Es Chido Ser Naco

In Mexico, the term "naco" is commonly used to label someone who has few financial resources, education, and poor taste in fashion. This term is used loosely by affluent kids known as "fresas" (literally strawberries), to describe their less fortunate counterparts.

Importantly, the use of the term can be extremely offensive to most people. Although the term is also used within groups of friends to make harmless fun of one person, the term takes a sharper and more malicious tone when used against a complete stranger.

In a country like Mexico, where scarce financial resources are disproportionately concentrated in wealthy circles, the mere attempt by an outsider trying to fit in by purchasing new clothes and material objects can result in a public chastize resulting in being labeled a "naco."

But most of the term's subscribers know little of its origins.

The term is in fact a shortened version of the word "totonaco," which means indigenous person. One can easily trace the historical evolution of the present term from the racism that Spanish colonizers felt towards the indigenous communities they ruled. In this way, the Spanish colonizers concocted a social map of Mexico, where only the light-skinned European descendants were worthy of being full intregated members of society. On the other hand, the handful of social climbers from the indigenous communities in Mexico walked a fine line littered with broken glass, where one misstep could result in being labeled a "naco."

Today, many of the indigenous communities and their descendants in Mexico have wised up. The countermessage is that in fact, it is cool to be a naco ("es chido ser naco"). In this way, some of these historical outsiders to Mexican society are turning the tables on the established elite by denouncing the negativity associated with being labeled a "naco," and instead embracing it as a term of humor and pride.

With this said, the question will remain on the table:

Is it cool to be a naco?
Es chido ser naco?