Search results for

The feature this week is the term te sales. In modern Spanish, it means you’re getting out. In Caló, it means you are out of line, literally, and you're out of your mind or your normal self, figuratively.

The “Three Sisters” — corn, beans and squash — have sustained Indigenous societies across the Americas, including in the Big Bend area. What are the roots of this ancient cultural heritage?

Órale, the feature of this episode of Caló is the term empicar. In modern Spanish, it means to dive into something headfirst, as in a pique. In Caló, however, it means to become used to or addicted to something, as if stunned by the power of a snake bite. Of course, the first step to becoming empicado, is to be picado, which never comes from an actual snake, but from a very pleasurable or alluring experience, such that the person who’s been picado wants more of it and less of everything else.

Órale, the feature this week is the the verb, huarachar. It’s derived from the noun, huarache, which means sandal in Nahuatl or Aztec. One nuance of huarachar is to walk or dance in huaraches, but the more common use of this word in Caló is as an analogy for uncouth behavior, that is, acting as if you’re someone who customarily wears huaraches—a hick or backcountry person. It’s an insult with many dimensions, economic status, intelligence or worse. If you’re speaking Caló and you have to say somebody is dancing, you say they’re chancleando or zapateando, not huarachando, unless of course you’re intentionally calling somebody a lout or a brute.

The ancient Egyptians lived in an arid land, but they marshaled the Nile River's floodwaters to build a farming society. Now, researchers have learned something similar unfolded in our region's deep past.

Big Bend is defined by geological diversity, which has been shaped by diverse tectonic forces. And scientists are now taking a closer look at one of those forces — known as the Laramie Ororgeny.

Órale, the feature of this episode is the word fileriar. There’s no comparable word in modern Spanish, only the close Latin root of filo, which means true or straight. In Spanish, the filo of anything is the sharp edge of it, and to afilar is to sharpen. In Caló, the conjugation of this term goes further and names the sharpened object itself, filero, which means a sharpened shank or knife. Caló also turns this noun into a verb, fileriar. Some English speakers may note the close resemblance to the term fillet, as in to slice and splay a fish.

The national parks at Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns are helping scientists understand an unseen but consequential phenomena — the emissions of methane from the Permian Basin oilfield.

As enthralling as it is, prehistoric rock art has long resisted scientific analysis. But one archaeologist is now changing that.

Órale, the feature this week is the word curar. In modern Spanish it means to cure, as in from an injury or illness. In Caló, curar means to gawk, as in to take inappropriate pleasure in looking at somebody. It is said that somebody is curandose if they’re looking at somebody who’s unknowingly exposed or in distress. Curar can also be used in situations where the cura is somebody getting their comeuppance or eating crow.