In Mexico, a university degree becomes a form of address. Licenciado or licenciada is used for “anyone who has a degree in any number of fields,” one guide explains. Engineers are addressed as ingeniero or ingeniera, and teachers, university professors included, as maestro or maestra. Another guide notes that calling someone simply Ingeniero is “completely acceptable” even when the speaker knows the person’s first name.
language
Usted for Every Age
In 1993, the linguist Scott A. Schwenter published a study of tú and usted in the Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica of El Colegio de México. His Mexican informants were middle-class adults in Mexico City. They chose tú in 32 percent of their answers. The study found that they tend to use usted with people of every age group.
The sample was small, 18 informants, and the data are more than 30 years old.
Usted Outside the Family
The linguist Cristal Cepeda has studied the use of usted in Mexico and other Latin American countries. She told Mexico News Daily that usted is used “with older people and authority figures, especially outside the family context.”
In Mexico City, tú is now “the most frequent, but not categorical, form of address.”
The Albur
An albur is a Mexican play on words with a double meaning. An article from the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo describes it as a way to “codificar mensajes a dos niveles” (code messages on two levels), so that the listener may grasp one level or both. The article names Tepito, in Mexico City, as the model of albur culture.
In an exchange of albures, “pierde quien calla o se tarda en contestar” (whoever falls silent or is slow to answer loses).
How Do We Settle This?
¿Cómo nos arreglamos? “How do we settle this?” Lo dejo a su criterio, “I leave it to your judgment,” from a traffic officer. Acéiteme la mano, “oil my hand.” Ayúdame a ayudarte, “help me to help you.” Each phrase asks for a bribe, or offers one, without naming it.
A Word to the Wise
A buen entendedor, pocas palabras. “For one who understands well, few words.” A study of sayings in Decires, a journal of UNAM, notes that refranes are often expressed “parcialmente por razones de un estilo sugerente” (only in part, for the sake of a suggestive style). Their sense “se da siempre por sentado” (is always taken for granted).
I Don’t Know
In 2022, the linguists Flores Treviño and González Salinas published a study of the phrase no sé, “I don’t know,” in the journal Onomázein. They analyzed 12 interviews from a corpus of spoken Spanish recorded in Monterrey. The most frequent use of no sé was to soften what the speaker said.
The authors describe it as a strategy that protects “la imagen de ambos dialogantes” (the face of both speakers).
Small Words
Café becomes cafecito. Cerca, “near,” becomes cerquita. Pronto, “soon,” becomes prontito. Nada, “nothing,” becomes nadita. In 2005, a language column in El Siglo de Torreón noted how readily Mexicans use the diminutive, even on adverbs. The columnist wrote that cafecito “suena mucho más cordial” (sounds much more cordial).
Courteous Softening
Con la pena, “with embarrassment,” said before asking something of someone. Con permiso, “with permission,” said when passing or leaving. A la orden, “at your order.” ¿Mande?, said when someone calls. In 2011, the linguist Concepción Company Company listed these in Letras Libres as examples of “atenuación cortés” (courteous softening). She named it as one of the patterns recorded in the Diccionario de mexicanismos of the Mexican Academy of the Language.
Eleven Words to Ask
In December 2022, the linguist Concepción Company Company gave a lecture at El Colegio Nacional on stereotypes about Mexican Spanish. One is that it is extremely polite. Such stereotypes, she said, “tienen mucho de falso y tienen mucho de cierto también” (have much that is false and much that is true).
On requests, she had data. “Tenemos fórmulas de petición corteses, larguísimas, esto lo he medido” (We have courteous request formulas, very long ones, I have measured this). Mexican speakers use an average of 11 to 12 words to ask for something. Orders are phrased as questions, as in me echas la mano, no seas (give me a hand, go on).