colonia
n.— «The counties of South Texas are among the nation’s poorest, and their jumbled subdivisions, known as colonias, home to 400,000 Hispanic-Americans, can certainly look the part. Since the 1950s, developers have carved small lots from mesquite woodlands and floodplains, selling them to workers with the promises that utilities, sewers and paved roads would follow. They rarely did, and for decades the colonias were seen as hopeless slums.» —“Inside a Jumble of Poverty, Texans Build a Future” by Erik Eckholm in Rio Grande, Texas New York Times Aug. 27, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When Mandy of San Antonio, Texas, was living in South Korea, her Newfoundland friend would call and ask, What are you at? and follow with I’ll come where you’re to. The phrasing is a well-known bit of Newfoundland English that means something like...
Critters, co-workers, and clothes: What do you call your favorite mixed-breed dog? There are Heinz 57 mutts and Texas brown dogs in the U.S., while in parts of the Caribbean they’re called potcakes and coconut retrievers. Plus, among firefighters...