New Mexico Lowrider Lingo: A Sampler

Northern New Mexico's lowriders forge their own Spanish street slang, sometimes incorporating their state's unique Hispano dialect. These selections come from Juan Estevan Arellano's contribution to the book "Low & Slow":

orale: a greeting, slang for "hello," which can also mean "pay attention." la plebe, el vato loco, chavalo: all these mean "young kid"; so does cholo, but that came from Los Angeles. cuerota: a very sexy woman. chuquitas: young girls, from the word pachuquitas. carrucha: lowrider, from the English word "car."

ranfla: lowrider; this word came from the pachucos of the 1940s. perrodos: some real slow lowriders are known by this term, for a black insect which resmebles a '64 Impala. feria: in lowrider usage, this means money; but it can also mean a fair. There are also a lot of English words which become "Hispanicized." Like the word wachando comes from "to watch" and brecas is derived from the brakes of an automobile."