Why do Mexicans have such ridiculous nicknames?
Week of February 1, 2007
Dear Mexican: I want to know why Mexicans have such incongruous nicknames. In English, people have nicknames that have some relation to their given names — for example, Kenny is the nickname for Kenneth, or Jenny for Jennifer. Granted, there are some nicknames that seem like a stretch of logic, like Jack for John and Peg for Margaret, but there are none so incompatible as Pepe for José, Pancho for Francisco, or Chucho (or Chuy) for Jesus. I have asked many Mexicans about this, and they all tell me, "Porque así es," so I finally decided to ask THE Mexican.Dear Mexican: How do Mexicans get such ridiculous nicknames from seemingly normal names? For instance, José becomes Chepe, Eduardo is Lalo, Gabriel becomes Gabi/Gabo, and Guillermo devolves into Memo.
It's Marcela, Not Chela
La China Curiosa Who's Really Korean
Dear Wabette and Chinita: The definitive study on this quirk remains Viola Waterhouse's "Mexican Spanish Nicknames," included in the 1981 anthology Linguistics across Continents: Studies in Honor of Richard S. Pittman. Unfortunately, the ethnolinguist devotes most of her article to including as many seemingly wacky Mexican apodos as possible (some of the better ones mentioned are Goyo for Gregorio, Licha for Alicia, Nacho for Ignacio and Cuco for Refugio) instead of theorizing why Mexican Spanish is prone to such a mangled morphology. Waterhouse does identify one phenomenon that factors into many of these name changes: palatalization, when speakers pronounce non-palatal consonants as palatals — for example, the transformation of s into a ch sound when Salvador becomes Chava. Other phonetical laws not mentioned by Waterhouse that influence Mexican Spanish nicknames include apocopation (the dropping of a word's last letters or syllables — Caro for Carolina), apheresis (when a word loses syllables or letters at its beginning — Mando for Armando) and syncopation, when a word contracts by shedding sounds — that's how Roberto becomes Beto.
But the question remains: Why the dropping of sounds and letters in Mexican Spanish nicknames? This Mexican's take: Most nicknames derived from proper nombres are shortened versions of the original. Mexicans advance this process by employing the above-mentioned tricks. Such trends occur in languages that are evolving into newer, bolder tongues. So enjoy your pussy Billys from William and Cathys from Catherine, gabachos: Mexicans will take the linguistic wonder that is creating Lencho from Lorenzo any day.
Got a spicy question about Mexicans? Ask the Mexican at garellano@ocweekly.com. Those of you who do submit questions: They will be edited for clarity, cabrones. And include a hilarious pseudonym, por favor, or we'll make one up for you!
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