From top: Montana Pettis and Luke Martin (hat); Mary Jean Zamora Rains and Catherine Aragon tend bar; Chelsea Armstrong takes video as Bobby (Bad Dog) Contreras, owner Darryl Pettis (Montana's father) and ranch manager and fellow rifle aficionado Jake Stamper look on; Monico Baca, Darryl, and Libby in various states of reaction to the photographer. Last, the inimitable Cody Henderson (who is "Spanish" -- see below) with his latest costume. The shot cups exhort the passerby to give him a drink, Irish or not.
It occurs to me that after some outside visitors amused by such localisms as "mira!" (look), and the recent fortuitous gift (by my doc, a homegirl from Peralta), of an interesting cultural link, that we talk a little funny down here. We speak English, but with Spanish inflections and vocabulary and Indian gestures. I never think twice about it, having spent over half my life so far here; one tends to shift gears back in the regular culture. But if you want to hear what we sound like at home, check out the YouTube below. "Eeee....!" (spelled in full "hijo" -- figure it out). NB: in use at least, despite Lynette, it's more "Oy vey" than "Ooh la la."
10 comments:
Hi Steve
Looks like a typical, great , multicultural St Paddy's day was had by all at the Spur.
The stesons are so evocative of The Spur,bringss back happy Memories
Our band played jazz in a local pub yesterday, but it was a much more subdued affair, if the pics are to be believed!
JohnnyUK
Connie & I agree that Montana with a green beard is sorta surreal. Just sayin
He was planning to cut it off but found some beer- soluble coloring..
BTW I wasn't just being nice- his band is GOOD. A lot of his original material too. The talent coming out of our town always amuses me. That shy kid you know develops "stage presence".
For surreal I vote Luke as Giant Leprechaun.
And I have seen things there at Halloween that still make me giggle (or give me nightmares...)
Montana's a great kid - we really enjoyed meeting him on our last visit. I just imagine him giving his "No Mooching!" speech in a green beard.
Love the Youtube!
I'll never forget a conversation once overheard in Deming:
Hola, Arnie - can you come a mi tia's para Thanksgiving next semana?
That YouTube was hilarious. We in the Central Valley of California can relate to much of that dialect, only for some reason, when people imitate us they all have to try to sound like Cheech Marin an' shit.
There's much for linguists to parse. Language is beautifully organic, and even in the mash-ups there are often descriptive rules. For example, I've never heard anybody speaking California Spanglish say, "?Yo do?"
I love it.
Of course, there are detractors on both ends of the languages there. Usually, it's monolingual folks who say, "pick a language, don't kill it!", and decry the loss of our education. I used to listen to my friends' parents give them crap for Spanglish, and one day I asked one of them, "?Ud. parquia el carro, o estaciona el coche?" He shut up after that.
Thanks for the great link.
It took me a minute to realize where "Burqueno" comes from
It seems to have spread beyond the 'Burque.
Actually it seems a general NM accent/ usage thing except maybe the part down south near El P (I know, Texas, but Border is its own world).
Josh: you have a good ear. I can certainly tell the differences between Burqueno and Border, never mind Mexican, and I'm sure California has its own rhythms, vocabulary, quirks. It maddens all New Mexicans, not just Hispanos, to have the local speech and all other Spanish and Spanglish described as simply "Mexican". The saying in town is that we are more than half Spanish but that there are only two Mexicans, Manuel Franco and Jesus Martinez-- and Franco has been around so long he sounds local!
And re local characters: Johnny UK-- didn't you once spend an evening drinking with Bobby Mad Dog (left of Darryl in audience pic) and buy a cigar lighter from him?
I watched the Youtube again and was struck by the usage of lots of glottal stops. That's not a Spanish thing at all and I'll bet it comes from Navajo, which has lots of them.
I bet there's a linguist somewhere in your state on the case.
We think that's exactly where it comes from. It is EXTREMELY pronounced in people with a heavy Navajo accent, but it affects everyone else too.
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