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¡Pachuco y Pachuca Yo!

El Paso, El Chuco, El Pachuco

A young adult female and her companion dressed in zoot accommodate attire in 1944.

Pachuco and Pachuca are terms coined in the 1940s to refer to Mexican American men and women who dressed in zoot suits or zoot adapt-influenced attire. Though there is no definite origin of the word Pachuco, one theory claims that the term originated in El Paso, Texas. The city of El Paso was typically referred to as "Chuco town" or "El Chuco." People migrating from Los Angeles to El Paso would say they were going "pa' El Chuco" (to Chuco boondocks). These migrants came to be known as Pachucos. This term moved west to Los Angeles with the menses of Mexican workers migrating to industrialize urban center centers.

¡Watcha mi tachuce! The Bonaroo Look

To wait Bonaroo was to look cool. In Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s, zoot suits were generally worn past poor and working form Mexican, African American and Jewish youth. These tailored outfits had broad shoulders and cinched waist pants that tapered at the ankles. Suits were accessorized by a key chain that dangled from the pocket, a felt chapeau and ducktail hairstyle (often chosen "duck's ass" or D.A).

Pachucas also donned zoot suits that were, by and large, improvised men'southward jackets with short skirts, fishnet stockings or bobby socks pulled up to the calves, platform heels, saddle shoes or huarache sandals. They piled their hair loftier in a pompadour style and wore heavy makeup, particularly lipstick. Some Pachucas as well chose to vesture the masculine version of the zoot suit and participate in recreational activities aslope Pachucos on street corners and dances all of which challenged normative definitions of femininity. Breaking out of cultural and gender norms, Pachucas asserted their own distinct identity as Mexican American women.

In 1942, the Wartime Productions Board, as part of a national thrift initiative, attempted to cut back on fabric consumption by establishing regulations that limited the corporeality of fabric used for suits. This deliberately targeted zoot suiters. As an human activity of rebellion and cultural pride, zoot suiters defiantly chose non to follow these requirements and obtained their suits through bootleg tailors. Pachucos became conspicuous in their improvident outfits which were seen every bit unpatriotic. Though this was a scandal in wartime America, it was too a symbol of pride and resistance for Mexican American youth.

The Hip Manner of Caló ¿Que Pues Nuez?

"La Dora" wears a zoot suit with huarache sandals, while others wear hairstyles and clothes pop amid Mexican-American women. (Lowrider ii, no. 6)

Caló is a hybrid langauge influenced by zincaló — a dialect of Spanish gypsies, Hispanicized English, Anglicized Spanish and ethnic languages such as Nahuatl. Caló was popularized in the 1940s in the United States by working class Mexican American youth. With the growing public resentment fueled past the press against zoot arrange mode and culture, Caló became associated to Pachuco gang life as a linguistic communication known only to its members. The apply of Caló by Mexican youth was an act of definance and resistance. Information technology represented the refusal of Mexican youth to digest into the Us culture and signified their decision to create a legitimate national identity as both American and Mexican.

For Pachuco and Pachuca youth Caló represented style. It was considered hip and cool to spill out versos suaves (smooth words) to the chicas patas (young women) and eses (young men) while cabuliando (horsing around) after schoolhouse or piece of work. Mexican youth had the unique power to codeswitch between standard English language, Spanish, and Caló, while inventing new neologisms. For Latinos in the United States, their employ of Caló represented a style of resistance in the 1940s climate of intense jingoism, xenophobia, and nativism. They were multilinigual pioneers and creators of a new language, identity and culture.

Caló Glossary: Terms and Phrases in Zoot Suit

Notation: The following translations are figurative, non literal.

alivianese: lighten up, cool it
bolillo: anglo, "white male child"
borlotear: to dance
bote: jail
cabuliar: to make fun of
calcos: shoes
calmantes montes: chill out
cálmenla: at-home downward, absurd it
carnala: sis
lecherous: brother, close friend
chafa: embarrassed, low quality, worthless
¡chale!: no, no mode
chicas patas: fiddling one, a young girl/woman
chingón: macho, big shot, bad dude
contrólate: command yourself
descuéntate: beat it, go lost
drapes: pants
esa: woman, girl
ese: man, dude
huisa: adult female, girlfriend
jefita/jefito: mother, father (literal: dominate)
la jura: the law, police
me la rayo: for sure, it's the truth, I swear

¡ nel!: no! (more forceful than ¡chale!)
¡orale!: hey, right on
pedo: hassle, excitement
pendejadas: stupidness or hateful act
pendejo: schmuck, idiot
pinché: lousy
ponte abusado: wise upwardly, get smart
que desmadre: what a mess
que pinché aguite: what a bummer
que pues, nuez?: what's going on?
rifa: rules
ruca: wife, chick, girlfriend
simón: yes
suave: fine, o.k.
tacuche: adapt, zoot arrange, fancy vesture
tando: hat
¿te curas?: can you believe information technology?
trapos: clothes
trucha: alert, watch out
vato: dude, guy
verdolaga: naïve, hick
¡watcha!: wait!
ya estubo: cutting it, that's enough
ya me estas cayendo gordo: you are being a hurting
ya pues: that'due south enough

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