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?