Pocho

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Pocho is a slur used to describe a Hispanic who is born and/or raised in the United States. The literal meaning of pocho is a "rotten fruit." Recently, among some people, the term is used to express pride in having both a Mexican and U.S. American heritage.

The term is used abusively in Mexico to describe Mexican Americans living in the United States who are thought to be badly educated and without a "proper" sense of Mexican culture, having forgotten or rejected their Mexican heritage. It is used specifically for those Mexican-Americans that do not use Spanish in a proper way but with a particular series of mistakes related to their English education. Some Mexicans believe that pochos speak a bastardized hybrid of English and Spanish (often called Spanglish). They fault pochos for using quasi-Spanish words (called "pochismos") such as "mopear" ("to mop"), "chequear" ("to check") and "parquear" ("to park").

The term does, however, imply different meanings. In San Diego/Tijuana, "pocho" carries no negative connotations. The word simply refers to one who has both Mexican and North American roots. By contrast, in Ciudad Juarez, the moniker is very much a term of abuse, referring in particular to (what residents of Cd. Juarez see as) "uncultured" Mexican-Americans living across the border in El Paso, though this is certainly not universal.

In general, the word "pocho" can sometimes have these different meanings:

A person of Mexican heritage who acts American (a "wannabe" American).
A Mexican-American who can speak little or no Spanish.
An American who speaks Spanish and acts Mexican (a "wannabe" Mexican).
A person who frequently crosses the U.S.-Mexican border and feels at home on both sides of the border.

Pocho, may also be used to describe the town Portchester. It is also the name of an important 1959 Chicano novel by José Antonio Villarreal.

[edit] References

Dictionary Definition
Hispanic Vista article about Pochismos
A Note on "Pochismo" by William E. Wilson, The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 30, No. 6 (Oct., 1946), pp. 345-346 (Available online at JSTOR - membership required)

Pocho can also refer to those mexican-americans who have forgotten their native language, spanish or who can't speak it fluently.