# Three Spanish Words? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334 "2006-12-15T20:48:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/1 "2006-12-15T20:48:08Z")
Here’s an excerpt from _Abbey’s Road_, where he makes an unfortunate choice of words in a bar: \*“His slap made me spill part of my drink. I muttered three Spanish words, five little syllables that one should never utter, aloud, in the border states, unless one is prepared to die. I could see the words floating on the smoke before us. The chatter came to a stop. The cowboys looked at me with pity. But not much pity. Drunken hippie they were thinking. A dog’s death. Kicked to pieces in a dusty ditch. And I was thinking (I think), well, what the hell. This is it. Never apologize, never explain.” \* Not being conversant in Spanish, I was wondering what the hell it was that Ed said?? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/2 "2006-12-15T20:54:18Z")
_Hijo de puta_? (Son of a whore.) ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/3 "2006-12-15T20:56:57Z")
Well, that might be correct, I dunno, Abbey never says. I expect that it was something along maternal lines, however. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/4 "2006-12-15T21:10:41Z")
Chinga tu madre! (Fuck your mother!)? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/5 "2006-12-15T21:13:38Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] _Hijo de puta_? (Son of a whore.) [/QUOTE] Good one, but this being in the border, the most likely words are the ones were you tell the other guy to F their mother like in the way the \*\*Captain \*\* mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/6 "2006-12-15T21:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=Common Tater] Well, that might be correct, I dunno, Abbey never says. I expect that it was something along maternal lines, however. [/QUOTE] Call someone’s mother a whore isn’t along maternal lines…? ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/7 "2006-12-15T21:49:40Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Call someone’s mother a whore isn’t along maternal lines…? [/QUOTE] Certainly! I’m just sayin’, there may be more than one way to get that point across? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/8 "2006-12-15T22:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Call someone’s mother a whore isn’t along maternal lines…? [/QUOTE] Yes, but location is important, “puta” is typical from Spain, and Latin America. In Mexico and the US Border, though they will understand if you use “puta”, “la chingada” is preferred. And very important to keep in mind: the advice to not say it in those places “unless one is prepared to die” or fight is sound. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/9 "2006-12-15T22:13:26Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Yes, but location is important, “puta” is typical from Spain, and Latin America. In Mexico and the US Border, though they will understand if you use “puta”, “la chingada” is preferred. And very important to keep in mind: the advice to not say it in those places “unless one is prepared to die” or fight is sound. [/QUOTE] OK, but I was addressing the specific point that “_hijo de puta_” was not a maternal insult. You’re not insulting the “_hijo_” so much as the alleged “_puta_”. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/10 "2006-12-15T22:55:07Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Yes, but location is important, “puta” is typical from Spain, and Latin America. In Mexico and the US Border, though they will understand if you use “puta”, “la chingada” is preferred. And very important to keep in mind: the advice to not say it in those places “unless one is prepared to die” or fight is sound. [/QUOTE] \*Hijo de la chingada \* would be used more commonly than _hijo de puta_ but also a very common insult would be _hijo de tu puta madre_. But to answer the OP, _chinga tu madre_ are definitely fighting words. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/11 "2006-12-15T23:11:46Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Call someone’s mother a whore isn’t along maternal lines…? [/QUOTE] To insult someone’s mother is known as _rayar la madre_. All of the terms mentioned fall under this category. _Le puse una putiza porque me rayó la madre._ I kicked his ass becaue he insulted my mother. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/12 "2006-12-15T23:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Chinga tu madre! (Fuck your mother!)? [/QUOTE] This was the first thing that popped into my mind as well. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/13 "2006-12-16T00:50:03Z")
my vote goes for “hijo de puta”. Only a mexican would use “chinga tu madre” and they would know not to use it, of course!. “hijo de puta” is very very common in all spanish speaking countries and means the same all over. It is also something that foreigners (specially americans) seem to lear very quickly as it is a “concept” that exists in their native tongues (son of a bitch) as opposed to “fuck your mother” which is not that common to hear in any language I know. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/14 "2006-12-16T01:37:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] my vote goes for “hijo de puta”. Only a mexican would use “chinga tu madre” and they would know not to use it, of course!. “hijo de puta” is very very common in all spanish speaking countries and means the same all over. It is also something that foreigners (specially americans) seem to lear very quickly as it is a “concept” that exists in their native tongues (son of a bitch) as opposed to “fuck your mother” which is not that common to hear in any language I know. [/QUOTE] Chinga tu/su madre is pretty well known among my fellow gringo buddies. My understanding is that it means “I am fucking your mother” as opposed to “fuck your mother”. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/15 "2006-12-16T01:42:00Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] my vote goes for “hijo de puta”. Only a mexican would use “chinga tu madre” and they would know not to use it, of course!. “hijo de puta” is very very common in all spanish speaking countries and means the same all over. It is also something that foreigners (specially americans) seem to lear very quickly as it is a “concept” that exists in their native tongues (son of a bitch) as opposed to “fuck your mother” which is not that common to hear in any language I know. [/QUOTE] 😕 The context clearly notes that the narrator knows about the insults of the area, and since the area is the border states and with cowboys, all that points to a place next to Mexico. Really, natives from this area do learn about how to insult “properly”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/16 "2006-12-16T01:42:50Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] Chinga tu/su madre is pretty well known among my fellow gringo buddies. My understanding is that it means “I am fucking your mother” as opposed to “fuck your mother”. [/QUOTE] So “besa me tonto” isn’t the answer? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/17 "2006-12-16T02:45:37Z")
'besame tonto" could get your madre chinga’ed very quickly ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/18 "2006-12-16T02:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] \*\*\*Hijo de la chingada \* \*\*would be used more commonly than _hijo de puta_ but also a very common insult would be _hijo de tu puta madre_. [/QUOTE] (bolding mine). That has more than five syllables 🙂 **Chinga tu madre** and **hijo de puta** have five syllables each. I think only Mexicans use the first one. And yes, those are fighting words. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/19 "2006-12-16T04:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=Mighty\_Girl] (bolding mine). …I think only Mexicans use the first one… [/QUOTE] Chingar. En el lenguage diario de los mexicanos no hay otra palabra como chingar. Por esa palabra nos reconocemos entre extraños. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334/20 "2006-12-16T13:54:17Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] Por esa palabra nos reconocemos entre extraños. [/QUOTE] esta chingon que no se puedan reconocer por algo mas lindo, guey. 🆒 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-spanish-words/384334.md?page=2)