© 2026 Marfa Public Radio
A 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Lobby Hours: Monday - Friday 10 AM to Noon & 1 PM to 4 PM
For general inquiries: (432) 729-4578
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Search results for

  • Órale, this is another episode where we feature one of the words contributed by that carnal from Marfa who wrote to suggest some Caló words we hadn’t covered yet. The word this week is tirilongo. It’s a noun and an adjective that means a wannabe, hanger-on, or somebody who otherwise is pretending to be a pachuco or, worse, a vato arranque. You can tell who they are because they have a need to say they’re a “chuco” or “chuca.” But everybody knows, you don’t have to say it if you really are it. Watchas?
  • Jennifer Bristol's new book, “Cemetery Birding," takes readers into the bittersweet beauty of these reflective places. Bristol is the keynote speaker at this year's sold-out Davis Mountains Hummingbird Celebration.
  • Órale, this episode is about the word, baboso. It means a slob or, better yet, someone who walks around with their mouth open slobbering without knowing they’re doing it or, even worse, can’t see anything wrong with that. The moniker is earned from a stupid mistake or on account of a well-established pattern of stupidity.
  • West Texas today is high and dry. But long ago it was beneath a shallow sea. In "Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals of Big Bend," the book's authors take readers into the region's singular fossil record — including the teeming life of this ancient ocean.
  • Órale, today we’re going to talk about the Caló word huerco. It means a child that’s older than a toddler but younger than an adolescent. It’s said to come from the name of a European god, Orcus, the devil. But it in Caló, it’s an endearing word for an elementary school-age child.
  • Órale, this episode is about the word güirigüiri. It means gossip, the act of spreading it, and the mob or network behind it — as in people engaging in guiriguiri to spread guiriguiri.
  • Órale, to demonstrate how effective of a communication platform Caló can be, we’re going to start using it to navigate that delicate, complex, and very nuanced world of romance. Es gonna be puro romance from the eyes of a vato– just a vato. You tell us if it works or not. This episode is about the word, quehubole, It’s a greeting made up of the contraction of the Spanish words, qué, which means what, and hubo, the past tense of haber, which means is or have. It also has the suffix le, which indicates the acceptability of or preference for a given action or thing. Quehubole asks, what did you want to have happened? It can be abbreviated further as a more impersonal quehubo, which mean what’s up. Quehubole can also be used in a more existential greeting, as in ‘what do you think,’ in the same fashion that hello is used when it’s presented as a question. Quehubole? Hello?
  • Órale, in this episode, we’re going to explore how the world of Caló assimilates new theoretical concepts. The path to understanding is not always direct or brief. Sometimes it meanders, loops around several times, and rarely hits the target right on the bull’s eye. But it gets there eventually, usually by building on what’s tangible— what people can grasp and explain. Complex, multivariate concepts like the limits of authority often prove to be an endless process of continuous improvement in Caló.
  • Órale, the word for this episode is chiple. It means someone who is spoiled or excessively coddled or pampered. Caló speakers sometimes abbreviated it, chipi. Although it’s usually used to refer to children—or people acting like children, proper adults can also be chiple, as in the vato is all chiple because he believes everybody thinks he’s a mazote or the vato got all chipi when everybody started deferring to him at the big meeting. There’s also a romantic side to this word. If you’re the one chipleando somebody, then the object of your coddling is your chiple, you know, the person you want to keep happy and thinking only good thoughts about you. But it isn’t a substitute for your lollipop. A chiple is that person you want to be your lollipop, that is, during the prospective stage in the relationship. Unless you’re talking about a child, you want to chiplear somebody so they become your vato or ruca. Simón, it’s a little complicated, but a good analogy is that of a caterpillar. The flowers chiplean the worm, hoping it grows up and becomes a butterfly and eats their nectar and spreads their pollen. Watchas?
  • Órale, the word for this episode is masote. It means a physically attractive male. It comes from the English word, muscle, but it doesn’t necessarily refer to muscles themselves but whatever physical attribute you think makes a male attractive, like thick hair, eagle eyes, or a strong voice or energetic personality. The term can also be used in reference to a female, but given it invokes male attributes, know that masota won’t work as a compliment in all circumstances.
336 of 5,473