Burqueño slang, spoken by residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico, includes such expressions as umbers, said ominously when someone’s caught doing something wrong, as well as get down, meaning “to get out of a vehicle” and put gas for “fill a vehicle’s gas tank.” Then there’s the Burqueño way to get off the phone: bueno bye! This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Burqueño Slang Like “Umbers,” “Bueno Bye,” and “Put Gas””
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, it’s James calling from Dallas, Texas.
Hey, James, how you doing?
Hi, James, what’s up?
You folks were talking about the way people sign off at the end of a phone call. They’ll say things like, bye, that sort of thing. And it reminded me of, I actually grew up in New Mexico, even though I’ve been in Dallas now for a number of years. But I grew up in New Mexico and lived for a while in Albuquerque. And it reminded me of something I’ve only heard it in Albuquerque. But the way people sign off there is they’ll say, bueno, bye.
Bueno, bye, right?
Bueno, bye.
So it’s bueno, bye with the B barely pronounced, right? Pronounced like a W?
Yep.
Yep, exactly.
Bueno, bye.
And it’s all one word, bueno, bye.
Bueno, bye.
So it’s a nice Spanish mix of two languages.
Yeah, exactly.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you folks, and, you know, just because I love listening to your show, and I know that it’s always fun to share those little facts. And you don’t hear that in Dallas, right, despite all the Spanish speakers? Nobody says we know by when they’re hanging up the phone in Dallas, right?
Yeah, I’ve never heard it outside of, and even in other places in New Mexico. I’ve only heard it in Albuquerque. In fact, I even saw it on a vanity plate one time. Somebody put we know by.
That’s good. I did see one anecdotal report of somebody using it, and they were from West Texas. But West Texas is practically New Mexico. So that kind of counts. But this is called Burkino slang, right? People from Albuquerque speak Burkino. And there’s a bunch of stuff. We’ve talked about umbers on the show. Do you know that one? It’s kind of like when somebody’s in trouble in school. You’re like, umbers? Is that how you said it?
Umbers, yeah.
That and they use the word all a lot. Oh, you’re all taller. You’re all shorter. You’re all mad.
How interesting. There were a couple of really fun videos called Stuff Bracanios. They only replaced the word stuff with a familiar four-letter word that begins with S.
Yep.
Stuff the Bracanios. And they’re super fun. And everybody I know from Albuquerque says that they’re pretty spot on. They’re done by some improv actors, I believe.
Oh, cool.
Yeah, they’re pretty good.
Oh, yeah. I’ve seen that video. It’s absolutely accurate. You do hear the – it’s filled with burqueño slang.
Good to know. The other thing I wanted to share is elsewhere in New Mexico, and I didn’t hear it until I moved to Las Cruces, which is close to El Paso, Texas. But they’ll say, like say you and I are driving out running errands and I get thirsty. So I pull into the 7-Eleven and I want to go in and grab a drink. And so I’ll turn to you and say, hey, are you going to get down? Meaning, you know, should I leave the car running and you’re going to stay here or are you going to get out? But they’ll say get down instead of get out.
Yeah, and that’s probably a calc from the Spanish, right? Bajar. About how to get down out of a vehicle. And I believe you find the similar usage in the formerly French-speaking parts of Louisiana.
Yes, you do.
Where they also do something.
Oh, no kidding.
Yeah, but they get it from the French rather than from the Spanish. And then the other one is put gas instead of get gas. I’m going to go put gas.
Oh, really?
And they don’t put gas in something. They just put gas.
Yeah.
Hey, I’m going to go put gas.
That’s great.
That’s outstanding.
Oh, this is super fun. James, thank you for sharing the Burkina stuff. The New Mexican stuff. We really appreciate it.
Oh, sure thing. I really enjoy your show. Thank you very much.
Take care now.
Okay, call us again sometime.
All right, we’ll do.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
What a rich and diverse language we speak.
Yes.
It’s abundant.
Yes.
With novelty and things of interest.
I love it.
And we don’t all speak one language, but we do.
How does that work?
Well, no, bye. That’s what this show is about. 877-929-9673. Send your questions and email to words@waywordradio.org, or join us on our Facebook group. Just look for A Way with Words.
Hi. Just found your website and podcast. I am intrigued by the use of “get down” in Burqueno slang. I live in Augusta, GA, and grew up in the country near here. I tend to think of that as a rural country term. My father would use it in reference to trucks. For instance, if you are a kid, riding in a truck with your father, and he took you somewhere you didn’t want to go, and perhaps you are dawdling and don’t want to get out, he might get annoyed and shout, “GET DOWN OUT OF THE TRUCK!!” It was always my thought that it was because of the height of the vehicle, although sometimes someone might accidentally say. “get down out of the car.” My uncle had a pony, and we would also, “Get down off the horse”– as opposed to getting off the horse. Because horses and ponies are tall. So you get down off of it. I don’t know the history of it, but that’s how it was used when I was young. I am 40. I don’t live in the country anymore, so I don’t know if this use is dying or not. I would have thought, if I heard that in Albequerque, that it had to do with a rural history and truck/horse use, as opposed to a Spanish link.
It happens with Other languages as well. My wife and many of her friends come from the PRC or Taiwan. They often speak English with Chinese grammar. Many times the English isn’t quite correct English. Often Chinese words or idioms sneak in the English conversations; everyone refers to this version of Chinese English, Chinglish.
This reminds me of a friend who lived in Israel for a time, and who reports the common use of “Shalom-bye!” as a farewell greeting. Importantly, however, the greeting is said as though “shalom-bye” is one word.