# What does "changuito" mean when used as a racial slur by a spanish speaker ? (Re: recent LA City Council event) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 16, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346 "2022-10-16T20:35:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/1 "2022-10-16T20:35:57Z")
This is in reference to the LA City Council ongoing racism investigation. Nury Martinez, Former President of the Los Angeles City Council used the word “changuito” as a racial slur to describe Councilmember Mike Bonin’s Black son. The literal translation presented here [LA City Council faces uncertainty after racist remarks leaked | PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/la-city-council-faces-uncertainty-after-racist-remarks-leaked) is “little monkey”. Is there more to this slur ? Is it just like White people depicting King Kong or something more sinister ? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/2 "2022-10-16T20:39:55Z")
“Monkey” is a very, _very_ old racial slur for Black people. viz. Howard Cosell, you just don’t say it. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/3 "2022-10-16T20:45:01Z")
In northern and central Argentina “Changuito” means “little kid”, no overt racial aspects (may be some hidden ones). That said, I don’t think they use northern Argentinian dialect in LA, I think it does mean “monkey” in Mexican Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/4 "2022-10-16T20:49:11Z")
Yeah, I know monkey as “chango,” so “changuito” makes sense to me as “little monkey.” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/5 "2022-10-17T10:13:16Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > The literal translation presented here [LA City Council faces uncertainty after racist remarks leaked | PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/la-city-council-faces-uncertainty-after-racist-remarks-leaked) is “little monkey”. Is there more to this slur ? Is it just like White people depicting King Kong or something more sinister ? Only if you consider using words/phrases that in the originating language do not, necessarily, have negative connotations but are most commonly used as dehumanizing slurs to not be sinister. It’s very common to hear folks explain that _this word_ just means _this_ but everyone that actually knows how the word is used know it means _this_. See words like: mulignane, schwartze, and [macaca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaca_(term)), [(et al\*)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs). \*A list that includes many, seemingly innocent, words/phrases that are clear slurs if you are aware of how they function as in-group shibboleths. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/6 "2022-10-17T11:43:17Z")
As a native speaker of the South Texas dialect\*\* of Spanish, the article didn’t translate that correctly. Only it’s “parece” that they got wrong, not the “changuito.” I would translate parece changuito as “he looks like a little monkey” rather than “he’s like a little monkey.” And no, I can’t translate it any way that makes it not racist. If she’s hiding behind an excuse of translation missing a subtlety in the language, she’s being disingenuous. \*\* I presume Southern California Spanish is only minimally different. ETA. If she had said “es como changuito”, which does translate as “like a little monkey” I think she might have some wiggle room (maybe the kid runs around, jumps on things, etc.). Parece doesn’t leave her any such wiggle room. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/7 "2022-10-17T12:09:39Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > maybe the kid runs around, jumps on things, etc. Why does that remind me of something? Oh yeah, it’s this, [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IYITxGniww4/maxresdefault.jpg "Clerks II (8/8) Movie CLIP - Porch Monkeys (2006) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYITxGniww4) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/8 "2022-10-17T16:14:59Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > And no, I can’t translate it any way that makes it not racist. If she’s hiding behind an excuse of translation missing a subtlety in the language, she’s being disingenuous. Considering the current ethnic makeup of Los Angeles, a place I grew up in, I’d say darn few of the native Spanish speakers (of whatever dialect) there would be fooled in the slightest. And not too many of the monoglot Anglos either. Which together are a pretty large fraction of LA’s residents. I’m not qualified to hazard a guess at how many of LA’s black community understand or speak at least some pidgin-like tidbits of Spanish as I did, but given the socioeconomic overlap with the Latino community I’d have to say a bunch of them get it too. There’s no hiding behind mis-translation when most everyone in the audience of whatever hue already more-or-less gets it in the original telling. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/9 "2022-10-17T16:34:54Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > See words like: mulignane, schwartze, and [macaca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaca_(term)), [(et al\*)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs). Schwartze literally means black in Yiddish. If it were used in the middle of a conversation completely in Yiddish, to describe an African American, it would be fine. There’s no other word for it. If it was used in an English conversation it would be problematic. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/10 "2022-10-17T16:46:04Z")
If it were used in the middle of a conversation in Yiddish to describe an African American it would be fine . . . entirely depending on the words that precede/follow schwartze. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/11 "2022-10-17T16:52:32Z")
