Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Once upon a time, (almost) no one spoke English at home


La Martin, ironically, at time of this postcard, Laredo was ruled by Anglos

I'm pretty sure it was the 1970s. In those years, there were two high schools in Laredo. Well, three with United High but it was in a separate district and was a 3A school. Also, it was in Del Mar Hills and thought of a mostly an Anglo school. No disrespect meant, that's just the way I remember it. I realize I might be mistaken again. Anyway, during those years, the McDonalds across Bruni Plaza was probably the most popular place in town for young people to hang out at (Yes, in those years it was hang out, not hang). I, being from La Martin, along with the rest of my freinds, could always tell who was from Nixon. They had this weird habit (at the time) of actually mixing in a sprinking of English with their Spanish. Or even more shocking, some of them spoke mostly in English!!

Now, it's sort of the opposite. Although a lot of kids still speak primarily in Spanish locally, an ever increasing number speak little or virtually no Spanish. Of course, everyone knows the most important Spanish words : oye, pero, mira, ya!, bueno, y luego, pos, ala (not a word)  and nada que ver (not a real phrase). Similarly, everyone knows the most indispensable English words, as we have related before "cool, awesome, no way, wait, I mean (pronounced in Spanish:amin). Like Bobby Dylan said "The time's they are a changin'".

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