The Language of Rioting

The BBC has an interesting piece covering the language of riots...language driven by social media, social underclasses, and mayhem.

BBC article online

From shot 29-year-old Mark Duggan referring to the police as "feds" to the nuanced use of the word "community", the language of the riots and the response can tell us something.

It may have been England that was shaken by violence, looting and disorder.

But many of the terms used by its perpetrators came from a very different place altogether - and, due to coverage of the rioting, they have found a wider audience than ever before.

"If you see a fed... SHOOT!" read one message circulated on BlackBerry Messenger, imploring readers to riot.

Another, widely reported in the aftermath of the chaos, urged everyone to "up and roll to Tottenham [expletive] the 5-0". There were myriad references as well to the "po po".

"When kids talk about the feds, it's obvious that they're not talking about the FBI," she says. "They know that's not how things work over here. It's like a code - politicians and the media don't understand."

She highlights home-grown phrases like "bully van", meaning police van, and "shank", meaning knife, as evidence that UK street culture is not just passively replicating the language of the US inner cities.

Indeed, Jonathon Green, author of the Chambers Slang Dictionary, points out that many of the messages which circulated during the riots included non-US phrases.

These included exhortations to defend one's "yard" - used in its Jamaican-derived sense, meaning home - or one's "end", a home-grown term referring to an area of a city.

more at the article link above

Chimp Gestures

My, my, turns out chimps will use up to 66 different gestures to communicate with each other. I've been able to get away with maybe three or four to cover all scenarios.

From the BBC

Wild chimpanzees use at least 66 distinct gestures to communicate with each other, according to scientists.

A team of researchers from the University of St Andrews in Scotland filmed a group of the animals in order to decipher this "gestural repertoire".

The team then studied 120 hours of footage of the chimps interacting, looking for signs that the animals were intentionally signalling to each other.

The findings are published in the journal Animal Cognition.

Previous studies on captive chimps have suggested the animals have about 30 different gestures.

"So this [result] shows quite a large repertoire," lead researcher Dr Catherine Hobaiter told BBC News.

"We think people previously were only seeing fractions of this, because when you study the animals in captivity you don't see all their behaviour.

"You wouldn't see them hunting for monkeys, taking females away on 'courtships', or encountering neighbouring groups of chimpanzees."

Dr Hobaiter spent 266 days observing and filming a group of chimpanzees in Budongo Conservation Field Station, Uganda.

more of the story at the link above

Impressive. Mexico City residents - also known as Chilangos - have a good repertoire of gestures at their disposal as well, most often seen while driving. Here are some of the more common ones.

Thank you.



Sometimes seen while driving though it is rare to thank someone for doing something nice. Usually you are being cut off or cursed for something you did to someone else.

Gimme a second.



This doesn't refer to a male member - oh I've seen some foreign guys put off when a Mexican woman did this to them on the dance floor. Need a second before responding to someone's request? Show them the little inch.

That's it, that's it, that's it!



Trying to remember something but can't then someone says it? That's it! Extend your index finger and wag it like scratching an itch.

Sexism in Spanish Language - Mexico

From the BBC

Mexico's interior ministry has published a guide on how to reduce the use of sexist language in a nation renowned for its machismo.

The Manual for the Non-sexist Use of Language is being distributed to government offices across Mexico.

It seeks to reduce comments that enforce gender stereotypes, as well as the default use of the masculine form in the Spanish language.

The manual was written by a body that tackles violence against women.

In its introduction, the manual describes itself as "a tool to familiarize federal public workers with the use of non-sexist strategies in the Spanish language".

It discourages the use of phrases such as: "If you want to work, why did you have children," and: "You are prettier when you keep quiet".

Interesting indeed. Mexico is quite the macho country, in language, attitude, the home, and everywhere else though I've always experienced it here as a two-sided coin with good and bad. Mexico City is not nearly as macho as the countryside can be what with a fairly liberal and modern mindset in its populace. I am curious as to how to eliminate the default use of the masculine though as I know of no neutral form for some words, such as sibling or parent (hermano/a and padres/papas).

When Si Means No

Navigating a new language in a country not your own is difficult to say the least. Sorting out a new culture along with the language can be frustrating. What do you do when you arrange to meet someone at 4:00 PM let's say and they show up at 4:30 or 5:00, as if there was no difference?

