To Soften the BlowPeggy Elkin from Philadelphia has sent me a long e-mail complaining that she still doesn’t understand how soon ahorita is in Mexico. She explains correctly that ahorita supposedly means “right now” or “right away” when looking toward the future, and “just now” when looking toward the past. For example, toward the future: “I want you to come right now (or right away).” Spanish: “Quiero que vengas ahorita.” Toward the past: “She just now brought the coffee.” Spanish: “Ahorita acaba de traer el café.” And Ms. Elkin is absolutely right. That’s why she has a hard time understanding the Mexican use of the word ahorita.
In part the problem has to do with the use of diminutives in general. A diminutive denotes smallness, familiarity, affection, or triviality, as the suffix let, in “droplet” from “drop.” In Spanish they are much more frequent than in English. For example, in English I can’t say “glasslet” meaning “small glass,” but in Spanish I can say “vasito,” from “vaso.” This is by all means preferable to “pequeño vaso.” In Spanish we can put most anything in the diminutive, including adjectives, verbs (though this is not common any more), adverbs, and people’s names. “El agua está tibiecita (from ‘tibio’).” (The water is nice and warm.) “En llegandito me hablas.” (Call me just as soon as you arrive.) “¿Me sirves tantito?” (Could you pour me just a little bit?) That’s where the famous Mexican saying, “¿Qué tanto es tantito?”, comes from. (How much is a little bit?) “¡Juanito!” (Little John!).
One should remember that the diminutives for names can be most irregular in Spanish. For example, the diminutive for José is Pepe; for Josefina it’s Chepina or Chepa; for Consuelo it’s Chelo; for Refugio it’s Cuco or Cuca; for Guadalupe it’s Lupe or Lupita; for Lourdes it’s Lulú; for José María it’s Chema; for Concepción it’s Concha or Conchita; for Soledad it’s Cholita; for Roberto it’s Beto; for Guillermo it’s Memo, etc.
Even though the diminutives for names can be unpredictable, most diminutives are regular, and they are usually formed by adding “ito” or “ita” to the root. In some countries the preferred diminutive is “ico” or “ica” (as in “un momentico” or “¿te provoca un tintico?”, which in Colombia means “Would you like a cup of black coffee?”. There is also “illo” or “illa” (as in “colilla” and “tortilla”). We also have the “ín-ina” option, as in “tontín” instead of “tontito”, but this is less frequent. In informal speech, if we want to let someone know that something is very small, we can duplicate the diminutive and say, for example, “tantitito”, meaning “a tiny little bit”. If we just want a smidgen of butter, we would ask for “tantitita mantequilla”.
Another thing we should keep in mind is that diminutives are not only used for indicating smallness, familiarity, affection, or triviality; in many cases they can also change the meaning of the word itself, as in tortilla, which is not a small torta (sandwich), but Mexico’s basic food staple. In Spain, however, the tortilla is an omelet made with potatoes, onions, and other goodies. A bocado is a “mouthful,” but bocadillos are roughly the equivalent of hors d’oeuvres in Mexico; in Spain, they’re more like hoagies.
The crux of the matter is that in Mexico diminutives are frequently employed to “sweeten” the truth, twist reality and, in general, make things seem more pleasant than they really are. When people come here from other Spanish speaking countries, especially Spain, they are surprised at how frequently diminutives are used here, and the ends to which they are employed as a courtesy, especially when talking about food. We love to use diminutives when talking about sopita, lechita, carnita, lechuguita, arrocito, frijolitos, etc. In the first place, diminutives in Mexico not only make things smaller; they also make them less formidable, nicer. The taxi driver taking us home from the airport, trying to take the edge off a tremendous bottleneck on the Circuito Interior, might make this comment: “Hay algo de trafiquito, verdad?” (We’ve got some traffic here, don’t we?) When asking for coffee, we say “¿Me trae tantito cafecito, por favor?” This makes things less imposing, less threatening. If our employer wants to let us know that we are going to be laid off for a certain period of time, he might say that we’ll be without a paycheck for a “tiempito,” which by all means seems better than a simple tiempo, but how long that tiempito might be, no one knows (¿Qué tanto es tantito? Remember?)
This brings us back to Peggy Elkin’s question. “Ahorita” can mean just about anything from “right away” to “hold your horses”. What we should understand behind the dictionary definition of the word is that the person who uses it may be trying to be civil, pleasant, or optimistic in difficult circumstances. A bank teller, for example, might reassure us when the system is down, “Ahorita llega el sistema”. He or she, of course, has absolutely no idea how long it will take to bring it back on line, or if it will ever be working again. If the teller really wants to be nice, he might say “Ahoritita llega”.
Of course, this may lead to abuse. Some people use “ahorita” to wash their hands of all responsibility: “Ahorita, hombre, ¡no estés fregando!” (Hey, in a little while, stop bothering me!) But the truth is that diminutives, more often than not, tend to soften the blow. And in a city such as México. DF, for this we can be most grateful.
If you would like to know more about any idiomatic expressions
you may have heard, or about any Spanish-language difficulties,
feel free to contact me at sandrocohen@gmail.com
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