14.3.12

How to piss off a Mexican

I'm a fan of the Matador Network, a travelers community with great and interesting articles for travelers (not tourists).
They have a series of articles, written by different travelers, on "how to piss off a (insert nationality)", like: How to piss off a Dane, How to piss off a Canadian, How to piss off an Italian, How to piss off a German, etc. in which they give you tips if you really want to piss off a person of a given nationality. Obviously this is done as pure entertainment, using stereotypes that most of times are wrong but they are good for light reading and a laugh. And I've been dying to write my own tips on how to piss off a Mexican, so here they are:
(please Mexican readers, this is just for fun, I know we are not all the same but there's one thing we are the same at and that is we are able to laugh at ourselves, right?)



1 - Ask if we have cars. Many foreigners knowledge of Mexico comes from American movies from the 1960's in which they portrayed Mexicans as people sleeping by a cactus, wearing a sombrero, taking a siesta (nap) before leaving on their super-slow burro (donkey)... Well, we all know that things are not like that in Mexico nowadays, right? So if you really want to piss off a Mexican go ask him: "hey, how fast is your burro?"

2 - Don't say 'Good Morning' when you enter the elevator. You can spit on a Mexican's shoe - OK no, you can't do that, but he will be less offended by that than he would be if you didn't say "buenos días"(good morning) when you entered the elevator.

3 - Say our food is not spicy enough. An Italian guy once visiting Mexico said "oh, come on, we have spicier peppers in Southern Italy!" - that's the last thing he said, he still can't talk after the severe heat his throat suffered from a bite of a chile toreado... OK, that's not true (maybe), but Mexicans can get insulted if you say we don't have the spiciest food, we love being first at anything so our chiles have to be the hottest!

4 - Say Mexico is in South America. There's absolutely nothing racist about Mexicans not wanting to be South Americans, au contraire, some would love to be as far from the US as possible. It's just that we study A LOT of Geography in school and we are 300% positive that Mexico (or the United States of Mexico, as our country is correctly called) is in North America; otherwise, if Mexico is in South America, where did Central America go?

5 - Say that we speak Mexican. OK, we get it, we didn't invent the language we speak. We know that in France they speak French; in Germany they speak German, in Italy they speak Italian, but in Mexico we speak Castilian Spanish (just Spanish is OK), and we are proud of the variations we have added to the language.

6 - Say that you've been to Mexico because you've been to Cancun. Please note that although Cancun is geographically located in Mexico and it is a wonderful place to vacation, it is not truly Mexico, it's filled with tourists (Americans mostly) and most of the experiences you'll have there won't be really authentic. But its beaches are great and you must visit it, together with the thousands of other beautiful beaches, rich culture and incredible experiences that our country offers.

7 - Express your love for 'chili con carne'. We don't care. Chili con carne is not a Mexican dish. Period.

And what do you do if you have already pissed off a Mexican?
A good way to say I'm sorry would be to drink a bottle of Mezcal and eat the worm in the bottom :)

I could go on and on and on and I'm sure you have more suggestions so feel free to comment and share!
stereotype of Mexican (from this website)


2 comments:

  1. hahaha, great list, I loved it, my favorite picks are #4 (that happens all the times in Italy) and #7.

    Tlaz

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  2. Thanks! I've been hearing lots of #4 these days because of the Olympics... It still pisses me off, I think I'll never get used to it! And by the way, a great honor to get your comments, I'm a big fan :)

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