25.) A Strangely Named Town on the Way to Durango

At the outset of this post, I want to specifically say that I do not intend to offend anyone, but this is so funny to me that I cannot resist. Spanish is a language of more color, symbolism, and inference than is English. English is pretty straight forward. Spanish is not always so. For example, oftentimes in Spanish a word used within a certain context can be perfectly acceptable and proper, but in another context can have very negative or even sexual connotations.

After we leave The Ugliest Town In All Mexico (Villa Union), we turn north on Route 45 towards Durango. At one point, I come out of a turn and see a sign announcing the name of the town we are entering. I almost choke on my tongue...



Jim does not understand the significance of the sign. I explain. "Chupar" is the infinitive verb form that means "to suck". The dero ending means "one who does that verb". The the "ero" instedead of an "era" means that it is men doing the action and not women. Finally, it is a plural form of the word, so, it means a group activity sort of thing. I'll leave it to you to figure out who is doing what, to whom, with what, and how many are involved.

Also, please enlarge the picture and look between the bikes. See the other sign announcing "Vibradores" - i.e. vibrators... And the sign says you will get to them within 100 meters. What all is going on in this town? I guess if you do not like what is on the green sign at the entrance of the town, you can get an alternative a little farther downtown.

And believe it or not, in the state of Chihuahua, we later came across another town of the same name! I know that probably there is some significant reason this town is called what it is, but I definitely know what the word means in the common vernacular. And I find it a hoot that a culture can tollerate that type of dissonance when they name a town! They can handle this, but not the bare midriffs on Baywatch? Go figure...

The reason I find these kind of quirks with Spanish to be humorous is because in my elementary attempts to speak Spanish, I have embarassed myself plenty of times. For example, when we got the T-shirts made for this trip, I wanted to put a saying on it in Spanish to the effect of "We busted our butts on bikes, like, a lotta times". It was supposed to have some Beavis and Butthead influences showing through. Any of you who saw the Beavis and Butthead episode where they wanna score with Cher because she has done it "like, a lotta times" will know what I mean.

Well, I tried out my Spanish to try to get the T-shirt to say something similar. I showed it to a native Spanish speaker I work with. Juanita tells me, "Ken if you wear that shirt in Mexico, they will beat you up." I ask why. Come to find out, my attempt to capture Beavis and Butthead style humor loosely translated as this: "We are homosexuals who have had sex on top of motorcycles a lot of times".

I am pretty careful with Spanish these days. After this, I just decided to get the T-shirts with the skull and an El Paseo Mexicano label, and forgo any attempt at subtle humor. Just too risky given the nuances of the language.