Angeleno Spanish would be mostly Mexican-rooted, and in Mexico “chango” as a _noun_ normally means monkey (changuito is the diminutive). As an _adjective_ all across Latin America tends to mean mischievous or attention-seeking or annoying or silly. But as a _noun_ it can mean a boy, a joker, a kind of bird, depending on where you are… or in Mexico, ordinarily, “monkey”. And nope, they can’t plead ignorance of how it could be received, they ARE from L.A. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/12 "2022-10-17T16:56:28Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Angeleno Spanish would be mostly Mexican-rooted, and in Mexico “chango” as a _noun_ normally means monkey. > > As an _adjective_ all across Latin America tends to mean mischievous or attention-seeking or annoying or silly. > > But as a _noun_ it can mean a boy, a joker, a kind of bird, depending on where you are… or in Mexico, ordinarily, “monkey”. And nope, they can’t plead ignorance of how it could be received, they ARE from L.A. Right. That’s why I clarified that the article had somewhat mistranslated what she said. She used the word “parece”, not the phrase “esta compartando como” or some other way of describing someones behavior. The former can only be used to describe someone’s physical appearance, not how they’re behaving. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/13 "2022-10-17T17:35:29Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > If it were used in the middle of a conversation in Yiddish to describe an African American it would be fine . . . entirely depending on the words that precede/follow schwartze. Well yeah, exactly like English. It means black, not n-word. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/14 "2022-10-18T06:21:09Z")
Beyond the translation of that particular word … she wanted to take him around the corner and give him a beat down. An 8 year old kid! Apparently for the _ **“crime”** _ of being raised like a white boy. Did I remember that correctly? This woman is disgusting and really shouldn’t be governing people she regards that way. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/15 "2022-10-18T06:33:01Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > This woman is disgusting and really shouldn’t be governing people she regards that way. And now she isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Joeu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joeu/32/2911_2.png) [@Joeu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joeu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/16 "2022-10-18T14:52:35Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Schwartze literally means black in Yiddish. If it were used in the middle of a conversation completely in Yiddish, to describe an African American, it would be fine. I think I would take issue with that. If it were used in the middle of a conversation completely in Yiddish, to describe an object that was black, like a coat or a cat, it would be fine. If it were used as an adjective to describe an African American person (and with the appropriate conjugation to show that it was an adjective–schwartz, not schwartze), then it COULD be fine. Although that’s somewhat debatable. But using it alone, as a noun, to describe a person, I would argue is always derogatory and offensive. Definitely not fine (although very common) . ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/17 "2022-10-18T15:35:06Z")
There is no other word for a person with African heritage in the language. I think it would generally be ok in a sentence like “Jackie Robinson was the first black person to play Major League Baseball.” ---
**Author:** ![Joeu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joeu/32/2911_2.png) [@Joeu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joeu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/18 "2022-10-18T16:56:35Z")
I think if it said “black person,” I would agree with you (schwartz mensh). But _afroamerikaner_ is a word in Yiddish, even if relatively recently coined, and there are plenty of Yiddish speakers who employ it. In older Yiddish sources, _neger_ (equivalent of _negro_) was used most frequently. It’s a nuanced discussion, and worth having. There can be racist connotations to words, even if people don’t think they mean it that way. Some good discussion from The Forward here: [No More Jewish N-Word – The Forward](https://forward.com/life/159773/no-more-jewish-n-word/) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/19 "2022-10-18T16:59:17Z")
> [@Joeu](#): > > But _afroamerikaner_ is a word in Yiddish, even if relatively recently coined, and there are plenty of Yiddish speakers who employ it. I wasn’t aware of that new word and I completely agree that that’s what should be used now. It’s a much more appropriate term. Thanks for informing me. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346/20 "2022-10-20T06:00:27Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > But as a _noun_ it can mean a boy, a joker, a kind of bird, depending on where you are… or in Mexico, ordinarily, “monkey”. Well, I’ve certainly known white people to refer to their own children, affectionately as little monkey, (or monster), but looking at the larger conversation, she can’t claim misunderstanding, IMHO. > In the meeting, Martinez stated, “ **Fuck that guy … He’s with the Blacks** ”, referring to District Attorney [George Gascón](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gasc%C3%B3n). > > Martinez also insulted fellow [council member Mike Bonin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bonin)’s Black adopted child, saying “ **This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner, I’ll bring him right back**.”[[37]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nury_Martinez#cite_note-nbc-38) Martinez also called the child a “[changuito](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/en:changuito#Spanish)” according to the _[Los Angeles Times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times)_, a racial slur for a black person meaning “little monkey” or “little ape” in [Spanish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_(language)).[[38]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nury_Martinez#cite_note-39) > > In the course of the discussion on redistricting, she commented, “I see a lot of little short dark people there” in reference to [Koreatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreatown,_Los_Angeles). “Oaxacan Koreans. Not even like Kevin. Little ones,” Cedillo replied. She then continued, “I was like, I don’t know what village they came from, how they got here, but whatever.” She can also be heard to remark, **“tan feos” or “they’re so ugly”** bolding mine, [Nury Martinez - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nury_Martinez#Racist_comments_&_resignation) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-changuito-mean-when-used-as-a-racial-slur-by-a-spanish-speaker-re-recent-la-city-council-event/973346.md?page=2)