Too white to speak Spanish!

[SraRadtke]

Hi,
I am constantly being challenged by my Hispanic students that I am too white to teach Spanish. I had a student the other day use the phrase "hacer la mesa" instead of the "poner la mesa". Is "hacer la mesa" correct? I tried to find an answer, but couldn't.

[aleCcowaN]

"Hacer la mesa" is wrong in my neck of the woods and in every wood I know. It's only right if you're a carpenter of something of that sort though I suspect it may make sense in some region/s and in a context of waiting tables in a restaurant. I have no trouble imagining people of some country, maybe in the Caribbean Rim, saying "haz la mesa" meaning bring all the dirty cutlery and dishes (the "service"?) to the kitchen, clean the table and "pon la mesa" for the next customers to use.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It could be right in some region, but like Alec, I have never heard "hacer la mesa" if it's not actually fabricating a table. My imagination finds it possible but not probable, to use "hacer la mesa" as to clean it up.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

What do you mean by too white to speak Spanish? I don' t understand.

[poli]

It's a joke with some reverse racial implications. Americans with Scotch/Irish/ German ancestry (there are many) are stereotyped to be monolingual and to pronounce common Spanish words horribly and are considered by some half seriously to be too white to speak Spanish.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Ok. Thanks.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

What do you mean by too white to speak Spanish? I don' t understand.

It's an American vs European thing. Most Spanish speakers on one side of the Atlantic would consider themselves white*; most Spanish speakers on the other side of the Atlantic would consider themselves non-white.


* I did check that Equatorial Guinea is tiny relative to Spain.