Mexico, 2019: what ahorita really means — Page 3

Mexico, 2019: what ahorita really means

Food taught me the rest. Antojito — a little craving, a small street snack — tells you something true about how eating works there: not three meals, but a day-long series of small good decisions.

And provecho, said by strangers walking past your table on the way out, is a tiny act of community repeated forty times a day. In Spain nobody would. In Mexico everyone does.

This is the thing I try to explain to students who say they already speak a language. Spanish in Mexico is not Spanish in Colombia with different vocabulary. It is a different set of manners wearing the same grammar.

Mexico, 2019: what ahorita really means

The words that opened this door

Five things to say, and when to say them.

¿Mande?
in Mexican Spanish
Sorry, what?
The distinctly Mexican way to ask someone to repeat themselves.
Ahorita
in Mexican Spanish
Right now-ish
Can mean five minutes or never; learning to read it is learning Mexico.
¡Órale!
in Mexican Spanish
Wow / come on / alright
Tone does all the work.
Antojito
in Mexican Spanish
A little street snack — literally "little craving"
Order two. Everybody orders two.
Provecho
in Mexican Spanish
Enjoy your meal
Said as you pass someone's table on the way out.

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The words that opened this door