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Annette Perez
History of the English language
12/16/13
Professor Pollard
An Anglo Linguistic Invention: Mock Spanish
When the Spanish language spread throughout North America and South America
because of the Spanish conquistador conquests, the language began to transform itself through
the centuries as it traveled from different territories. Spanish was changing and diverging from
the Father tongue of Spain. When Spanish and English encountered each other, the languages
took loan words, and Spanish words became Anglicized into a variation of Spanglish called
“Mock Spanish.” The journey between English and Spanish began back when the conquistadors
traveled into the Americas and their influence spread throughout the Southwestern states. Then
later into the 20th century, Spanish was becoming more visible in American society. The
consequences of Spanish entering the English language had caused monolingual citizens of the
English language to form Mock Spanish humor that reflects an underlying standard for the
translation of the Spanish language. The standard for Spanish translation was observed as being
able to adapt to English grammar rules and pronunciation while not acknowledging Spanish
grammar rules. This influence undermined the complexities of the Spanish language and
influenced perceptions to non-speakers and Spanish-speakers.
The Spanish language has integrated for centuries in the United States and it was the
dominant spoken language in the Southwestern states. From 1513, was when a Spanish
conquistador and explorer by the name of Juan Ponce de Leớn conquered the Spanish

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borderlands from Florida to Louisiana and the Southwestern states, up to the mid 1800’s.1
Spanish, as the language of the conquerors, required the Native Americans to learn Spanish in
order to communicate with them. At this moment in American history and in the Southwest,
Spanish was the language of the prestige. But after the United States won the Mexican-American
War (1846-48), the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was written, allowing the United States to cede
almost all the Spanish territories which included New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona,
California, Texas, and Western Colorado. Eventually, most of these states were welcomed into
the union (the federal government) a couple of years later, which pressed the standard that
schooling should be done only in English instead of Spanish. New Mexico and Arizona were not
included into the union until 1912.2
Because of the lingering presence of Spanish, Spanish loan words entered English and are
recognizable to American-born speakers. Sometimes borrowing of words occurred when
something new was introduced to American soil. The early presence of Spanish in America led
to numerous loan words, such as tuna, cilantro, and oregano− words that English did not need
before discovering the foods. Just by adapting the words “cilantro” and “oregano” into English
pronunciation those words became considered as English words instead of Spanish words.
Another case of Spanish borrowing into English was when the Spanish explored and
conquered the Caribbean and the Southwest. The conquistadors borrowed words such as
“tobacco,” “hurricane,” and “hammock,” which American speakers also recognize and may
assume they originated from Spanish. However, those words are of Native American origins
which entered English through Spanish, which adopted them first. In the 15th and 16th centuries,
1 (Silva-Corvalan 207)
2 (Silva-Corvalan 207-8)

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the conquistadors as the conquerors of the Native Americans, took words from them and
transformed those words based on the rules of their language. It is very likely that the words
“tobacco,” “hurricane,” and “hammock,” had a different pronunciation or even spelling when it
was spoken from the natives’ tongues.
After the Spanish were conquered by the Americans, words were borrowed from the
Spanish language and became Anglicized either in spelling, pronunciation, or a literal misuse of
the meaning behind the word. This form of Anglicization of Spanish words is called Mock
Spanish. Mock Spanish made its place in a sub-sect of English when Anglo individuals took
Spanish words to represent a connection to either their own culture, Spanish culture, or a
combination of both. In Mock Spanish, one observes the hyper Anglicization of Spanish words.
For example, Anglos borrowed greetings and farewells from Spanish. Greetings and farewells
are some of the most common words spoken in any language and it would not take much effort
for Anglos to absorb those verbal gestures in Spanish when the population of Latinos is high in
certain cities and states. Anglos took the words such as “adiòs,” “buenas noches,” “hasta
mañana,” and “hasta luego” and when these words are hyper Anglicized, “”adiòs” is pronounced
as “adios,” “buenas noches” becomes “buena snowshoes,” “hasta mañana” becomes “hasty
banana” and “hasta luego” is said as “hasty lumbago.”
Observing the examples mentioned, hyper Anglicization borrows Spanish words and
transformed them into a mocking variety of the Spanish language. Anglos who use this kind of
speech are exposed to the Spanish language because of their society’s Spanish-descended
population and in turn, misuse the language to mock the Spanish speakers in their society.

