Question: Why "El Chuco"? (El Paso, Cool: neighborhood, buying, store)

[rotela]

i have not yet found any resources that indicate "the disgusting one" is translated from "el chuco"... i have however found that chuco is abbreviated slang for pachuco...

rotela "New Hall Monitor"

[Rich Cabeza]

Back in the day the term "El Chuco" was one of respect and honor.

[915_el_chuco]

Technically speakin "el chuco" if translated properly would literally translate to "the pachuco". El can mean both him and the and chuco is short for pachuco. Hence why when lookin for the zoot suits durin the war u had to speak with "el chuco" the pachuco because only they knew where to get then in el paso.

[XChucoresident]

El Chuco..is what me and other paisanos..call our tierra..hence my nickname..on this website..i will forever be proud of being a homegrown...cuidadana..ha ha!!

[skippy upwood]

Is the swing/jazz song "Hey Pachuco" (which appears in the Mask) related in any way to the term?

[chicanitoman]

So I was born in Juarez and raised in El Paso and in order to decipher the word "El Chuco" you need to understand that the word is part of the dialect "calo". First of all, "Calo" is a dialect that was created by early borderland youth (borderland includes Juarez AND El Paso) to talk among themselves... almost like 'ebonics'. This dialect takes words from Spanish, English and a bunch of native languages associated with the area (Uto-Aztec languages like nahuatl, raramuri (tarahumada), yaqui, mayo, etc.). It took a lot of time, thought, and fun to create this dialect. For example, the word "gringo" is widely use for American people, but did you know it's the raramuri word for "foreigner"? Another example, "escuincle". The Pachucos used this word for little kids yet they took it from the nahuatl word "itzcuintli" which literally means dog. Do you see the "fun" factor of this creation?

So we look at the word "El Chuco", and understanding that Calo goes beyond English-Spanish mentality, we have to find a connection with native languages. So here's the closest connections I found:

In the tarahumada language (Chihuahua state) I found the word "choko", which means to be or become sour...

In yaqui (Sonora state) I found the word "matchuko", which means "during the daytime"...

But then there are the Tiwa dialects (Tigua) of the native people of the region. These indigenous folks came from the regions of Taos, New Mexico in the 1800's and settled in the areas surrounding El Paso. With time these folks began associating with the mexicans and americans in El Paso and some of the vocabulary was exchanged. The Tiwa called this area "xu-ko'a". Due to the extinction of many of these native dialects it is hard to translate exactly what "xu-ko'a" means but we know that "xu" (pronounced 'chu') means to 'care for' and "-ko'a" means 'smoke'.

My personal conclusion: The Tiwa called the area of El Paso "xu-ko'a" and with time locals heard these individuals call this region "chucoa" and when Calo appeared in the scene, pachucos/tirilones began calling El Paso "el chuco" as a "cool" way of calling their hometown.

Con safos.

M. Ed. Luis Maldonado

Sources: Life and "An Introductory paper on the Tiwa language" by John Harrington.

[TexasCCW]

Chicanitoman, that was very informative. Thanks for sharing, oraleeee!

[skoro]

I came to EP thirty years ago and one of the first things I remember hearing is some of my coworkers referring to it as "Chucoville" and I've always kinda like the sound of it.

[XChucoresident]

family..has been here for generations..I have adopted it as part of my name..but I had my great grandmother..tell..me this..proud to be a native ..EL Pasoan..

[Old Gringo]

I'd always heard the "Pachuco/Zoot Suit" connection to the El Chuco nickname. It's been fun reading about all the others.