Is that supposed to be a threat? After the four years are up, does that mean I get laid?! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

No, depending on your behavior over the course of the 4 years.

Are we talking after four years and I'm good, just generic, wham, bam, thank you ma'am? Or will it be worth waiting four years. Cause I'm pretty committed to hating Paulie D.

^ That`s an amusing game. You know it was started by this guy, right? :-

^ A friend of mine invariably says, "going for a Jim" as a polite way of saying, "take a leak". It comes from rhyming slang; Jim = Jimmy Riddle = piddle

In general though, I agree with Jackhammer: to start talking as if you belong to a social group that`s not your own can sound really artificial. That`s why I never say," Què onda, buey?", which is Spanish for " What wave, waterbuffalo ?" but really means " `Sup, bro ?" when used by Mexican teenagers.

In Northern California, I always hear Que Onda Gue (Way), As in Que Onda Guero (weddo).

I have this one drunk come into my store. Fairly nice, well behaved for an alcoholic that's always at least semi-hammered. Every other word out of his mouth is guero. Hey Guero... How Much guero? Oh thank you guero. See you later guero.

It doesn't bug me too much, but I always want to call him something similarly, but don't want to end up offending him. Any suggestions?

Has 'hella' moved from outside of Northern California yet? It's been a mainstay all my life, and I remember in elementary school we talked about how it's a regional thing even the southern Californians didn't use. But after a decade or two of it being used and sinking into the vocabulary, I was wondering if it's taken hold anywhere else... maybe as Californians migrated?

It would be hella cool if hella people around the world said hella. There's a helluva lot of people that would resist though. :P

As far as "going for a Jim".... I'll stick to "rockin a piss". I like that it's not trying to be polite or covert. Get a mental image of throwing up the horns and headbanging while pissin.

i'm so used to using American slang nobody really even bothers asking me about my social group

those who are on the Net a lot and watch a lot of American movies catches my drift

That`s interesting ! If he`s saying Gue, pronounced "Way", that`s just a variation of "Buey", pronounced "bWay", which means he`s being friendly because he`s saying "Bro".
But if he`s saying "Guero", sounding like" Werro", then he`s using the Spanish slang for "Blondie", meaning non-Latino. Sometimes that`s a joke, sometimes an insult.
If you want to sound friendly, you could try "Que tal, amigo?" . It`d be like saying, "How`re you doin`?"

Thanks for clearing up the difference between the two. I thought they were the same. I've taken 6 years of Spanish in school. The problem is they don't teach casual, conversational Spanish and/or slang. <It's similar to if when teaching English, everybody outside of school spoke in ebonics. Like, that's nice to know how to formally address a crowd of suits, but I'm trying to talk to the locals and it might as well be a different language...>

I was trying to be a smartass with him. Like ..."Hey guero" "Hey pendejo" but yea, I think that's a straight up insult. But maybe not. I mean, in English, I can walk into a store and go "Oi ****ers!" and make it a positive thing with tone of voice. <I'm a regular customer, I don't try that with strangers>

Thanks for trying, though!

Yeah, I didn`t realize guys were saying the same things in Northern California that they are in the Yucatan. My shakey Spanish just comes from listening to what people say; my only "school" Spanish was a 3-month evening class in London and a bit of self-studying.
Another thing I hear people say when they meet is "Que cuentas?",which is using the verb "tell" to say "What`s new?" Maybe you`ve heard it ?
Certainly, I`d stay clear of pendejo, unless it`s a joke with someone you`re already friendly with !

I think he's muttered pendejo under his breath at me once when I was ringing him up, and I did take offense, but he's been coming in for over a year and we've developed a kind of typical conversation mixing both languages. I could easily communicate everything I need to about the sale in Spanish, but ... nah. It's more fun(ny) this way.


Usually he say all his guero stuff, and then he does a funny like smile and guffaw usually like AaAaaaHhHhHH while turning his head to the side that I began to replicate in unison with him. Like... break the language barrier and go to grunts and noises. But it typically signifies he's satisfied and/or thinks calling me guero for the 1000 time was awfully clever... or he's like "Party time" AAAAHHHH (yeah!). I dunno. I'm gonna call him a pendejo next time, I bet he'll go AAAHHHH like that ^ and think its hilarious that a guero knows a 'new' word in Spanish lol. We'll see, I don't particularly mind the worst case scenario of having to find a new job/city to live in because this town sucks. Aaaahh!