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Anglos also use Mock Spanish as a societal joke to tourists that come from states and cities in the
United States that have a less noticeable Latino population.3
The development of Mock Spanish has several strategies called semantic derogation,
euphemism, and affixing that take aspects of the Spanish language and infuse them into English.
These strategies use Spanish in a humorous and playful way, but also use Spanish for vulgarity
and insult.4 These strategies suggest that Anglos view Spanish as just as flexible as English, with
no consideration to the Spanish language’s rules. Another perception is that Spanish is shrouded
in a shadow in Anglo society and that socio-linguistic awareness for the Spanish language seems
to be not as important because it is not the dominating force for communication in America. The
angle to examine the underlying opinions toward the Spanish language and its users correlates to
the strategy being used, and the purpose of using linguistic materials from the Spanish language.
Semantic derogation is when words are given a negative connotation based on negative
or misinformed perceptions to a certain group of people and their language. In terms of Mock
Spanish, Spanish words that had a positive or neutral connotation behind them would transform
into words of humorous or negative connotation. An example of this strategy is the popular
American phrase “hasta la vista, baby.” This phrase is recognizable thanks to Terminator from
“Terminator 2” who was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger as he shoots the evil terminator.
This phrase is used often enough in colloquial English that even young Spanish speakers had
mistaken this phase to be an authentic Spanish slogan, when in truth, it is an Anglicized slogan.
Even though this phrase is used light-heartedly, the connotation is negative because the scene in
3 (Hill 1995)
4 (Hill 1995)

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which that the terminator uses the slogan was violent and destructive.5 It is important to consider
the context in which words are used because they imply how the Anglos perceive these Spanish
words, which could be perceived as possibly vulgar and offensive to Latinos.6 Taking the
example from the terminator’s memorable dialogue, shows how Mock Spanish could be used,
and may reflect the idea that Latinos are violent and cynical. The perception of cynicism arises
because when people use “hasta la vista, baby,” outside of the Terminator universe, the words
are usually used playfully. Placing these two lenses together for the words “hasta la vista, baby,”
suggests negative stereotyping of people of Spanish-descent.
Euphemism, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to “substitute of an
agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.” In
the case of Mock Spanish, advertisements take advantage of using substitutions in order to
appeal to the Latino audience. In America, there is the general market, which addresses Anglos,
and then there is the Latino/a market. Advertisements focus on stereotypes, which indicate of
how to appeal a product to a specific group of people. An example of euphemism is in a common
advertisement with the dialogue, “Got Milk?” Anglo advertisers, based on their perception of
Latina women, believed that the slogan would be offensive because the slogan sounds as if the
woman cannot provide for her family. The market believed that Latinos would not understand
the comic joke of milk scarcity7 and take it literally, which could offend the women who take
pride in providing for their family and taking care of the home. Therefore, the advertisement
changed the slogan into, “Have you given to your loved ones today?,” translated into Spanish for
the Latino population: “¿Le ha dado amor a su seres queridos hoy?” And this change of words
5 (Hill 1995)
6 (Arizona Daily Wildcat2000)
7 (Davila 97-8)

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and connation in English implies that Latinos are separated from Anglo society. The mocking in
this example is subtle but it claims that direct translations of slogans from English into Spanish
does not imply the same sense of humor. In order for people to feel connected in society is to
understand societal jokes and when a group of people are assumed to not understand it, they are
below the standard of comprehending their native society and language. Euphemism in Mock
Spanish implies that Spanish is an inferior language that cannot grasp Anglo jokes.
Affixation is the process of creating a new word by adding a suffix or prefix to an already
existing word.8 Two elements from Spanish used with English words are the masculine-gender
suffix-o and the masculine prefix “el,” creating words such as “el cheapo” and “no problemo.”
These words are typically created to have an innocent and humorous connation, but they give the
sense that a simple affixation creates an established English word into a Spanish word. To use
the example of “no problemo,” to say this in Spanish is incorrect because the correct usage of the
word requires a feminine ending. These small modifications of English words from Spanish
suggest two stereotypes of the Latino community: relaxed and laid-back or cheap and lazy. The
popularity of “no problemo” may offer a positive stereotype for Latinos of being relaxed and
friendly. However, if we look at the two affixed phrases, “no problemo” and “el cheapo,” the
stereotype becomes negative for Latinos because it suggests that they are so relaxed that they do
not work hard enough to earn more money in order to work their way up in capitalist society.
These strategies used in mock Spanish present different underlying problems with
borrowing Spanish words and inserting them into the English language. Just as cultures borrow
words from other languages in order to identify something new in their culture, this can also
pertain to cultural perceptions. One of the biggest problems of Anglos borrowing from Spanish is
8 (Nordquist)

