Joy of Spanish
The Battle of the Albur
When I wrote last week’s column, “On albures and reviradas,” I knew that some people wouldn’t appreciate it or that they might be offended by the very mention of such things that can only be described as belonging to the undercurrents of Mexican society. Be that as it may, undercurrents tend to affect everything that happens on the surface, and I feel that I have a certain obligation to bring these nuances of language and social intercourse to the attention of those who, as foreigners in Mexico and English speakers to boot, may not be at all aware of them.
I did not expect, however, such a virulent reply as the one I received, spread out over two e-mails. Both are signed “Beto” from the “Colonia Condesa.” No further identification is offered.
Mr. “Beto” feels embarrassed that a “cultured” Mexican should address what he calls “our cultural underdevelopment,” which according to him is both machista and sexist. He also thinks that by discussing this online, I am “preserving” something that should be “overcome”: At mid-mail number one he confesses that a woman friend of his from the United States told him that the article reveals not only my sophomoric immaturity, but that of those individuals who support “[…] this sort of ‘adolescent sexual warfare,’ which many of us overcame long ago.” Mr. “Beto” goes on to say that as a Mexican from the Federal District (a chilango), he pities those who, like me, consider the albur as “picturesque folklore” when in reality “it offends one’s intelligence.” He signs his first mail with his best wishes for me to “grow up,” in view of the fact that I am a “mental midget.” ¡Híjole!
In the second e-mail, which arrived an hour later (he or she must have truly been upset, and for this I apologize), he says that his “foreign friends hold that the dividing line between a sexual joke and the Mexican-style albur is respect… or a lack thereof… The albur is definitely vulgar.” He goes on to say that the majority of Mexicans lack “cultural education,” which is something that can, according to “Beto,” can be picked up from traveling and living in other countries, preferably “developed” ones.
I, for one, find it strange that Mr. Beto should need to seek refuge in feminists from the u.s. to do battle against the albur. He may be embarrassed by this unabashed popular form of wordplay, but it definitely does exist and foreigners will assuredly run into it sooner or later. Better they should be prepared for it.
The albur, like Mexican caló (or slang), probably originated as a defense mechanism against the powerful and the wealthy. The landowners and nobility in general may have wielded the power in colonial times, but nothing could stop the workers and indigenous peoples from wielding the power of the tongue, so long as the former couldn’t quite understand what the latter were talking about. This amounts to what might be called non-violent linguistic revenge, and it explains why the albur proliferates in “lower-class” circles, and tends to be less evident among the “nice” people Mr. or Ms. Beto wishes we all were.
But the albur, like it or not, has transcended the “lower class” to become part of Mexico’s linguistic identity. It can indeed be quite vulgar, as was pointed out in the e-mails, but so is poverty, exploitation, crime, and hunger. Will these things go away if we just “get over them,” or — worse — if we simply ignore them?
The albur is a by-product of exploitation, of the crimes against native Mexicans, of the hunger imposed by the conquistadores, of their cruelty. For me that would be reason enough to be aware of it, to study it, and — yes — even be proud of it. Mr. “Beto” may be Mexican, but he seems to be ashamed of that fact, preferring to live in a politically correct, antiseptic environment where poverty is erased by polite chit-chat, innocent humor and what he understand to be good manners. Fat chance.
And then I received an e-mail from “class,” the Canadian Language & Academic Studies Service (at Florencia 57, 3rd. Floor, Colonia Juárez), signed by Virgil Grandfield. I’ll quote the first paragraph:
“One of the people working in my company, Julie Lavertue, is doing a masters in linguistics at the University of Laval in Quebec, Quebec, Canada. She is here in Mexico at the moment to work on her thesis: albures. We were very excited to see your article in unasletras, and we would like to know if you would be able to help Julie out.”
Isn’t that strange! What an uptight Mexican considers unworthy of even mentioning, becomes the subject of a masters thesis in linguistics for a Canadian graduate student!Of course I will be more than happy to help Julie out. The more we know about why we are the way we are, the easier it will be for us to truly transcend our shortcomings. The albur has nothing to do with machismo. It’s not even erotic. It does have to do with power, though. And, as such, it should be studied and understood by anyone living in Mexico. This is why efforts by those like Ms. Lavertue and a handful of Mexican scholars are so important. If someone really wants to get to know himself, a good way to start is by taking a hard look in the mirror.
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