Posted 3 years, 10 months ago in the wee hours by oso
So mi compa Daily Texican has started this thing called his Cholo Word of the Day. He throws some interesting palabras out there - and certainly many of them are not cholo or even Chicano but they’re all useful for anyone wanting to communicate on either side of the border.
I don’t know how he does it; don’t know how he’s able to come up with a new one every single day. And now he says he’s gonna start audio posting them.
Well, here’s my contribution - my cholo word of the year.
Rasquache
Tomás Ybarra-Frausto said, “to be rasquache is to be down but not out.” He also said:
Very generally, rasquachismo is an underdog perspective - los de abajo . . . it presupposes a world view of the have not, but it is a quality exemplified in objects and places and social comportment . . . it has evolved as a bicultural sensibility.
To be rasquache is to be resourceful, but it is more than this; it is more than getting by with what you are given. To be rasquache is to overcome oppression and succeed regardless. Rasquachismo is humility … it’s using your box springs to keep the chickens in, it’s using gum instead of a glue stick. MacGyver, now there’s a fucking rasquache.
Interestingly enough, it has a much more positive connotation north of the border than it does in Mexico where it’s considered more of a white trash-like insult.
Be sure to check out Amalia Mesa-Bains’ essay on Domesticana: The Sensibility of Chicana Rasquache.
Word.
quien quite que depronto nos encontramos 
Sapo Verde 
Oh Osito, don’t mess with Texas.
I think Rascuache is more of, originally, I believe, an academic term. I had never heard of it until a Latino studies course I took. Never heard it south or north of the border.
I was lucky to hear the Punk Band Rascuache, at a NACCS conference in Chicago a couple years ago. Their lead singer, Adam Benítez, who named the band, said that he had first heard the term, in college too.
Which is what makes me think that it was an academic term, I mean, if a punk kid from LA hasn’t heard of it, and I la Mexicana haven’t hard of it…anwyay, I could be “not-right”.
It might be a texas word, because I’ve heard it. For instance if you’re talking about a cheap ass broom, you can say: “me dieron esa escoba rascuache.” It’s almost the same as using the word “chafa.”
i forgot to mention i got a bumper stick from the band that says Yo Soy Rascuache Y Que?
of fences / with switches
turn them on
moats of / your homes
poured salt on these slugs
mugshot / fatigue
shimmering
pacemaker pace yourself
you were slowly crawling your way out
torniquet / of gossip
on a board of checkered chess
salt ring / probing
in case of emergency
stampede / coming
mastodon infantry
radiate / this frequency
show me just what the hell you mean
pacemaker pace yourself
here comes the bride
here comes the bride
lavender smothered
in black turpentice
- rascuache by at the drive-in
Elena,
I think that you, la Mexicana, are probably right. I had never even heard of the word Rasquache before until going to a Chican@ art exhibit here in San Diego with Laura and her sister, both of whom had heard the word before. I’ve since asked other Mexicans with little time in the country if they knew the word and about half said yes so I figured its origin was from Mexico.
I’ve looked all around the web though and can’t find anything that would back that up. If anything it looks like the origin came from Tomas Ybarra Frausto which would definitely make it an “academic term.” But how did he come up with that word? And how is it now conocido in Mexico?
If anyone has any answers please let me know.
Rajeev,
I’m going to look for that song. There’s also a Mexican “indie” band named Rasquache.
how can learen cholo words
chilli,
Daily Texican’s blog is the best place.
could you send me some words of cholo i like that words. i realy intersit in that. i want learen that words and spainish words. send to my pleas.
great time
My dad is mestizaje from Patzcuaro, Michoacan. He used the word to mean rascally or someone who figured out a totally different way to get something done despite the difficulties and with great creativity, a survivor type person. Researchers Hurtado and Gurin use it academically in their study of Chicano/a culture and identity. I’ve encountered the word as an adjective, noun and verb.
Thanks Abuelita!