Welcome to Mexico!

We're having a good discussion about the ins and outs of communicating and language in Mexico, trying to sort out the subtle signs that indicate a cultural difference, over at the ESL Cafe.

I wrote:

One of things I think is difficult to get used to arriving in Mexico for the first time is the cultural cues in communication that tell you what a person is really telling you. Little things like ahorita to tell you to wait awhile (or dismiss you) or how to schedule a meeting when time is flexible.

So what are the cues - verbal and non-verbal - that tell you what to expect?

In a job context, I can think of some English phrases we use to be polite, or to dismiss someone 'nicely'.

Q. Hey boss, how about a raise this year?
A. Let me get back to you on that or I'll look into it

After 10 years here, I still don't have it all down to the science of Mexican, though I can spot a lot of hidden meaning. Ideas?

EP responds:

I think I'm at the point (after nearly 6 years here) where I accept the way things are done here, and even do those things myself. I may not like certain things (like lateness or that annoying signal for 'wait a second') but I don't get offended anymore. Time is not used in a productive way in Mexico, and probably never will be.

fieldsofbarley adds:

Yes, I was thinking about this the other day. When I first arrived the "si-no" issue pissed me off big time, as well as the lack of formality (you make arrangements to meet with someone, then they cancel at short notice).

Mexican Spanish is full of "subtleties" like these. I´ve also noticed the way people start asking questions: "no tendria...?" (wouldn´t you have...) or "le molesto con..." (I bother you with...). It´s as if they anticipate a negative answer and they try to mitigate the psychological effects of a "no".

Strange...

Unifying Spanish Writing

The directors of 22 Spanish language academies from around the Spanish-speaking world have met in Guadalajara, Mexico to discuss changes to the language with some points on writing.

Precisó que se determinó eliminar los acentos en las palabras “solo”, “este”, “ese” y “aquel”, porque no existe una diferencia fonética, por ejemplo, entre el adverbio “solo” y el adjetivo “solo”, y consideró que la diferencia de significado puede definirse perfectamente en el contexto del texto.

“Pero si en algún país, alguien dice, a mí me gusta, yo necesito acentuar estas palabras, ¡pues hágalo, no hay problema!”, dijo Moreno de Alba, quien insistió en que la ortografía razonada de la lengua española —cuya publicación estará disponible en México y España en diciembre— es la propuesta que los académicos de la lengua hacen para unificar el uso del español en los países hispanohablantes, y no un tratado de prohibiciones.

Removing the need for a few accent marks here and there will save me some trouble when writing.

The directors have come to the idea that the language needs a bit of modernization and some type of standard between countries, but was careful to indicate that countries should be free to choose their forms to maintain unique traditions.

Now, if someone can help me find the enye on my US standard keyboard, I'd be feliz.

Raising the Kids to be Bilingual

You might think that a pair of Canadians raising a child in Mexico means the achieving bilingualism is automatic - taken for granted. That was my thinking when we chose to have a baby. After 14 months, it's proving to be more work than I thought, but not an impossible challenge.

We speak mostly English in the home with Stella, though reading time is a mix of both as we've collected an enormous library of children's books written in both English and Spanish. I've been using select programming from Nick Jr, a channel carried on Sky (Mexican satellite tv provider). Dora la Exploradora and a few other programs that are 90% Spanish. We also have a nanny that watches Stella when both mom and dad are at work (about 40% of the year) and she speaks 100% Spanish. So, it looks like we have all the right tools in place.

Stella is not talking yet...a few words here in there, and lots of ba-ba-babble. I'm told that kids raised in a bilingual environment will normally take a bit longer to start speaking so no worries as yet. What I'm most impressed with is her ability to understand either language.

Whether it's Spanish or English -though mostly English - Stella demonstrates a very understanding of what's said to her. "Please bring daddy the ball" is answered quickly by her looking for the ball (among a mountain of toys) and bringing it to daddy. Using some Spanish like "donde esta la pelota?" is producing the same result.

It will be interesting to see what her first phrases are, beyond the yes/no, hi/bye, mama/papa words she's already using. I am hoping it won't be something like:

"Papa, here's the pelota. Donde esta my bottle of leche?"

But even if it is, I'll still be happy.