The Mexican art of double entendre | Hacker News Reader

The Mexican art of double entendre

bbc.com

38 pointsMiriamWeiner47 comments

What she describes at the start is really common when you speak a new language. Some examples I know of:

An immigrant invited his entire church to have dinner at his home so they could "all be in a family way together," not realizing this is a euphemism for pregnancy.

In both German and French, douche means shower. In English, it is a word used for cleaning female genitals, often with some medicinal purpose. I have known a German woman who couldn't understand how a vinegar and water douche was supposed to help with her vaginal yeast infection. She also wanted the doctor to explain how you get your shower to put out a mix of vinegar and water.

A tiny little French teacher of mine did a year of study in Paris. At some big dinner as everyone passed around one course after another, she reached a point where she was too full to eat another bite. She translated "I'm full" into French (Je sui pleine) and all conversation at the table came to a dead halt as this is a very vulgar expression for pregnancy along the lines of "I'm knocked up." Then they realized it was a weird Americanism and moved on.

>> (Je sui pleine) and all conversation at the table came to a dead halt as this is a very vulgar expression for pregnancy along the lines of "I'm knocked up." Then they realized it was a weird Americanism and moved on.

Wut ? In which century ?

> A tiny little French teacher of mine did a year of study in Paris.

France

In which century ?

Mid to late Twentieth Century. I was told it was the sort of thing you didn't even use for talking about human pregnancy. It was typically used to talk about animals, hence why it was so shocking.

Yeah its true indeed for cats. Weird cause i cause i could see a girl say that also to actually say shes full.

Nevermind fun anecdote anyway

I've said so in another thread a few weeks ago, but as a french, if I hear a woman say she's "pleine", I'd take it as her saying she's drunk.

This means "I'm full" in Quebec.

> In both German and French, douche means shower.

In German, I have seen the word "Dusche" used for shower. Rarely, have I seen "Douche" been used.

It is basically pronounced the same, or at least close enough for a German acquaintance to have the described misunderstanding with her doctor. I was trying to keep things succinct and not have to go on some long tangent about the different spellings in different languages.

But you are correct. It is actually spelled different in German than in French or English.

Very similar in spanish: ducha.

More problematic are several terms from legal language that mean a different thing for spanish speakers

The English and French version are pronounced like doosh. The German version is pronounced more like doosha. Final e in German is not silent. It is a schwa sound. It looks like Spanish would be closer to the German pronunciation.

English is particularly infamous for such situations. Most notably, 'butt dial' and 'booty call' being literal synonymous in terms of individual words.

My (German immigrant) mother wanted to redecorate her dining room and bought feminine napkins because those sounded really pretty and like exactly the sort of thing she would want on her dining table to pretty it up for when she had company.

Yeah, no. She had a rude awakening when she got it home and opened the package.

As a child, I remember asking my mother not to buy feminine napkins, because I didn't want to wipe my mouth with flowery ones anymore.

An entire essay and, aside from the opening but about chili, not a single example of this “art form.” It’s like having an essay about Picasso without even one picture

I have read a few articles recently on BBC.com where I've felt, well, puzzled over which site I'm on.

It seems they are using more freelance writers and writing more of this kind of content (dare I say content marketing). Googling this writer shows she's done a lot elsewhere.

The type of writing in this article is lacking. It feels like trying to reach a word count, lacks depth and more importantly the local flavour of reporting there is in, for example, the excellent 'From our own correspondent' series.

Ooo... I think we have a BBC bot. The submitter 'MiriamWeiner' only submits from BBC.com and does so about once a day. Never comments.

Very irregular pattern for a human, although perhaps not for a happy license-fee payer.

People have many usage patterns. I prefer commenting rather than submitting, some people just lurk, others might submit without commenting. It wouldn't surprise me if there were people who just lurks and upvotes because downvoting requires participation.

I lurked for four years before I finally wanted to submit something and bothered to make an account, then I started to really enjoy it. Patterns are not only varied, but changeable. I wouldn’t assume that someone was a bot either, maybe submitting one article a day is their way of giving back to a community they appreciate.

It appears to take weekends off. Bad bot.

`From our own correspondent` is absolutely superb - and a perfect antidote to clickbait and shallow, substanceless journalism. Real stories with real depth, told masterfully and sensitively - definitely worth tuning in for.

From Our Own Correspondent is excellent. I'm not sure if it's geo-blocked or not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsng

We Mexicans like to brag about how creative and artful is the Mexican albur, but when really examined it is extremely juvenile and dumb. And most of the time it all comes to tricking another man into accepting a submissive role in homosexual intercourse.

Btw, are you going to Queretaro?

