“Cuando llegues, o te vayas, saluda a todos” (When you arrive, or when you leave, greet everyone). This was one rule in a 2013 Chilango list on how to behave in the office.
The greeting is often physical. A 2025 Chilango column describes it: between women, a single kiss on the right cheek, and between men, a hug with a pat on the back.
On August 15, 2024, at the Teatro Metropolitan in Mexico City, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum asked to be called presidenta. “Los próximos seis años, diremos presidenta con ‘A’. Porque lo que no se nombra, no existe” (For the next six years, we will say presidenta with an A. Because what is not named does not exist).
In December 2024, the Senate approved a constitutional reform that adds presidenta, gobernadora and other female titles to the Constitution.
In Mexican markets, vendors call shoppers güero or güera, “fair one.” According to UnoTV, they do so “sin importar el tono de su piel o el color de su cabello” (whatever the tone of their skin or the color of their hair).
In 2012, Gala Karina Villaseñor García tested how 123 Mexican university students understood replies to requests, for a master’s thesis at UNAM. Some replies came at once. Others came after a silence of 1.2 seconds.
The result: “un silencio antes de una respuesta negativa intensifica la noción de rechazo” (a silence before a negative answer intensifies the sense of refusal). The study also tested silence as the only reply.
In 2017, the linguists José María Infante Bonfiglio and María Eugenia Flores Treviño, of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, published “Los que dicen que sí sin decir sí” (Those who say yes without saying yes), a study of softened speech by Mexican politicians.
One example is a politician asked whether he would run for mayor again. He answered: “no me puedo destapar, si me destapo me voy a congelar” (I cannot uncover myself, if I uncover myself I will freeze). To uncover oneself is to declare a candidacy. “Eludir es un modo de soslayar las intenciones reales” (Evading is a way of sidestepping one’s real intentions), they write.
In September 2022, the Excélsior columnist Francisco Garfias read meaning in a seating plan. At the annual report of the governor of the State of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum and Ricardo Monreal, rivals for the Morena presidential nomination, sat in the front row. Adán Augusto López sat between them. Garfias called them “hermanos enemigos” (enemy brothers) and summed up the scene: “Muy cerca físicamente, muy lejos políticamente” (Very close physically, very far politically).
“POR FAVOR APAGUE SU CIGARRO antes de entrar” (Please put out your cigarette before entering). “Gracias por no fumar” (Thank you for not smoking). These are among the model signs in the Manual de Señalamientos y Avisos of the State of Mexico, part of its program against tobacco use. They mark spaces where smoking is not allowed.
The same manual also offers the plain sign “PROHIBIDO FUMAR” (no smoking).
“El respeto nos ayuda a vivir en armonía” (Respect helps us live in harmony) is a first-grade lesson of the Ministry of Public Education. It teaches children “frases de cortesía para saludar y despedirse” (courtesy phrases for greeting and saying goodbye). It also explains that “en español, los niños generalmente hablan a las personas mayores de ‘usted'” (in Spanish, children generally address older people as usted).
Confianza means trust. It also means familiarity between people.
De confianza, a person one can rely on, or a close and intimate one.
En confianza, in private, between people who trust each other.
Agarrar confianza, to grow at ease with someone over time.
Pásale, con confianza, “come in, make yourself at home,” said to a guest.
Tomarse confianzas, to take liberties, to act with more familiarity than the relationship allows.
In 2006, the linguist J. César Félix-Brasdefer published a study in the Journal of Pragmatics on how male speakers of Mexican Spanish refuse. He examined the effect of formality on their refusals and the link between politeness and protecting face.
In a study published in 2008, he observed 18 male Mexican students refusing a request, an invitation and a suggestion from a peer. They refused mainly in indirect ways, and they softened what they said.