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intentional or unintentional racism. Mock Spanish uses English phonology, potentially implying
disrespect to Spanish-speakers for example the words “muchos” and “gracias” are said
incorrectly and are used in the rules of English grammar. “Muchos,” meaning “many” was
constantly written with the “s” deleted from the word in accordance to the subject when used in
advertisement with Spanglish slogans.9 Ignoring the Spanish rules, again, indicates the inferiority
of the language and the people who speaks it in an Anglo society.
No neutral middle ground could be found between Spanish and English since English is
the dominant language in America. Mock Spanish also suggests that Spanish is not meant to be
taken seriously in public, and should be spoken only with other Latinos and in the home.
American society views the Anglos speaking Mock Spanish not domineering enough to the
Latino population to the point of degradation and racism and could be brushed off as a joke.10
However, Spanish-speakers do not openly express how offensive Mock Spanish words
and slogans could be. Even in Spanish, there is no pejorative Spanish word to insult an
American. However, it seems that in Mock Spanish, there are a number of insults to slander
directly to a Spanish-speaker.11 Even though the Mock Spanish insults were invented by the
Anglos, Latinos also use these words as playful insults, creating new linguistic possibilities
within the Spanish language’s framework. In retrospect, this might put Anglos in a
compromising position if they were speaking what they knew of Spanish to a Latino, even more
if the Latino was bilingual, and could code-switch between English and Spanish to make a joke
that requires an understanding of both languages. In Mock Spanish, the context of the words
does not require background understanding of the Spanish language in itself and could be learned
9 (Hill 1995)
10 (Hill 207)
11 (Zentalla 61-2)

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easily by any English speaker. Mock Spanish is built on cultural stereotypes of Latinos and
unfortunately, many of those stereotypes are negative. That is why Mock Spanish can seem
insulting, depending on the speaker who uses it.
As a consequence of Spanish entering the English language, Mock Spanish shows how
conquerors use linguistic power over the conquered. The English language was once the
language of the conquered. But, it is now the language of prestige, of the winners. Spanish
landed on American soil and for a couple of centuries was a dominating force here. Even though
that is in the past now, Spanish still widely exists in the United States and only transformed itself
with the influence of English. English and Spanish consistently diverged and converged to result
in new dialects and linguistic usages in both languages. Mock Spanish was one of the results of
Spanish-English convergence. Despite the controversy of “white elitism”12 and racism toward
the Latinos, perhaps Anglos and Latinos can mock each other and continue converging new
words that can be used in both languages.
12 (Hill 200)

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"Wild Cat Opinions." Editorial: Mock Spanish not racist, just natural. N.p., 2 March
2000. Web. 10 Dec 2013. http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/93/110/03_1_m.html
Cashman, Holly . "Why Mock Spanish is a Problem ."Politic365. N.p., 4 March 2012.
Web. 10 Dec 2013. http://politic365.com/2012/03/04/why-mock-spanish-is-a-problem/
Dávila, Arlene M. Latinos, Inc: The Marketing and Making of a People. Berkeley, CA:
University Harris, Roxy, and Ben Rampton. The Language, Ethnicity and Race Reader. London:
Routledge, 2003. 199-209. Print. of California Press, 2001. Print.
Hidalgo, Margarita G. Mexican Indigenous Languages at the Dawn of the Twenty-First
Century. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2006. Internet resource.
Hill, Jane H. "Mock Spanish: A Site For The Indexical Reproduction Of Racism In
American English."Language-Culture. Binghamton University, 9 Oct 1995. Web. 10 Dec 2013.
http://language-culture.binghamton.edu/symposia/2/part1/
Nordquist, Richard . "Affixation ." About.com Grammar & Composition . N.p.. Web. 10
Dec 2013. http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/Affixation.htm
Silva-Corvalan, Carmen . "Spanish in the Southwest."Language in the USA: Themes for
the Twenty-first Century. 2004.
Zentella , Ana Celia. "Jose can you see?." LATIN@ RESPONSES TO RACIST
DISCOURSE. 2003.

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