Se Me Sale: The Reflex Of Spanish Expletives

I’m not going to say I’m the most vulgar person in the world — but I’m not going to say that I don’t often employ a few choice four-letter words, and then some. Especially when it comes to current events! But what’s more is that I find the Spanish expletives and exclamations are ingrained in my consciousness in a way that the English ones simply are not.

Let me give you an example.

I drop something. “Chinga’o.” I hear a scandalous chisme. “¡Dios mío!” I hear something crazy. “¡Hiiiijole!” And so on. Which is to say, my Spanish expletives/exclamations are part of my reflexes, where the English expletives take much more conscious thought.

In some circles this endears me, whereas in many other circles this little habit of mine garners puzzled looks (I can just imagine what they must be thinking, “Ching-what? What did she say? Is that French?”). Nonetheless, in the most dire of circumstances, I do manage to control myself, it’s simply curious to me that my mind works this way.

It’s as though Spanish is a language engrained more closely to my feelings than English is, which is probably why I also tend to employ more Spanish in other non-exclamative circumstances: When I speak to my loved ones.