I never talked much to people that use a lot of expressions, and the usage of Spanish terms, like “nada” or “amigo”, as I could observe from the outside, felt inconsistent. And upon thinking on that, it got me curious, is it common to use such expressions or not?
“Mi casa es su casa” is pretty common, along with words associated with food. People will also commonly say stuff like no problemo. Spanish phrases used in English outside of normal interaction between Latinos is usually something that makes the situation whimsical. I don’t know why Spanish has that reputation, but that’s how it’s used. People say Spanish words to sound silly or come off as lighthearted. Like rather than “see ya later” someone might say “adiós amigo” to seem playful. Spanish might have this reputation because of things like cowboy movies?
There are also loan words from Spanish that maybe most Americans don’t even realize are loan words. Like buckaroo (vaquero), macho, guerilla, embargo, rodeo, armada, canyon, etc.
Interesting!
About sounding more whimsical, coming from a population close to the latinos, it seems to me that both of ours are rather prone to levity (hope that’s the word). So if this perception is shared with the Americans, maybe that causes Spanish to be associated with lighter situations?
Maybe? I’m a little more cynical and think it might have to do more with how Spanish is associated with cowboys and western movies in broader American culture, rather than any sort of perception of Latinos as a whole, or any sort of genuine consideration of Latinos. Like if a white American is saying words like hombre or amigo, they’re gonna seem like they’re affecting a sort of light-hearted cowboy character. They’re gonna sound like Matthew McConaughey or something lol. I haven’t done much research into this topic and can only say what my anecdotal experiences are.
You could be right though but there are a lot of different stereotypes regarding Latinos in American culture. There’s some that regard Latinos as very genial and friendly, prone to big parties and celebrations but then there are other stereotypes that regard Latinos as very stern and focused on work and religion. I should also mention that in America stereotypes about Latinos are mostly stereotypes about Mexicans specifically that get transferred over to Latinos as a whole because a lot of Americans don’t even bother to know the distinction
I also want to point out that US English used by Latinos (i.e. Spanglish and Chicano English) is completely separated from Spanish terms used by people who aren’t Latino