56 replies to this topic

[mexicolindo]

La Malinche was not exactly Cortez's "maid." Since she spoke Mayan and quickly learned Spanish, she was his translator and probably his lover. She is both revered and hated in Mexico. She was a survivor of the holocaust of the Conquista, but she also assisted in facilitating it, so she is also viewed as a traitor.

She was a slave hat was given to Cortez as a gift, but supposedly she felt in love woth him, that´s were the term "malinchismo" comes from and means the love of mexicans for foreigner things/people.

Malinchismo: Actitud de quien muestra apego a lo extranjero con menosprecio de lo propio.

[mexicolindo]

Gata has a worse than just poor or insulting connotation in Spanish for "maid". It is also used to describe the mistress or "other woman" in an illicit affair in a Mexican Catholic marriage. It is the deorgatory word for the woman used by family and freinds of the "wronged" woman. In the Mexican Spanish female vernacular, there is nothing lower than a "gata"...ranks right at the bottom with "puta".

I have never really heard the word "gata" on that context...
Maids are usally called "gatas" because of some similarities between the animals and SOME maids, such as been lazy, thankless, just leaving their job from one day to an other, disliking children, etc...

[slainte39]

Then you come from a good family and people if no one has used that word in your world.

The reason More Liana didn't want to use the word was that it was worse than someone just being "lazy, thankless, etc.
A real lady would not use that word in any sort of company as it is the most insulting thing you could call a female person.

[More Liana]

I have never really heard the word "gata" on that context...

I've never heard that use either.

[Jeanne B]

I think this tread need to go away. My housekeeker comes once a week for three hous and cleans my home. I do have a realsonship with her out of kindness and respect. I am going to be the Madirna of the dress for the Quenseda (sp) for her daughter in October.

[bmh]

I think in these days the slaves were more for sex than cleaning houses.... She was a Nahuatl princess that was sold in slavery by her mother. She spoke several indigenous languages and quickly learned Spanish which made her very useful to Cortez as a translator and an informant. She had a child by Cortez and was also known as Doña Marina. From what I read her relationaship with Cortez was a symbiotic one and he gave her away in marriage to one of his men.

The Danza de la Pluma in Oaxaca is the history of the conquest of the Zapotecas and Mistecas by the Aztecas and the Spaniards. There are two little girls surrounding Moctezuma in the dance, one dress as a Spaniard lady and the other as an indigenous, they represent the two sides of the Malinche who was called something like Malintzin.

She was a slave at one time but a maid...not by my definition.

[mexicolindo]

bmh.. How nice I didn´t know the history on "la danza de la pluma" nice! It remained me of an excellent book called "The heart on green stone" from Salvador de Madariaga, great book!

[Studio del Sol]

It only applies when referring to a person. When you say: "Mi gata está enferma" you mean that your female cat is sick wich is correct.

Thanks! I wondered about this as I have a female cat. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I don't understand why a maid would be referred to as "gata" in any case.==never mind, I just got educated by reading the rest of your posts.

[slainte39]

Now we don't want get into what the Spanish word for female dog is when applied to a person. That would require another thread AND make you blush. Cats and dogs deserve better.

[More Liana]

Perra and gata--female dog and female cat--are commonly used when referring to animals and have no bad connotations.

Macho y hembra are used to differentiate between male and female in all animals.

Hombre, niño, or varón are used for male humans. Mujer and niña are the words used for female humans. For example, if a woman gives birth to twins (boy and girl), the babies are varón y niña. If you ask parents how many children they have, they will most commonly answer like this, "Cinco, tres mujeres y dos hombres." Or, "Tres, dos varones y una niña." Or, "Seis, tres y tres." Etc.

[bournemouth]

I know that b's and v's are often interchangeable in Spanish but is not the word for a male actually "varon"?

[More Liana]

Of course.

[slainte39]

More Liana---Perra has no bad connotation when referring to animals (dogs, wolves, etc)...de acuerdo, but otherwise, not so.
I can't believe you have led that sheltered a life if that's what you think.
When God created the Spanish language, he decided when he got to "hot dog", the salchicha sold in every city and pueblo (no matter how remote) in México, that he would leave it in inglés. For some reason he didn't think "(salchicha) perra caliente" looked too good on those late night carts, especially in the moon shadow of the templo.

[More Liana]

Slainte, what is said is: "Perra and gata--female dog and female cat--are commonly used when referring to animals and have no bad connotations." Of course I meant that there are no bad connotations when referring to dogs and cats. If you think I thought otherwise, you apparently don't know much about me. Just let me say that my first three and a half years in Mexico, I worked as a social worker in the Tijuana city jail. Believe me, I heard perra y gata more than once--and not about dogs and cats. In the last 30+ years, I've heard a lot worse than that.

[PULELEHUA]

More Liana: Always knew there was some reason I always enjoy your posts....and the history of being a social worker in the Tijuana city jail explains it all...!

BTW, in Spain, "una gata" or "un gato" refers to an AK-47....maybe the choice of gender refers to who is holding the weapon?

[ezpz]

Back to the original topic - I used to wonder about this myself. I had looked up in the dictionary that a "maid" was called a "criada". I used that word in front of my maid once long ago when some other workers showed up, and I could just see her blanch, and I felt immediately embarrassed for her sake. I didn't realize that "Criada" has a very condescending connotation like "servant" - one who caters to your every whim, a social inferior.

So, I asked around, and eventually just decided on "ayudante de casa" - household helper. "Ayudante" is a very respectful word - it was used on my hospital bill when I had two surgeons - one was the "ayudante". Another possible word for maid is "limpiadora" - one who cleans.

My maid (in English only) and I have hashed out a personal friendship over the years. We chat in Spanish - she doesn't know a word of English - and I respect the fact that she has been a source of valuable info about what is really going on in town - sometimes light gossip, but now, more serious matters. She is a good person and we get along well. I turn on banda music when she works and give her other perks as well. She appreciates that and we don't have any problems. Doing such things is one way you can make a real inroad into the community here.

[slainte39]

Is there a "sexual innuendo" in that Spanish usage?

More Liana... was not trying to be snide or saracastic...just thought maybe you hadn't been "exposed to" the boys world.
You corrected that assumption...no disrespect meant. Nice to have someone on the board who understands Spanish "double entendres".