naco
adj.— «In Mexico City, where I grew up, “naco” is not just racist, it’s classist and a pretty offensive term. Basically, anybody who is dark-skinned and/or poor may be termed a “naco.” I’ve even heard people refer to things as “nacadas” (i.e., someone who acts rudely does a “nacada,” or something that looks tacky is a “nacada”). It’s amazing the number of people I’ve heard use it in front of me when referring to someone else, but not dare use it to the person to whom they were referring. (It’s considered that offensive!)» —“Cholo Word Of The Day—Naco” by Becky Daily Texican (Dallas, Texas) Nov. 23, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
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...