One of the things I love to learn in a foreign language are colloquialisms, because it makes you sound more like a native speaker. When I worked at the hostel in Puerto Vallarta, the staff constantly used the expression “Que onda guey?” when greeting each other. I never asked what it meant. I just assumed it was some variation of “what’s up”. What I failed to appreciate is the significance of “guey”.

For the next several years while exploring Mexico, I would occasionally raise my head and say, “Que onda guey?” when I saw a group of young guys. I knew that you didn’t use the expression with women or older people. It was more an expression used with the young cool kids, and like any middle aged man trying to seem cool, I threw it around with abandon.

It wasn’t until this year, when I used it with one of my friend’s children, that I learned the meaning of the last word. They informed me that guey literally means “dumb ass”. It can also be translated as dude but is still considered crass and an expression you would never use with someone you didn’t know well.

Like the year I spent in Thailand communicating I was a ladyboy, I had made an egregious translation error. In my attempt to fit in, I had accomplished the opposite by calling every young man I encountered in Mexico a dumb ass.