An albur (plural: ''albures'') is a
word play
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...
in
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish ( es, español mexicano) is the variety of Dialect, dialects and Sociolect, sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexican territory. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, with more than twice as many as in a ...
that involves a
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
.
The first meaning in the Spanish language of albur refers to contingency or chance to which the result is trusted. Like in: "Leave nothing to the albur" or "it was worth the risk of an albur". The term originally referred to the hidden cards in the
Spanish Monte betting card game.
The word albur is also synonym to uncertainty or random luck "Es un albur".
It is very common among groups of male friends in Mexico, especially urban youth, construction workers, factory workers, mechanics and other blue collar-derivative male groups; and is considered rude otherwise, especially when in the presence of women, given the sexual
innuendo
An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...
in the jokes. Its usage is similar to the English expressions: "If you know what I mean" and "
that's what she said
The phrase "said the actress to the bishop" is a colloquial British exclamation, offering humor by serving as a punch line that exposes an unintended double entendre. An equivalent phrase in North America is "that's what she said". The versatilit ...
". Albur is also a form of
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
and many
stand-up artists and comedians, including
Alberto Rojas "El Caballo",
Polo Polo
Leopoldo Roberto García Peláez Benítez (9 March 1944 – 23 January 2023), known professionally as Polo Polo, was a Mexican comedian known internationally for his elaborate joke telling and narration. His style, mainly in first person as a su ...
,
Franco Escamilla
Franco Javier López Escamilla (born 29 April 1981) is a Mexican comedian, voice actor, musician, philanthropist, businessman, freestyler and founder of ''La Diablo Squad'' (The Devil Squad).
Biography
Escamilla was born in Cuautla, Morelos on ...
and others are renowned for their skills at performing albures on drunk
bullies
A bully is someone responsible for bullying, using aggression to intimidate or dominate others.
Bully may also refer to:
Animals
* American Bully, a breed of dog
* Bull Terrier or bully, a breed of dog
* '' Gobiomorphus'' or bully, an Australia ...
and
hecklers
A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of di ...
attending to their shows (''alburear'').
Brozo has been known for performing ''albures'' on several prominent political figures in Mexican television such as Mexico's former president,
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...
.
The game of albures is usually a subtle, verbal competition in which the players try to show superiority by using albures attempting to leave the opponent without a
comeback
Comeback, The Comeback or Come Back may refer to:
General
* Comeback (publicity), a return to prominence by a well-known person
* Comeback (retort), a witty response to an insult or criticism
* Comeback (sports), an event where an athlete or team ...
. Most ''albures'' have to do with sex,
but they also can be just generally degrading, as with comparing the target's stupidity to that of a donkey, ox, or mule.
Specific purposes of the albur can include:
* To show off the ''albureros
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
by making a remark of him being the aggressor (or
male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
active party) in
sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetrat ...
* To imply (subtly or bluntly) the opponent's (albureado) lack of
virility
Virility (from the Latin ''virilitas'', manhood or virility, derived from Latin ''vir'', man) refers to any of a wide range of masculine characteristics viewed positively. Virile means "marked by strength or force". Virility is commonly associ ...
by stating him to be the "victim" (
female
Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gamet ...
or passive receiver) in a
sexual encounter
Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...
. In the context of an albur, the receptive side of the sexual intercourse is considered to be the losing side while the male, giving, active side is the winner. This applies regardless of whether it is male to male or male to female intercourse.
Social aspects
Classes
Albures are commonplace in many sectors of Mexican society and are usually regarded as a sign of a
Wit
Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever and usually funny. Someone witty is a person who is skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip, repartee, and wisecrack.
Form ...
and agile (though somewhat dirty) mind. It is possible to find people who brag about their skills (at albures) and claim to be "good at it", this phrase being itself an albur (also a self-reference to their virility and sexual power). The albures can be subtle or explicit depending on the author's intention, they are commonly found in almost every Mexican social sector being more common in low-class sectors, but present in higher ones also. However people may sometimes categorize those who use albures as
nacos, which is a way of saying "you are despicable for being an urban but uneducated person, whose family comes from the rural poor areas of the country".
Though at first sight outsiders may see albures as a very rude, distasteful, blunt and aggressive activity, it is usually nothing more than a pastime which promotes laughter and is an excuse to joke around with friends. An important aspect of the refinement of an albur exchange is the level at which it can be seen as a
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
. The most refined albureros can maintain a double entendre conversation in such a way that an unprepared listener would not even realize there was an underlying sexual connotation. In such a case that person would find the giggling, blushing and pausing awkward.
