Naco (slang)

Naco (fem. naca) is a pejorative word often used in Mexican Spanish to describe Spanish slang in one of the few Mexican forms.[1] Naco is also used to pejoratively describe someone who has indigenous roots. The correct meaning comes from an Indigenous language. This is pointing fingers at someone with lack of knowledge of his own culture.

A naco (Spanish: [ˈnako] (listen)) is usually associated with lower socio-economic classes and/or the indigenous, but it also includes the nouveau-riche.

Definition and usage

The Cuban lexicographer Felix Ramos y Duarte, in his Diccionario de Mejicanismos (1895), records the word for the first time. He explains it as usual in Tlaxcala (Mexico) and defines it with the following terms: "Indian dressed in blue cotton, white underpants and guaraches".

The term naco is generally used to describe people, behaviors or aesthetic choices seen as unrefined or unsophisticated, often in a comic way. As a person, the "naco" may display a general lack of refinement by adopting a "gangster mentality", unrefined verbal expressions or slang, peculiar accents, lack of social manners, or comically bad taste. The word likely originated as a contraction of "totonaco" referring to the members of the Totonac people, which is sometimes used as a disparaging term for indigenous people in general.[2]

The term is often associated to lower social classes, but it is also used as an elitist expression from the educated to describe the uneducated, and among the middle and upper classes as a synonym of bad taste. In many situations, the word have derogatory intentions.[3]

The Mexican definition of a naco may be analogous to the American modern-day definition of redneck, the British chav or the French beauf. However, the usage and derogatory tones vary; at best is a colloquial synonym to "tacky".

Sociolinguistic use

In recent decades, the middle and upper classes in Mexico have experienced a rapid expansion due to, among other things, economic development and urbanization. The new middle class and "nouveau riche" have entered the competition on status symbols such as cars, houses, and jewelry, which have given rise to the term "naco" as a form of cultural or economic elitism. Mexicans of higher status often see extravagant displays of wealth as making a person more naco, in that they make spectacles of themselves by overcompensating for lower social status. The word naco is unfortunately still occasionally used as a pejorative adjective or noun for indigenous people.

Within the last few decades, there have been movements in embracing the term and redefining it for self identity and pride. The title of the 1987 album by the band Botellita de Jerez is: "Naco es chido", which means "being naco is cool".

See also

References
  1. Güey Spanish - Mexican Slang Dictionary http://www.gueyspanish.com/word/155/naco
  2. Zentella, A. C. (2007). “Dime con quién hablas, y te diré quién eres”: Linguistic (In) security and Latina/o Unity. A companion to Latina/o studies, 25-38.
  3. EQUIS magazine. Cultura y Sociedad. Braulio Peralta (ed). México, Ulises Ediciones, No. 1, May, 1998, pp. XVII-XX. (Dossier: Autonomías en el mundo)
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