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English translation: cholo

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Spanish term or phrase:	cholo
English translation:	cholo
Entered by:	kironne

11:35 Oct 10, 2008

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Anthropology

Spanish term or phrase: cholo

This is from a biography of a Panamanian boxer. In the text, he's in jail and having a hard time with one of the guards:

...era un cholo santeño de tez colorada, agarrado y fuerte, grosero y patán...Yo manifestaba que los cholos eran brutos, ignorantes, solo sabían usar el machete y corretear ganado. No sabían vestir ni hablar, lo único que tenían en la cabeza eran piojos.

I find reference to "cholo" as a kind of gang member or petty thug, but I don't think that's right for this context. I have the feeling that it's a regionalism...

Any ideas?

Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales KudoZ activity Questions: 276 (9 open) (1 without valid answers) (29 closed without grading) Answers: 259
Local time: 11:48

cholo

Explanation:

" ... he was a red-skinned cholo from Los Santos (footnote)... I expressed/said cholos were coarse, ignorant, they only knew how to use the machete... "

Considering the many articles, papers, and studies covering "cholos", I would leave it as is and include an explanatory footnote:

Please look at the examples, (not all referring to Panama, but I think what's important is the "namecalling", it's a love-hate situation:

http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/07.04.html#Mexicans

["Cholos de Coclé": determination of their racial ...[Rev Med ...
["Cholos de Coclé": determination of their racial mixture and genetic origins] ... 1993]; [Racial mix of the panamanian population] [Rev Med Panama. ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1439003

NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Cholo
Cholo, broadly, is a term applied to persons of mixed Amerindian and Spanish ... the Choco language family in northwestern Colombia and southeastern Panama. ...
www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Cholo

etc.

Selected response from:

kironne
Chile
Local time: 05:48

Grading comment

Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

Mestizo

Fabio Descalzi

indian

Esperanza Gallegos

cholo

kironne

hick

moken

Summary of reference entries provided

Cholo

Fiona Kirton

Expanded reference

moken

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

6 mins confidence:

Mestizo

Explanation:
según el DRAE:
cholo, la.
1. adj. Am. Mestizo de sangre europea e indígena. U. t. c. s.
2. adj. Am. Dicho de un indio: Que adopta los usos occidentales.

Fabio Descalzi
Uruguay
Local time: 06:48
Native speaker of:

Spanish

7 mins confidence:

indian

Explanation:
People with Andean, or "indian" roots. It is used pejoratively sometimes.

Reference: http://www.prairienet.org/~astral16/essay17.htm

Esperanza Gallegos
Local time: 03:48
Native speaker of:

Spanish

18 mins confidence:

hick

Explanation:
Hi Elizabeth,

He clearly does not have a very high opinion of this character. From the tone, I don't think this is intended so much as racial slur but focused around the 'bumpkin' angle.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hick
an unsophisticated provincial person

Good luck!

Álvaro :O)

moken
Local time: 10:48
Native speaker of: Spanish

4 hrs confidence:

cholo

kironne
Chile
Local time: 05:48
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thank you!

Reference comments

7 mins peer agreement (net): +3

Reference: Cholo

Reference information:
Here's an explanation of the term (hope it helps)

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholo

Fiona Kirton
United Kingdom
Native speaker of:

English

9 mins

Reference: Expanded reference

Reference information:
Hi Elizabeth,

I was just looking up the same page as fkirton. It comments on specific usage of the term in different countries. Here's what it says:

En Panamá, el término se refiere a las personas de ascendencia amerindia que han asimilado o están en el proceso de asimilación de la cultura "criolla", pero que aún conservan costumbres rudas. También se refiere a los rasgos propios de la raza amerindia (cabellos cholos, espalda de cholo, cara de cholo, etc.). Según el contexto en que se diga puede ser un término de corte despectivo (ejemplo: se emborrachó como un cholo, así se enamoran los cholos) o de elogio alusivo a rasgos amerindios de una persona. Como ejemplo de uso del término en Panamá, vease Roberto Durán.

Reference: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholo#Panam.C3.A1

moken
Native speaker of: Spanish

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