It sometimes happens that a newcomer is "welcomed" into a group or conversation with a quick and unexpected albur. This behaviour tends to immediately set who is the (sexual) aggressor, thus being a form to establish a male hierarchy. A quick comeback gains recognition of the group, though this is seldom expected, due to shyness, surprise, lack of ability to recognize the albur, or lack of ability to produce an answer.
For example, at a diner with friends someone telling saying, "" ('eat it all'), might be jokingly insinuating "you should perform fellatio", an agile mind would give a retaliatory double entendre answer like, "I don't like it, but you can eat mine if you like" ('').
Women
Women play a crucial role in the language and focus of albures. While the alburero would attempt to show the albureado as the
bottom
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant
* Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM
* Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...
(passive sexual partner, ), he could as well name the female relatives of the albureado, namely sisters or, in case of great confidence, mother. However, it's a known fact that many Mexicans are over-reactive to this type of references and might be more easily moved to a physically violent response than by any other type of albur, or even overt insults.
However, in the case of female (female albur performers), the situation becomes quite complicated for the male albur performer, as the general counterattack strategy would be exhibiting the adversary as a sexual bottom, but women in albur are not trying to prove virility, only mental sharpness, and that type of attack does no harm. In this case, if the albureado has no comeback line, he suffers a double humiliation since he would not be able to respond to the albur, and he would also have been defeated by a woman, which makes it more humiliating for the macho Mexican mind among of a group of males.
Language and structure
Albures can make use of several aspects of (empirical, innate) linguistic knowledge. For example, the
phallic
A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.
Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely ...
shape of the
chili pepper
Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...
adds a double meaning to the question, asked of a tourist, "Do you like Mexican chili?"
Phonetic
Many albures originate from similarities in the pronunciation of different words:
* "" ''('Give me the time -- what time is it?')''
which sounds like: ''('Give it to me now')'', a phrase which can connote "it" as being either the
vagina
In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...
or the
anus
The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...
, and therefore constituting an albur.
Polysemy
Others make use of the fact that a word may have several meanings, one of which will be exploited.
For example, a
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
bus driver may ask a passenger about , which can mean both "the stop" and "the erected one". Therefore, a wary passenger should be careful not to reply, e.g., "", which can mean "at the
speedbump" but also "the whole thing" or "until it stops".
Pronominal references
When the antecedent for a pronoun is substituted for a sexual reference the simplest (cheapest) form of albures can be achieved.
Using the same example as above,
* "" ''('Give it to me now')''.
Several examples can be easily constructed where the previous conversation would include antecedents for the clitic pronoun ""
em, sing and the albur comeback would re-reference it to mean the penis (among the several synonyms for penis, there are some with the correct gender and number agreement).
Generalization of meaning/context
*a) ''('You are dumb.')''
*b) ''('I see that you are sad.')''
In this exchange, the interesting aspect is that b's response mechanism is simply to substitute the out-of-context "sad" for a's accusation. B's response would effectively be interpreted as "I see that you are dumb".
Some of the most renowned masters of the albur are "
Chaf y Queli
Chaf Rural District ( fa, دهستان چاف) is a rural district (''dehestan'') in the Central District of Langarud County, Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population (including Chaf and Chamkhaleh
Chaf and Chamkhaleh ( fa, چا ...
", who made several records in the 1970s under the "
Discos Diablo" label.
Armando Jiménez, who wrote ''
Picardía mexicana'', made a compilation of albures and other
mexicanisms.
See also
*
Ambiguity
Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement ...
*
Mexican culture
Mexican culture is primarily influenced by its Indigenous inhabitants and the culture of Spain. Mexican culture is described as the 'child' of both western and native American civilizations. Other minor influences include those from other regio ...
*
Pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...
*
Spanish profanity
The Spanish language employs a wide range of swear words that vary between Spanish speaking nations and in regions and subcultures of each nation. Idiomatic expressions, particularly profanity, are not always directly translatable into other ...
*
Armando Jiménez article in Spanish Wikipedia
References
{{reflist
External links
Albures Chaf y QueliYouTube audio (in Spanish)
Mexican culture
Mexican Spanish
Mexican folklore