Verbal insults in hierarchical, multi-racial New Spain (18th c.)

• Types (used by/against both sexes):

  • animal: perro (dog), cochino (pig), gallina (chicken)
  • racial: judío (Jew), chichimeca (wild Indian), indio, mulato, negro, gachupín (greenhorn), pícaro (rogue)
  • sexual-familial honor: cornudo, cabrón (cuckold)consentidor (consent to wife’s infidelity)alcahuete (pimp--applied to husband, widow)hijo de puta (son of a whore)

• Responses: fights, lawsuits, homicide, evasion

• Change (late 18th century), more aggressive:

  • pendejo (pubic hair), carajo (male genitalia), joder (copulate), chinga tu madre (fuck your mother)

• Sexual insults: memories of primordial rape or daily frustrations in a hierarchical, multi-racial, colonial society?

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