I noticed shortly after I moved here that Mexicans yell “jóven!” when they want a waiter’s attention. The word means “young person.” But people do it even if the waiter is 90 years old.
I watched a Mexican friend do it a few times and thought something was lost in translation. So I asked her to clarify: “Um — do you really call people jóven if they’re older than you are?” She nodded at me, like, DUH.
Since then I’ve noticed people use it in the grocery store — “Jóven, will you help me reach this carton of milk on the top shelf?” — and at department stores. “Jóven, where are the women’s shoes?”
I never used it because it just felt weird. Why would I call someone older than me “young person”? That seems derogatory.
Yesterday, we went to the cantina around the corner from our house, because it was thunderstorming and we didn’t want to walk too far. I wanted a beer. But I couldn’t catch any of the waiters’ eyes. One was watching the soccer game. Another stood behind the bar, staring off into the middle distance. This is normal, by the way. It’s always hard to catch a waiter’s eye here — they’re either walking too fast, or staring straight ahead, or… watching the soccer game.
I fidgeted a bit. Should I or shouldn’t I? Well, I have to do it with authority, if I did do it. None of this meek “jóven…?” business. It must be a strong, clear “jóven.” A jóven that says, “I am the boss.”
I took a deep breath.
“Jóven!” I yelled.
The waiter staring into the middle distance quickly looked over.
“Sí señorita?”
“Otra cerveza, por favor.”
“Sí, cómo no.”
I smiled, a big smile. Couldn’t help myself.
Gotta love the Mexican slang . . . everytime I come home my Colombian family is like mas palabras Mexicanas? Ni entiendo que sginifican? . . . and it makes me smile too 🙂
LOL! They do this in Panama too and I find it equally funny. But I kinda got into saying a clear, serious “Joven!” after a few days. It’s whatever works, right?
I hear you and see what you are talking about. I did this”joven” thing with a REAL Latino activist from San Antonio at the table and he went through the roof, “Don’t do that.” I said that it was a custom here and he said he didn’t care, He continued saying, that calling a Mexican waiter “Joven” and like calling a black waiter in the USA” BOY! He said it feeds into the class system. AND being there is a class system here in Mexico, I could see it.
The one thing he didn’t offer an opinion was what to use as a substitute, though I now have starting using Amigo or get their name. LOL
Is it bad that I cringe every time you write “Mexicans.” Obviously you are talking about real life Mexicans, but as a former CA teacher, anything other than “Hispanic” is plain profanity.
When speaking of Mexicans, that what Mexico’s citizens are. Because of all the negative press Mexico gets this is a common reaction. It is NOT a bad word, Hispanic too general.
Rachel, what on earth are you supposed to call people from Mexico if you can’t call them Mexicans? That’s like saying it’s offensive to call people from Germany Germans.
Hmm, I personally could never use the word joven with a waiter. My Mexican boyfriend says, “Caballero!” That gets a good response and sounds much more respectful.
I think what Rachel meant is that “Mexicans” is often used derogatively in California, to connote a group of Spanish-speaking people. (Even when they’re from El Salvador, Guatemala, etc.) But yes, in this case, they are really Mexicans.
Lucy and Jesus… I’m so glad you commented, because now I’m re-thinking this joven thing. I like “caballero” much better — I think I’ll use that in the future. It’s interesting, though, how a foreigner can move to another country and just pick up habits on the basis of, “Well, everyone else is doing it.” Strange how I could never, ever call the lady who cleans our house “muchacha,” (like people do here) but I had no problem calling the waiter joven. He was about my age, by the way.
Lesly: You make a good point, something I had not thought about – just picking up habits on the basis of, “Well, everyone else is doing it.”
I like Caballero. And so glad we had this discussing.
Thanks Les, Obviously you call Mexican ciitizens Mexican. It’s just the “melting pot’ of California that has made that word somewhat off limits for me.
Hey Leslie,
Your entry was very funny 🙂
Just a quick note, in Spanish “joven” does not have a written accent, even if the first syllable is stressed… the rule is simple: all words with semifinal stress (like ‘joven’) carry an accent, except those that end in ‘n’ ‘s’ or vowel… Anyway, sorry for bugging you with this, but since you have fun in Mexico and seem to like the language, thought you might want to know…
I was gonna say something but now I guess I’m not, sorry.
Thanks for the correction, R. That’s what I get for spell-checking on the Internet. Next time I will walk the five paces to my Larousse dictionary.
Also, my husband will be very happy to read this, because he asked me when I wrote this post: “Wait — I thought joven doesn’t have an accent?” And I said, “No no, it does.” And I secretly patted myself on the back for not being a Spanish major like him, but still knowing a few things. Next time I will defer to the Spanish major.
Nice post Lesley – this is my first time on this site and I love it. As a foreigner (British) living in Mexico your post is absolutely to the point. I now live in Quintana Roo, where it is hardly heard, but while in the D.F. I used to hear “joven” all the time. I didn´t use it – I was too shy to raise my voice as youy did. As it has such overtones it takes quite a lot of balls to use it, and the last thing I wanted to to do was emit a whimperish “joven”. Using “Mexicans” in the context you do sounds natural to me (although you may be referring primarily to inhabitants of the D.F.) but I admit too to cringing when I hear it used in English as in: “Mexicans ABC” or “Mexicans XYZ”. Where I live there are a lot of retired north Americans who speak little Spanish and who find it painfully easy to generalise about all Mexicans. You didn´t use it in this sense at all, but I can see where the sensitivity lies.
Hey Alex — Welcome to the blog and glad you’re enjoying it! I haven’t been to Quintana Roo yet but I’d love to go… all the photos I’ve seen are beautiful.
Yeah, “joven” does seem like “boy” to me. So I use “mesero,” “señor,” or I just raise my hand look for some eye contact.
Nice work, Lesley..