián Bichir.

He plays the character “Bob The Mexican” in the movie.

The cast picked up a whole bunch more words than the ones below, but these kind of give you a good idea of the fun that was had behind the making of The Hateful Eight. What’s your go-to palabra mala en español?   

Literally, as in: Don’t Stain.

But that doesn’t make any sense, of course.

Instead let’s think about this word in the practical form.

When you make somebody mad because your bad decision is affecting them, they might tell you: ¡No Manches! 

When you’re lying and pretty much everyone knows you’re lying. ¡No Manches! 

When you take advantage of another for whatever reason. ¡No Manches! 

Yup, it’s not a very positive phrase you want to be addressed to you very often, if at all.

According to our friends at the Urban Dictionary, there are three Mexican idioms that fit the bill for the definition of this word: 1) Stop kidding around. 2) Don’t jerk my chain. 3) No way or whatever.

I’d say it can also have some pretty aggressive and much uglier meanings in Spanish, but I’ll let you figure out what those are on your own.

Have you ever used this word?

What was your interpretation of it if you have?

Get more Mexi-Vocabulario!