Oscar Rodriguez

Órale, the onda this week in Caló is the expression dejar caer la greña. Its literal translation is to let one’s hair down, but the image being conveyed is that of a bundle of long unkempt hair being let go—unbound, loosed to do what it was meant to do. Its figurative translation is that of someone letting their raw talent or instincts take over to produce something improbable, beautiful or impressive. The bartender put his notes aside and se dejó caer la greña. The result was a hot tea and cognac drink that became famous.

Órale, the onda this week is tartamoche. It’s a portmanteau, a word made up of two other words. In this case, the two base words are tartamudo, stutterer, and mochado, cut off. Together they mean something said or done completely wrong. The idea behind by the term is that of someone who stutters through a story and on top of that misses key points of it.

Órale, the onda this week is chafa. It means something cheaply made, defective, or a low-quality person or gesture. A bad haircut is chafa. A repair job that doesn’t last long is chafa. A slow thank you is chafa. A love interest that only thinks of the physical is chafa.

Órale, the onda in Caló this week is qüajedas, alternatively spelled and pronounced quahidas for primarily English-speakers. It comes from the Texas dialect of English. It came into that tongue as a borrowed word from the Comanche (Numunu), for whom it served as the name for the band of their tribe that lived in what’s today eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle; namely, the Quahadas. Because this band was the last of the Numunu to live autonomously, the Europeans, including the Spanish, Scots, Anglos and Saxons, warred with them the longest—well into the 1800s. Out of this experience, came the expression “put the quahedas” to something or someone, which came to replace locally the expression for stopping something, or “putting the kibosh” to something or someone. Quahedas is in the Caló lexicon in Texas, but it also appears elsewhere along the Rio Grande, including Mexico, as cuajar, which also means to freeze in Spanish and has the same meaning and sounds the same when quajedas is turned into a verb, cuajar.

Órale, the onda this week is chavalón(a). It’s an adjective that means a youngish man. Chavalona means a youngish woman. We’ve already covered the root of this word, chavo(a), which means kid or post-toddler minor. Chavlón is used to either to assign someone to the upper end of the chavo age group or to say that someone presents as a younger person than their actual age would indicate. “You’re too chavalón to retire, ese.”

Órale, the onda in Caló this week is tramados. It means pants. The same word in modern Spanish means a weaving, primarily as in a narrative, story line or drama. Very much in the argot fashion, where communication is hidden through different meanings of an otherwise well-known word, Caló uses the word for weaving for something entirely different, trousers. Plausibly, trousers came out as tramados for Caló-speakers.

Órale, the onda in Caló this week is neta. In modern Spanish it means net, as in bottom line after negatives and positives are counted. In Caló, it stands for “what you really mean.” It’s a relatively new term in Caló. It’s a term you use to cut through rhetoric, jargon or double-speak. It asks for a summary and commitment as to where somebody stands on a given issue. “You say you don’t have a big problem with it, but I want you to tell me a la neta if you like it or not.”

Órale, the onda in Caló this week is the verb traquilear. It comes from the Romaní word, traquí, which means to become depressed, distant or despondent. Along the Rio Grande today, however, it means to make the people around you feel bad by putting them down or slighting them, whether kin, loved ones, mere acquaintances, or total strangers standing next to you. A traquilero(a) is someone who goes from place to place or relationship to relationship causing fights and then carrying with them the baggage of those fights from the past. More than a lifestyle, to traquilear is a bad habit, perhaps also a psychological condition—a syndrome. It’s not necessarily an aggressive posture, just conflictive. It can be passive aggressive. “What do you think of my lisa, esa?” “Bad taste, ese. I’d never wear something gatcho like that.”

Órale, the onda this week of Caló is tando. It means hat, but not just any type of hat. It’s the kind of a hat you would wear to go dancing, that is, a broad-rimmed black fedora or a tightly knitted straw Panama. Either way, you strap a big feather on the side of your tando so it se watch de aquellas. What do you call a cap? A cachucha. A work hat? A sombrero. A porkpie hat? A tapita. Neither of them would do to throw chancla at the bule. Only a tando a toda madres will do.

Órale, the onda this week of Caló is lilo. It’s Romaní for someone who’s crazy. There’s a similar term in Caló, chalado, but it means someone who has mental or behavioral ticks, not all the way crazy. A lilo is someone who is full on loco.