Prieto being an insult, is new to me. I tought the racial equivelent of the N-word in spanish was Mayate?
The way race is talked about and treated isn’t the same as in the USA. Just because you point out somebody’s skin color doesn’t mean you’re saying there is something inherently wrong with people. Yes we do have our racist people but for the general population calling somebody dark or black isn’t doing it as an insult.
This is your friendly neighborhood anthropologist saying:
Shut up Brownie!
You ever notice how in english the words that are meant to be used as derogatory tend be to really strong aggressive words? Notice how in spanish it is not so. Now imagine that any word could be used and just the same be expected to be used properly in an effort to point out a problem that needs to be addressed…Now come the word mayate. It is usually used to refer to black people in an aggressive manner, kinda like the n word, but that is more so because the word refers to a fruit beetle, those shiny green/black beetle things that fly around and fly into walls and shit. I dont’ feel this way personally but it is what I’ve gathered in my experiences with random cholos and the reactions I have gotten from random spanish sentences and words that black people around me didn’t seem to like much. Mexicans are very nuanced individuals, and as such, will speak in a general nuance that Mexicans should understand. They rarely cave in to any tradition other than their own so treating the word mayate like the n word would be incorrect. It’s more like saying “check out this motha fuckah, thinkin he knows something”. Then again, there is the informed population and the generally uninformed consumer type that is really just trying to finish the journey, so mayate could just be a well adjuncted word that they can use to insult someone without having to resort to the more common “insert_cuss_word_here negro”.
@Hecatom I see what you mean but there are other ways to look at it too. My last name is Chavez and people will randomly speak to me like a baby when I pull out some really smart shit, as if to mimic the word “Sabes”, to which I don’t exactly take to as a friendly approach. It is kinda difficult to determine whether or not they mean well or not when they say things like that. I think it’s most apparent when they don’t focus so much on whether or not you responded to the name and instead seem to be waiting to see if you understand what they’re talking about. As it is with most things.
Those in bold are even regularly used as generic appelatives, same as “mi negro”, the actual appearance of the person doesn’t matter, they’re used as like saying “dude”.
“Gordo” and “gorda” are also used as affectionate appelatives between romantic partners.
Mmmh, where I live, “Mayate” means, almost literally, “active homosexual male”.
Prieto is really derogatory. But the ultimate insult/racial slur for Hispanic American is “indio”. Really really aggressive.
You must be slightly over weight and your city riddled with single mothers. To fat people and the children of single mothers, every other insult means “active homosexual male”.