My experience is that Mexicans do have many words and phrases for sexual references, with a goodly number involving foods. But I haven't experienced, or remember seeing, it using to make a joke of foreigners. That would be more like being mean to someone who can't be expected to understand than being funny among friends..

... which describes accurately nearly every minute of my fours years as an undergraduate (in the US).

Seriously, how could they have missed these gems?

    La Esposa - wife
    Las Esposas - handcuffs

    Cazar - to hunt
    Casar - to marry

I can give you a couple of examples, but be advised they are really childish, the kind of humor you could find around teenagers.

1. "A la larga te acostumbras"

Translates to:"You'll get used to it in the long term"

Hidden message: "You'll get used to the penis"

Explanation: "A la larga" could mean "in the long term" but also "the long one"

2. Someone requests: "Pasame el saco" = "Reach me the coat"

The other person not finding a coat will ask "¿Cual saco?" = "What coat?" Then the first person would say "Esta"="This one" pointing at his penis.

Explanation: "¿Cual saco?" Means "what coat?" But it also could mean. "Wich one should I take out?"

I hope I was clear, and sorry for the childish expressions.

see? now these are actually funny! Both would've been a very nice addition to the essay. Thanks for sharing.

This article is awful. Yes, Mexicans do something that every single other country does as well. I feel like this guy is trying to justify his expenses paid trip to Mexico.

I picked that one in the article:

> The origins of albur are as hard to pin down as the quick tongues of its users.

I'd be hard-pressed to remember an adult in the States giggling over whether someone liked cucumber or not.

But, having the same experiences as the author, it's a pretty common sight here in Mexico. The old woman taking my order at the taco stand asking if I like chilis and then trying to stifle her giggling.

Te gusta el chile ?

I think this is common in all languages. I was in Japan during New Years in 2000. A comedian named Shimura Ken was hosting a show and used the phrase “seiki wo mataide” during his introduction, which means to cross over into the new millennium. It also means to step over a sex organ. He emphasized the sexual meaning by making an arching motion over his crotch with his hands. Everyone in the audience laughed.

Pretty much describes the humor I encountered in high school. Everything was a penis.

I'm sure one can find similar examples in any or many language(s). Albures are indeed very common in México, and something quite rare here in the U.S. in my experience.

They're usually a way to have a little silly fun at someone's expense, of course, in front of an audience of at least one. For example one time two other friends form México and I were listening to an american friend tell us about all the fabulous mexican dishes that he had tried and liked very much. He sure knew his antojitos. So one of us asked him, "so, you like tostadas?" -yes, "tortas?" -yes, "enchiladas?" -Oh Yes, "de hoyo!?" -LOVE THEM! … everyone bursts out laughing. He just blushed and asked "I've been had right?" - Yawp.

I'm not seeing anything specially Mexican about this, before or after reading the article. I'm also amused with "The Mexican Art of [French phrase]".

This reminds me of the iPhone7 launch where the slogan ("This is 7") which was translated to "This is penis" in Cantonese.

https://qz.com/777628/the-slogan-for-apples-aapl-new-iphone-...

still no clue what it means to like mexican chilly in the joke context

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chile

Look at the Spanish section.

In Mexico pepper = 'chile' (in some other Latin American countries it's 'ají'). 'Chile' is also slang for penis. So if in Mexico they ask you if you like Mexican 'chile', there can be two different interpretations of the question.

Months ago, our current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, announced the capture of a corrupt governor that was on the run. When the governor was at large, people complained that he let him escape because they're from the same party. When the governor was captured, people complained that he was captured because elections were nearing.

Peña Nieto said to his detractors: "no hay chile que les embone" (there's no dick that fits you). Typical Mexican humor, juvenile but very concise.

How is that not the same for all languages?

It is.

It's a matter of culture whether you see it day to day though.

I see it frequently in Mexico but can't remember a time I witnessed it in person since recess in the States.

it is, lame article.Same for all spanish speaking countries. Double entendre is universal, like jokes, rhymes, limerick-like compositions, etc.

It depends on the context. Nobody tries to make jokes in all situations or with anybody. Tourism, salesperson and holidays have much more of that probably, but in other contexts or places is not so common, or not common at all. If you try to slip jokes about penises all the time in a conversation you will quickly be tagged as an idiot.

There are a lot of different ways of understand or express humour in spanish speaking countries. This is for example a very good example of "retranca". Really glorious if you understand spanish, and much more clever that it seems at first sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufigznlMrbw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rGecaVVlyU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufigznlMrbw

I'm Mexican and I've lived in USA & Quebec, speaking English and French and it's different because it's a constant combat, it's everyday with your friends and it's so tiring to be careful about that.

Even if double entendre is global, the Mexican variant is omnipresent and very homophobic.

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