La Raza
Chicano Slang in Old-School Hip-Hop: The Words Kid Frost, Cypress Hill and Mellow Man Ace Put on the Radio
/Sounds like "moh-HAH-doh"/
A historically pejorative term in Chicano vocabulary referring to an undocumented person who swam across the Rio Grande to enter the United States. It literally means "wet" because they came out of the water. The word carried stigma for decades, but in Chicano communities it has been reclaimed with pride: "soy mojado y qué" is a common line in corridos and Chicano rap. Use with care: context changes everything.
Example
"Mi abuelo cruzó de mojado en los años 70. → My grandpa crossed as a mojado in the 70s."
"Depende de quién y cómo lo digas. → It depends on who says it and how."
Word family
Regional synonyms:
Ver en español →
/Sounds like "moh-HAH-doh"/
A historically pejorative term in Chicano vocabulary referring to an undocumented person who swam across the Rio Grande to enter the United States. It literally means "wet" because they came out of the water. The word carried stigma for decades, but in Chicano communities it has been reclaimed with pride: "soy mojado y qué" is a common line in corridos and Chicano rap. Use with care: context changes everything.
Example
"Mi abuelo cruzó de mojado en los años 70. → My grandpa crossed as a mojado in the 70s."
"Depende de quién y cómo lo digas. → It depends on who says it and how."
Word family
Regional synonyms:
Articles featuring this word
Tramoya
A scheme or deceptive plan designed to take advantage of someone. In Mexico it describes a dirty play where someone outsmarts another person through trickery. Originally a theater term for stage machinery, it evolved to mean any behind the scenes manipulation.