HispanicVista Columnists

My head almost exploded the other day when I heard Holy Cross-educated Chris Mathews use "irregardless" on his MSNBC show, "Hardball."

It almost explodes every time I hear an ebonic-influenced "disrespect" or "myself" as in my friend and "myself."

Maybe Barack Obama is right, maybe all should learn Spanish because most of us don’t speak English well as evidenced by Jesuit-educated Chris Mathews and others who use "myself."

Despite this national linguistic malady the Mexican-haters among us insist on English-Only when, in fact, so many of their fellow non-Hispanic whites can’t speak English to even 4^th grade levels. As for black street patois, forget it.

Why, because even college graduates like Mathews flunk the test of Correct English.

This is not new for me to fret over this problem. Nor am I alone. Several years ago on my radio show I threw a verbal fit one day when a critic was raking me over the coals on some subject when he used the word "irregardless." I threw him off the show and told him and the audience to never come back until he learned to speak the English language correctly.

The phones lit up. Every single caller for the next hour agreed with me especially about that so-called word "irregardless." It is not a proper English word, period. I am so tired of hearing people butcher the language, the language I didn’t even begin to hear until I arrived from Mexico as a three year old.

Words mean something. But, they must be legitimate words. Try "cojones!" That word means something more than testicles, doesn’t it?

There is a black Dallas County Commissioner who brings the definition of really dumb to mind.

A fellow white county commissioner used the word "blackhole" a scientific term in a budget discussion and the black man threw a fit because he perceived the word to be some kind of racial insult. A "blackhole" is a scientific term for a space feature that astronomers cannot look into. What a dumb man!

Some time ago a black San Diego City councilman officially objected to a radio talk show’s host use of the word "spear carrier." The stupid one-term councilman equated the words "spear carrier" to mean "spear-chucker," a truly racist term. A "spear carrier" was a servant or slave who carried his master’s spear into combat for his master soldier, or Roman Legionnaire. What a dumb man!

A "spear chucker" is a racist term used by racist whites when they refer to a black man with the reference being to the man’s African roots. Of course, if the white racist knew anything about the African tribe – the Zulu’s – he would know that the principal combat weapon used by the Zulus was a spear only 48 inches long thus requiring face to face combat to use the "spear" -- it wasn’t "chucked."

What in the world can we do while we are surrounded by such ignorant people who can’t even speak English correctly or accuse people of racism when the "racists" use perfectly legitimate words?

We can hope that we Latinos/Hispanics can raise the IQ level around us by attacking ignorance and language laziness wherever we encounter it.

"Latinos," says Los Angeles author Joel Kotkin, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation told the Los Angeles Daily News, "represent the city's (Los Angeles) grass-roots future - from its aspiring working class to a rapidly growing middle class."

"They are the city's emerging majority. Their ownership of small businesses has exploded, increasing nearly fivefold since the 1980s. They constitute the majority of new homebuyers in many Southland communities."

"Few can deny that, ultimately, Latinos - their music, their cultural values and political sensibilities - will reshape the essence of Los Angeles in the new century."

Hopefully we will be able to say, "myself" is so happy "irregardless" of whether we have or do not have "cojones."

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Contreras produces and anchors a daily newscast "News & Views 61" and a weekly "HISPANIC AMERICA" program on San Diego’s Channel 61. Contact Contreras at: sdraoul@att.net