'When I was growing up down the valley, I picked prunes and walnuts, which needed in those days (and maybe still do) to be shaken from the trees by men using long, notched poles. They were inevitably from Mexico, and were called 'migrant workers,' which where we were didn't have Grapes of Wrath connotations. They all said that [they spoke] Mexican.'
The Mexicans talk in jokes. They'll say they speak Mexican, not Spanish. They think its very funny to mix up English and Spanish and create total masala Spanish. Try listening to Mexican radio (in the US) sometime.
Interesting. I was talking about what happened in a small town in Oregon, over 40 years ago. Trust me, Andreas, these men said they spoke Mexican, had had no interest in joking with kids who wouldn't have known that Mexican and Spanish were (so to speak) the same language. Their wives would come into my uncle's store and ask if anyone there spoke Mexican. They wanted to talk with someone who understood them, not engage in po-mo irony. The orchards have been vineyards long since. 'The Mexicans'! Sheesh. Robert Paul reed.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
