The Watchy-Man (Caliche: Part 2)

So one more thing I really like about caliche but forgot to mention in my last post is the way Nueva Suyapans (and other Hondurans) have appropriated English words and made them part of their own vocabulary. For example, if you are talking about a security guard, you could use the Spanish word, vigilante, but the streetwise talker might say "watchy-man." That clock that you wear on your wrist? you guessed it, it's a "watcho." If sometime you're telling a friend about a time you got really frightened or surprised, you can tell them "casi me paró el watcho"—"my watch almost stopped"—meaning, "my heart almost stopped beating."

Also, while there are of course traditional Spanish words to refer to a "person" or "guy" or what have you, my friends in Suyapa prefer to use the word "man" or "men." In Spanish either word is singular and unisex. For example, one might say, "I saw Juanita today—wow that men is pretty."

If you eat a lot and are really full, you can say just that: "¡estoy ful!" Also you can tell the gas station attendant, "fuleame el tanque"— "full me up the gas tank."

English swear words also make their occasional appearance, and are used pretty much the same way they are in the U.S.

Finally, I have heard some of my female, teenage aquaintances using a quintessential valley-girl phrase with an irony and aplomb that would put to shame the valley-est valley girl: "Hel-loooooo?" As in, "I mean, who would wear those pants. Helloooo?"

How could anyone think caliche isn't cool? I mean, hellooo?

—Abe