You're welcome in advance.
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VERSION 2.0
I have marked all new additions with an asterisk *
Also, please note that I am by no means an expert on speaking Spanish; the Spanish words and phrases I included are just some of the more interesting and useful ones, and the translations given are just my personal interpretation of what they mean.
¿Comprendo?
*ALL- Local term. For whatever reason, in this part of the world, "all" is often used as a replacement for "really" or "extremely" when describing something intense, as in: "Whoa, that's ALL crazy!" or "I got ALL sick last night."
*BAD- Local term. Ironically, in most cases when used by young'uns, bad means good. As in, "Oh, that's song is bad, dude." Sort of like "badass" or "sick".
BEAR BAIT- Local term. A not-so endearing term for the massive amounts of Boy Scouts who come through Raton every summer on their way to Philmont Scout Ranch.
*CAPULIN VOLCANO- Place. Yep, it's a real volcano! Granted, it's been about 60,000 years since it last erupted...
http://www.nps.gov/cavo/index.htm
*CERVEZA- Spanish term, pronounced "sehr-vay-sah". Beer!
CHAY (also SHAY, CHAYZERS)- Local vernacular. Not to be confused with "E". The word "chay" is usually used as an exclamation of surprise, awe, astonishment, or shock. In some cases, the word is drawn out extensively: "Chaaaayyyyyyyy". This usually indicates a larger amount of surprise, awe, etc.
CHUPACABRA- Local legend. Or is it? True, the Chupacabra is not just limited to New Mexico, but it is well known here. Every so often the NM news channels will do stories on the Chupacabra, and they are always a funny mix of the newscasters shooting holes in the story and irate farmers complaining about the damn things eating their goats.
CRUISING- Common local activity. Mostly a social activity, "cruising" is the activity of driving up and down Raton's 2nd Street with friends, blasting loud music and wasting finite natural resources.
DAIRY QUEEN ICE CREAM CONE- Infamous local landmark. Located in front of Raton's Dairy Queen establishment, there is a humongous replica of an ice cream cone. Just about every six year old who has seen it has licked it, Raton citizens included.
E- Local vernacular. Not to be confused with "chay". "E" (pronounced like it looks) is generally an exclamation of chagrin, annoyance, frustration, or exasperation. Often drawn out, "Eeeeeeeeeeee" sometimes comes out as an irritated sigh.
*FOOL- Local vernacular. In Raton, "fool" is sometimes a nonspecific word for a peer, or sometimes a term of endearment, much like "dude". Ironically, in Raton, "fool" is rarely an insult.
FIREBALLS, THE- The Fireballs are one of Raton's few claim-to-fames. The band formed in the 1950's and is known for the hit, "Sugar Shack".
GARDNER ROAD- Infamous local landmark. Gardner Road is a small road on the outskirts of Raton, not heavily trafficked. Mostly used by locals as a place to drink, get high, have sex, and/or hunt for trolls.
*GOATHEADS- Local vegetation. The enemy of all bare feet, these awful thorns grow in abundance here.
*HIJITA/HIJITO- Spanish term, pronounced "hee-ta/hee-to." The actual translation is daughter/son, but older people often call unrelated young people by these terms. For example, at work I'm called "Hijita" several times a day, but never by my dad.
*LA LLORONA- Local legend, pronounced "La Yorona", meaning "They Crying Woman." This area's answer to the Bogeyman. The legend changes according to where you are and who tells it, but I will give you a quick summary of the legend I'm familiar with:
Years and years ago, there was once a very beautiful woman named Maria. She had many suitors- nice men who would make good husbands and take good care of her. However, Maria found them boring and, instead, turned her attentions to the local bad-boy who was handsome and dangerous. In time, they married and had several children. As time went on, however, he started spending more and more time away from home and had several mistresses on the side. Soon, the only time he came home was to see his children, and never even looked at Maria. After once such visit, Maria fell into a jealous rage, took her children to the river and drowned them. When she realized what she'd done, she was so distraught she drowned herself.
As the legend goes, children should never stay out after dark because the spirit of La LLorona is still out, looking for her children and if she finds a child out after dark, she will take them away. They say, if you are by the river at night, you can still hear her crying.
*NUH?- Local vernacular. Tacked onto the end of a statement, "nuh?" is a grunt for approval or acknowledgement. As in: "Yous are going out of town this weekend, nuh?" or "You wanna go to Dairy Queen, nuh?"
OMBERS- Local vernacular. Pronounced "awwm-burs". All but extinct, this word was the precursor to "chay", and is therefore noteworthy. Mostly used by elementary school children. As with "chay" and "E", "ombers" was sometimes drawn out.
*OOOOO- Local vernacular. "Oooo" is kind of hard to explain without saying it aloud. It's not "ooooh" as in: "Who'd like a cerveza?" "Ooooh, I do!" and it's not "Ewwww" as in: "Ewww, I just stepped on a goathead and my foot is bleeding." It's like a sigh, but more forceful.
PO-PO- Local vernacular. Term for the police, of course. I actually made a joke out of it: What does Santa Claus say when he sees the police? Po-po-po!
*POBRECITA/POBRECITO- Spanish term. "Poor thing." In my experience, unless someone is told this while they are deathly ill, it is probably not sincere.
POLICE REPORT- Local news. Played on the radio, it's a list of alleged criminals and their crimes. Almost always good for a laugh, since it's such a small town. It's always great when someone you don't like gets a speeding ticket or something.
*QUE VA- Spanish term. I believe it technically means "What goes?" but it is extremely versatile. Some people use it like "No way!" and some people use it like, "Damn it!" and some people say it when their peers are being idiots... your call.
RATON- Place. Located in the Northeast corner of New Mexico, this gem of a town was once called "Willow Springs" but is now called Raton. No one is exactly sure why. For the record, pronounced correctly it would be something like "Ruh-tone" but we locals pronounce it "Rat-own".
*SHULER THEATER- Local landmark. I make fun of Raton often, but I can honestly say the Shuler Theater is one of the few Raton landmarks I'm proud of. It is beautiful and historical and I'm honored to be able to say I've been part of several productions, on the stage and behind it.
http://www.shulertheater.com/
*TRINIDAD- Place. Just over the Colorado boarder, this town's Claim to Fame is the fact that it is hailed as "The Sex Change Capital of The World." Raton residents and Trinidad residents have always had kind of an uneasy camaraderie. The relationship is strained by the fact that our sports teams despise each other- on more than one occasion there have been fights and slashed tires. However, with towns as small as ours, we inevitably cross paths often and strike up friendships when we're tired of the dumbasses in our own towns...
TROLL- Local legend. Out on Gardner Road (see above), there is a bridge that, legend has it, is home to a flesh-eating troll. Locals will sometimes dare each other to go troll-hunting at night. As far as I'm aware, the troll has never been sighted, but when you go under the bridge in the daylight, there are bones down there. Maybe not such a legend after all...
WALMART (as in, "Let's go to Walmart!")- Location/Activity. Superior to KMart because of its location and 24 hour operation, locals like to go there a lot. It's an excuse to go to Trinidad where there are lots of different restaurants and whether you buy anything or not, there's always something to do. NOTE: Playing hide and seek there is frowned upon...
*YOUS- Local vernacular. "Yous" is a versatile word! It can be plural: "So what do yous guys wanna eat?" Or single: "Hey dude, do yous wanna come over and hang out?"
*505- Area code. For a very long time, 505 was Raton's area code and it became kind of a gang related symbol- people would get it tattooed to show their dedication. Then our code changed to 575... and now there are a bunch of people with 505 inexplicably on their arms and necks.
Have you contacted your travel agent yet? :)
Sarah
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