limón verde
n. — «Border Patrol agents routinely monitor the main roads near her house on the outskirts of this sprawling city in south-central Texas, so Verónica and her friends and relatives have informal alert networks in place. “My husband just called to tell me he saw them right now on the street,” she said, clicking shut her cellphone, before leaving the house. Spanish-language radio also does its part; “limones verdes”—or green limes—“are sprouting” near the highway, an announcer warns over the radio, using shorthand for the agents’ green uniforms.» —“Fear and Hope in Immigrant’s Furtive Existence” by Lizette Alvarez in San Antonio, Texas New York Times Dec. 20, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
Grant recommends the children’s book Dreams of Green: A Three Kings’ Day Story written by Mariel Jungkunz and illustrated by Mónica Paola Rodriguez (Bookshop|Amazon), about a girl and her family who move from Puerto Rico to Ohio and find ways...