About the Dichos

When I first began working with Mexican cooks, I quickly learned that they tease each other all day long. Nicknames are casual, short, and rude: el pelon (baldy) for the guy who is vain about his thinning hair, el chapparito (shorty) for a small man in tall heels, el gordo (fatso) for the biggest belly or the greediest eater. I worked with several el changitos (apes) and one la princesa who happened to be male. I was called la flaca— the skinny one, which had other implications I won’t go into here—and I was relieved to get off so lightly.