Dictionary

pocho en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish pocho (literally “discolored, faded”).

Meanings

1. (countable, derogatory, informal, often, uncountable) A Mexican-American, especially one regarded by Mexicans as being assimilated into mainstream American culture, often implying limited to no fluency in Spanish and disconnection from Mexican culture.
   • Both often cater to wealthy Mexicans who come to shop, although many of these Mexicans look down their noses at the pochos (assimilated Mexican Americans). 2010, Chad Richardson, Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados: Class and Culture on the South Texas Border, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 11:
   • But the pochos needed a gesture, anything, some kind of cultural safe house in which they could rest for a while from the endless war on two fronts. 2012, Earl Shorris, Latinos: A Biography of the People, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 170:
2. (informal, uncountable) Spanglish
   • I especially appreciated how Villarreal changed the word pocho from a negative to a positive. The young protagonist, Richard Rubio, says, “I'm a pocho, I speak pocho, and I'm proud of it.” 2000, Mario T. García, Luis Leal: An Auto/Biography, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 106:
   • But some among their countrymen speak pocho; the descriptive term can be translated literally as “discolored” or “faded.” When used with respect to language, pocho means a slangy mixture of Spanish and English […] 1986, Mexico, Little Brown & Company, →ISBN:

Forms

Translations (1)

es pocho (Mexican-American assimilated into mainstream American culture)