Sitting next to two Cholas at the Polynesian Assembly

May 10th, 2008

Originally, this was going to be a couple of updates to my substitute Twitter, but it seemed to merit a bit more attention than that. Yesterday (Friday) I covered a small sized Spanish class for a period. As the high school has a considerable portion of Samoan and other Polynesian students, every year they have a Polynesian dance assembly. My kids wanted to go, so we went. I sat the kids down, and we waited quietly for the show to start. All except the two Cholas who sat next to me and loudly opined about anything and everything during the show. Here are the jewels I plucked from my ethnographic adventure. I apologize for my likely horrible Spanish spelling and the lack of translation. I really think all the humor is lost when translated.

“No…no tienen ganas de bailar las cabronas.” (talking about the slower form of Hula dancing)

“hey they’re all related huh!”

“Oh they’re gonna do the lion king!” (talking about the boys who came out with masks and spears)

“man, you wont fight. You’re a pinche hamburgesa. ” (to the portly boy sitting behind them)

“me compre mis zapatos de quinceanera…y que crees?…no pos casi me mato”

“that bitch be wearing those hoochie dresses from the swap meet”

“she dont dance porque tiene su boyfriend”

“hey you got the money to go to college, but you don’t wanna go huh”

“apoco sudo ese flacito” (Thinner Samoan kid wiping himself with a towl on stage)

So there you go. You have not been updated on the goings on with Cholas today. I never knew about the swap meet dresses, or the fact that people only dance to have boyfriends. All good things to know.

Entry Filed under: Observing