The Birth of the Epabuey

Today I am going to tell you a story. If you speak Mexican Spanish or decent "Tex-Mex" this will be hilarious. If not, well, I'm not sure, but here goes....

I teach Spanish at a high school in Austin, Texas. I have a group of girls in my 3rd period class who really want to learn Spanish and really want to speak to the Spanish-speaking kids (most of whom are Mexican), but they are too shy. So, they started to eavesdrop on the Mexicans in the hallways between classes. One day, about a month and a half ago, they came to class with a pressing question. They wanted to know what an "epaway" was. They informed me that the Mexicans were always talking about this "epaway" and shouting it at each other in the hallways.

What the girls were really hearing was "Epa, buey!" "Epa" is like "hey". A "buey" is literally an "ox", but is used like "dude, man, or dog". The Mexicans of course were not talking about an "epaway", but were greeting their friends with "Hey, dude!"

I have created a hybrid creature, the "Epabuey". This is a fearsome beast that eats homework. Now if a girl in third period doesn't have her "tarea" or "homework", I ask her: "Que paso? La comio el Epabuey?" ("What happened? Did the Epabuey eat it?")


Note: Since I have selected English as my blog language, I can't seem to get the upside-down question and explanation marks or the accent marks. I am a good Spanish teacher. I know how it is supposed to look!!!