¡Bichos!
It’s a Spanish word that if you look up in the dictionary will mean, bug, insect, small animal. But here, if you are out in the street with a bunch of kids around, you will soon learn that it is used in a different way. Here, and by here, I mean El Salvador…not sure how far it spreads beyond the borders…haven’t heard it in Mexico anyway… it means “kid” or maybe “brat”. It is yet another of many words that doesn’t really have the best direct translation into English. It can, like so many words in Spanish, be either bichos, or bichas, depending on the sex of the kid or kids you are commenting on. It is used by; parents to talk about their own kids, between the kids themselves, and sometimes, from an adult that knows the kids or kids parents very well. If used by a relative unknown it would be insulting.
This being the case, we very rarely use it. Katie has found it an effective way to gain control of an out of control classroom full of kids, ¡Bichos! Not sure it doesn’t shock them a bit…but at that point, who cares? You hear it a lot though, frequently in a commanding voice, ¡Bichos, vengan aca! Or ¡Bichos escuchenme!, sometimes more like a whiney Bichas…vamanos… It just never ceases to entertain though.
The other major use of bichos, the kids themselves, not the word, is to get stuff for you. It’s a staple of the community that if you need something from the store you just “Mande un bicho”, send or order a kid. It goes beyond the all too frequent trips to the tienda though. In an agricultural community like ours, need some carrots, just send a bicho out to look for them, ask around, buy and bring back. The kids make the most of it. Gets them out and about and they often don’t take the most direct route stopping for other fun things along the way.
It’s taken about a year, but we are starting to use bichos too. Just today we wanted some cabbage for a soup I am making, and for some coleslaw…well eventually two of my counterparts kids came over, bringing down the ballcap I left at their house last night (typical bicho mission), and after we’d talked to them for awhile, we mentioned the need for cabbage, and they immediately offered their services. We aren’t quite to the “Manda” stage yet, we wait for an offer, or if it’s our neighbors they’ll tell us to send their kid out. Still by the end of another year who knows! It might turn out to be one of the things we miss once we get home…no bichos to go get us stuff!
This being the case, we very rarely use it. Katie has found it an effective way to gain control of an out of control classroom full of kids, ¡Bichos! Not sure it doesn’t shock them a bit…but at that point, who cares? You hear it a lot though, frequently in a commanding voice, ¡Bichos, vengan aca! Or ¡Bichos escuchenme!, sometimes more like a whiney Bichas…vamanos… It just never ceases to entertain though.
The other major use of bichos, the kids themselves, not the word, is to get stuff for you. It’s a staple of the community that if you need something from the store you just “Mande un bicho”, send or order a kid. It goes beyond the all too frequent trips to the tienda though. In an agricultural community like ours, need some carrots, just send a bicho out to look for them, ask around, buy and bring back. The kids make the most of it. Gets them out and about and they often don’t take the most direct route stopping for other fun things along the way.
It’s taken about a year, but we are starting to use bichos too. Just today we wanted some cabbage for a soup I am making, and for some coleslaw…well eventually two of my counterparts kids came over, bringing down the ballcap I left at their house last night (typical bicho mission), and after we’d talked to them for awhile, we mentioned the need for cabbage, and they immediately offered their services. We aren’t quite to the “Manda” stage yet, we wait for an offer, or if it’s our neighbors they’ll tell us to send their kid out. Still by the end of another year who knows! It might turn out to be one of the things we miss once we get home…no bichos to go get us stuff!
posted by Jon & Katie | 8:57 AM
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