Saturday, September 12, 2009

Enchílame otra

Using this expression will make your Chilango friends love you and buy you drinks. It's at the core of Mexico City's folklore. Enchílame otra (en-CHEE-lam-meh AWE-trah) literally means "add chili to another." It is a short version of enchílame otra gorda which means "add chili to another gordita", and gordita is the corn dish that should require no further explanation.

Enchilar gordas (to add chili to gorditas) is an easy task that requires no attention or skills of any kind. It can be done one gordita after the other without taking much time and without a problem. Thus, when Chilangos want to convey that a task does require attention, skills, and time, they say ¿a poco crees que es de "enchílame otra"?, which means "do you really think this is as easy as adding chili to another gordita?" An alternative is esto no es de "enchílame otra."

Licenciado Godínez: Orita que acabes con esta, ¿podrías ayudarme a hacer un respaldo de esas otras computadoras e instalar el nuevo software en cada asegurándote de que todas tienen acceso a los nuevos servidores?
Ingeniero Landín: Licenciado, pus si esto no es de enchílame otra. Va a tomar un buen.

Mr. Godinez: As soon as you're done with this computer, could you create a back up of those other terminals and install in each of them the new software, making sure all have access to the new servers?
Mr. Landin: Sir, this is not a simple and quick task. It's gonna require some time.



3 comments:

  1. That's not swearing....

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  2. I've also heard "no son enchiladas", with a similar meaning

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  3. No es lo mismo a enchílame una que enchilamela!!!!

    ReplyDelete