¡Mochilas pa’ los cuadernos! — As I uttered the words to a friend this morning (after seeing the picture of a girl that works with his girlfriend), I started pondering their meaning. This is a widely known, rather interesting piece of slang.

For starters, the sentence is literally translated to “Backpacks fo’ the notebooks!” (like so, with the contraction). The phrase — in Cockney slang fashion — is a conversion from words that mean something altogether different but sound pretty much the same: “¡Móchate para los cuates!” would be the original. This actually needs another level of translation: “Móchate” — literally “cut yourself” — is slang for “share”. Specifically, share something which you already have, or which you have privileged access to (in this case, my friend’s girlfriend’s coworker). Then there’s the word “cuates”. This word is used to refer to non-identical twins (identical twins are “gemelos”). In this context, it means “buddies”, but nobody uses that word by itself anymore, except for this guy (incidentally, “cuaderno de doble raya” — double-lined notebook — means “really good buddy”).

So “¡Mochilas pa’ los cuadernos!” means “Share with the buddies!” (referring to oneself as “the buddies” in question).

The expression can be a stand-alone, but is usually accompanied by a slashing motion with the right hand that goes from the upper left shoulder to the right hip. This can also be used by itself (along with a whistling sound), but the more common utterance is what I just described. The phrase can be further convoluted by doing the hand motion and saying “ponte la del Puebla” (wear the Puebla’s [shirt]). Puebla, in this case, refers to the Soccer team of that town. The shirt in question sports a colored stripe that goes from the shoulder to the hip. Soccer being an important part of Mexican culture, this one’s likely to be understood by most people, although it’s not that common.

Isn’t language FUN? I love these kinds of things myself. Old cockney slang makes use of similar resources, and it also rhymes (“Fisherman’s daughter” — “water”). Aussies have their equivalents (“BBQ” — “Barbie”).

Slang makes a language feel alive and provides a sense of belonging. Foreigners always have the most problems learning it due to its temporariness (slang terms evolve really fast) and its cultural specific content. Slang comprises the funner parts of the language.

What are interesting, very cultural-specific pieces of slang in your country?

— sergio at 11:51 PM  

I hate my editor. He’s this fucking little prick who thinks he knows everything. The guy corrects my spelling, my grammar and keeps reminding me that I have to dot the ‘i’s and that the god damned double quote (") symbol means “seconds” and the symbol I’m looking for is “ which is the actual opening double-quote, thank you very much (nevermind that Verdana doesn’t show much difference at this point size) — “Oh, and Sergio: ‘goddamned’ is a single word, mmmkay?”.

Just the other day I turned in this nifty little piece on what had happened to the site when it went down for a few days. The asshole looks at it quizzically, picks it up with two fingers and heads straight into the bathroom! He stayed there for 40-freaking-minutes-I-kid-you-not, came out, walked up to me and dropped the copy on my desk without saying a word. It had scribbling all over it: “Two Python references in one paragraph, Sergio? Why don’t you drive a stake through my heart while you’re at it? What next? Spanish inquisition’s going to pop out of nowhere? oh, that would be grand!”, “You know, back when you decided that you wouldn’t show the title for each entry, did it occur to you that you should make your starting sentences at least mildly amusing? — I’m sorry?? — What the hell kind of opening is that? Try ‘I am an idiot’. It goes better with the rest of the entry.” And so on and so forth.

The problem with the guy is not only that he’s anal retentive. He also has a firm belief that there is a One True Way to format a sentence. Anything but the OTW is jerking off and should be summarily dismissed — You don’t commit words to the site until they’re comfortable around each other, ok Sergio? — Hence the following progression for this entry’s opening sentence:

• My editor is an asshole […] — Don’t drop the bomb so early. There’s no call for that kind of language in your opening. People will think you have a two word vocabulary for crying outloud!
• The loathing I feel for my editor […] — Loathing? LOATHING?? Who the fuck are you? Macbeth? Why don’t you throw a damned umlaut in there too? I’ll tell you when you can go shakespearean on me boy! Right now, that crap don’t fly here, ’kay? (and don’t think for a second that I missed that quizzical you rammed into the second paragraph, punk).
• I dislike abhor detest hate my editor […] — Nice. See? Simple does it! Don’t you feel better now? it’s concise, to the point and you don’t come off sounding like an illiterate dumbass. I could do without the Thesaurus lesson, but we’ll accept this one. It stays. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?

I swear, one of these days I’m gonna lose it and kick the shit out of myself.

— sergio at 04:41 PM  

I am flabbergasted, exhilarated and positively flolloppy!! — Overcaffeinated has been nominated for a bloggie, people!! This is so amazingly cool! I had no idea I’d been nominated! (ok, ‘fess up. who did it? Frank? Gabo? Bianca? I’ll buy you beer and candy!).

I’m in the Best Latin American Weblog category, a fact that has sparked some controversy because I write in English. Admittedly, I see the point, and it is an odd thing. I’d just like to make it clear that I write in English because my target audience consists mainly of technical minded people of all backgrounds and nationalities. There are people coming over from Germany, Portugal and Italy, to name a few. Since Ich spreche nicht Deutsches, eu não falo o português, and most certainly, io parlo soltanto un piccolo italiano¹, I’m trusting that these people speak English as their second language, just like me (if they don’t, I’d venture a guess that this all must be incredibly boring to them). I love my language and my country. Using English for this site is a decision based on convenience. Ya terminó la diátriba. Gracias por su atención.

The other nominees: eejit (Panamá), alt1040 (Ecuador), 3 demonios enjaulados (fellow Mexican!! sweet!!!) and Por um Punhado de Pixels (Brasil?). Needless to say, I’m flattered to be in such great company. I didn’t know their blogs before, but I’m browsing them right now, and they all seem excellent.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’m also getting some Zeldman love, baby! (that didn’t come off very well, did it?).

I want to give all of you my sincerest thanks. You are all wonderful people (even when you pester me about the lack of comics/updates). Through emails and messages in this site, I’ve gotten to know some of you a little better. This past year, you’ve shared opinions and insights with me, recommended movies, made suggestions for this site, and in general, made the Internet a better, cooler place to be in. Thanks. A lot.

Now get with the voting. My money’s on the 3 demonios site (‘cause, you know… you just can’t go wrong with a name like Du Veth and a demon stare like this).

Arrivederci!

¹ Nah, I don’t. Google did that for me.

— sergio at 12:57 AM  

As the last waves of commitments past wash over us and the December hangover slowly retreats —2003 being pretty much over and done with— we figured we could make a list:

• Started this site and comic for real last year.
• Improved comic technique. Had an amazing time with it. Will keep on doing so as soon as work allows.
• Learned some basic principles of graphic Design. Redesigned site.
• Discovered Internet Underground Standards evangelists special commando unit. Bought Zeldman book. Learned a shitload of CSS. Recoded whole site about 4 times. No one noticed. Good.
• Went through whole year without getting into anything resembling a serious relationship. Oddly satisfying.
• Discovered you just can’t go wrong with Jackie Chan and a six-pack. Oodles of moviewatch-ness ensued.
• Programmed and debugged enough assembler to make the Dalai Lama go postal.
• Spent christmas bonus on new computer. Went bankrupt.
• Hooked up even more electronic shit to single outlet at room. Sleeping next to fire hazard.

Happy new year everyone!

— sergio at 10:38 PM