Corn

Corn
 

I have many students who speak Spanish as their first language, including one whole class of students who are brand new to speaking English, about 80% of whom are from Spanish-speaking countries. Sometimes I try to say things to some of them in Spanish and they correct me (or simply give me a thumbs up).

This morning I was telling them about a Latino street fair I went to yesterday in DC. They said that I said everything right (!!!) except when I tried to describe to them the food that I ate. One of the things I had to eat was an ear of corn on a skewer ... the corn was rolled in a sauce and then cheese and then doused in katsup and mustard. MMMmmm....

Anyway - these kids couldn't understand the word "maíz". I thought that was weird. I always thought that "maíz" was the only word for corn - and most of us "gringos" seem to know it even those who don't speak any Spanish.....

After some discussion amongst the group of us, the girls to whom I was speaking decided that I must mean the word "elote". I thought that was interesting ... and I looked up "elote" later. And a lot of what I see is that it is a vulgar term. Eek!!

I don't want to use a vulgar term!! These girls (four sisters all in the same class that I teach) are from Mexico. They were thoroughly confused by the word "maíz" (no joke), but each immediately said "elote" when they realized I was talking about corn.

SOOOoooo ... to my Mexican Tomisimo friends ... tell me about this maíz vs. elote thing ... is it really the only word for corn in Mexico? What about the vulgar meaning of it ... is it offensive in certain contexts? How about in other countries ... are there places where "maíz" is the only acceptable word for corn and the other is ONLY vulgar? Help!

Maíz is the corn kernel, and it should be universally understood. I have no idea why they didn't understand.

"Elote" is the Mexican word for the ear of corn, and I have never heard the vulgar meaning you mentioned.

I know in some places of South America "maíz" is "choclo".

Thanks, Malila. :) Anyone from any other Latin American country want to pipe in?

I think it is a common phenomemon, that farm produce worldwide is often named by the indigenous farmers. When a country is conquered by a larger one, these names are different to those used by the conqueror.

English foods, particularly meats, still have names of Saxon and Norman
origin, depending upon the state of the animal concerned. The live animals in the field still have Germanic sounding names, but by the time it reaches the table of the Lord of the manor it would have a French sounding name.

cow (Kuh), swine (Schwein), lamb (Lamm), sheep (Schaf) hen (Henne)...

When cooked they become:

veal (veau) pork (porc), mutton (mouton) poultry (poulet) etc..

These differences have survived for nearly 1000 years!!

It is not surprising that indigenous names for fruit and veg still survive in Latin America after a mere 500 years of Spanish influence. I would like to see a list of all the common foodstuffs in Spanish and all its regional varients. Do these words also change from farm to plate like the English ones I have quoted?

Incidently the word corn is commonly used to represent Wheat. Maize we tend to call Sweetcorn or corn on the cob

Choclo in Chile. :-)

Of course maíz is the correct word in Castilian.

Referring back to Malila's comment, do you mean that maíz is the kernel and the choclo is the ear? Is "elote" vulgar in Chile?

I suppose that anything longer than it's wide can be seen as a phallic symbol.:D Sometimes school kids make up there own "bad"
words. It's just silliness. MAIZ, ELOTE, CHOCLO are all valid words.
Incidentally mazorca is corn on the cob.

We don't use elote in Chile, only choclo.

Correct. Choclo in Chile. :D

I've learned it as maíz...and I used to pronouncee it as ma(i)ze.

But which, Jessica - the kernels or the whole cob? As has been pointed out, there are different words for different things in Spanish, where in English we have just one word, "corn", that covers all of those things.... Ask your Spanish teacher what s/he thinks....

In Chile, corn on the cob es choclo.

If you want the kernels out we say "sacarle los dientes al choclo" o "descorontar el choclo" :)

The cob = coronta

Kernel = choclo

Nunca he escuchado decir choclo en su coronta o algo parecido. :)

Actually, I am interested in hearing what Jessica meant by her answer and from her teacher's point of view. I definitely understood your earlier response. Apparently this is a regionalism, and I'm trying to get a feel for different areas and what is acceptable to say and what these things signify.