The Mexicanization of the Hispanic

There is an amusing scene in the movie El Norte. A Guatemalan village elder is schooling a young couple for their journey to the United States by teaching them to swear. Black out and the next scene begins with a stream of curse words from the Mexican truck driver who has given the young couple a lift. Since Central Americans, especially Salvadorans, have streamed into Los Angeles -- living, working, schooling and worshiping in the same neighborhood as Mexican immigrants -- they have had to adapted not only to the Anglo way of doing thing, but also to the Mexican. The adaptation has been necessary to get and hold jobs. But it hasn't been easy. This is especially true of mixed marriages -- a Central American to a Mexican -- and of their children -- e.g., the "Salvi-Mexicans". Often it is a question of how one speaks or what word one choses. Some Central Americans go along to get along; others resent to additional pressure to assimilation and regret the loss of their distinctive culture. (See LA Times article.)