Today’s Spanglish word of the day is grocerías.

This word is actually pretty interesting. It is used to mean “groceries”. However, the Spanglish word grocerías pronounced the way it looks means something completely different in Spanish. In fact, it can be quite offensive if used without care. In Spanish, groserías (with an “s” instead of a “c”) means “swear words” or “rude things”. Nowhere close to its intended meaning. Yet Spanglish speakers use it all the time! It would be very difficult for me to hear it or use it without bursting into laughter

Lets look at some examples:

“Mom was yelling with all her might all the things on her grocerías list.”

“Mijo, te gastaste todo el dinero en esas grocerías?”

The proper Spanish translation for the English word “groceries” and the Spanglish word “grocerías” is alimentos.

“Today is payday, lets go buy some alimentos.”

Until next time!

Payazaro