In an earlier message, Patricia brought up the topic of nicknames, which in Spanish are known as “apodos.” She asked whether such nicknames were common among Mexican people. My answer would be a resounding yes.

In an earlier message, Patricia brought up the topic of nicknames, which in Spanish are known as “apodos.” She asked whether such nicknames were common among Mexican people. My answer would be a resounding yes.

In fact, as a child growing up in Los Angeles, it was rare that my siblings, cousins or I would refer to each other by our real names. We all had apodos for each other. The nicknames tended to be physically descriptive, often derogatory on the surface and always clever…

Among my sibling there was “la larga”, “la chaparra”, “el molanche”, “el prieto”, “el guero”, “la flaca” and “el gordo”

You see the dichotomies… I was “el prieto” and my younger brother, who is much fairer than me was “el guero”. We also had other names… some of mine: “R2D2”, “Tulipan”, etc.

I had cousins who were “la titi” (who stuttered as a child and whose father–also a stutterer–was known as “tartajas”) and “la pollo” who was pigeon-toed, etc.