Partly depends on where you are. Southwestern states that have a border with Mexico tend to have more native Spanish speakers (not just immigrants, but also Chicano folks who were on the land before the US took it), so even the native English speakers tend to pick up a little Spanish.
this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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Interesting. ¡Muchas gracias!
Now it makes me wonder if US states near Quebec use French expressions in a similar sense. "<.<
I've heard Americans use "Je ne sais quoi" for when they like something, but cannot articulate why.
"I love it, it's got that je ne sais quoi"
We do! Although now I think about it, I haven't heard many people say it ever since "vibe" got really popular as slang in recent years. More likely to hear "it's got some kind of vibe" for the same purpose.
That makes me wonder, since I've heard things like "Je ne sais pas" shortened to "je pas" do people shorten "je ne sais quoi" to "je quoi"?
Not that i've ever heard as a resident of Kansas. But "je ne sais quoi" doesn't come up in my life often.
I grew up in maine which has a large french population. People use quebecois swears like “putain” and “tabernack” but mostly use english. I can’t think of many french phrases that are used commonly. Just swears.
Mucho common, hombre.
We see and hear a lot of Spanish in California. So many road and city names are in Spanish. It’s the #1 foreign language to take in school. Hispanics are the #1 minority in California, maybe even the majority. At the very least you would know food names. If you go get street tacos, depending on their English proficiency, there’s a chance you may have to use some Spanish to order lol. Also people might speak and throw in some Spanish words in a funny ha ha way. Not everyday, but it wouldn’t be uncommon. It’s all very natural.
Galleon, guerilla, junta, lolita, lasso, macho, marijuana, vamoose.
canyon, picante, compadre, comprende, mosquito
Mesa, bodega, cafeteria, tango, fiesta, hurricane, tornado.
There are a fuckload of spanish word in english. It’s one of the reason spanish is so easy to learn for english speakers.
Hurricane is huracan, and bodega in Spanish means "storage room", generally wine cellar but not exclusively.
If anything, I think this false equivalents make it harder to master
Guacamole by the el rio
I see.
But about lolita specifically, doesn't it come from a French book?
Lolita is a spnish nickname. It’s a shortened form of Dolores.
The book was written in English by a Russian émigré (Vladimir Nabokov) in the US.
What's lasso and vamoose in Spanish? Lasso in English I only know as wonder woman's rope thing
Vamoose, dunno. But lasso, I'm fairly sure it's lazo in Spanish, the rope cowboys use to fetch cattle for example.
Just checked - according to Wikitionary, vamoose stems from "vamos", "to go" in the indicative first person plural form.
Vamos would mostly be translated as "Let's go!" or "we are going/ we go" depending on the context. I use it often to motivate my friends to get going and stop stopping on the trail on our bikes.
"Vamos, parceros. Hagale pues!" = "Let's go, dudes. Go on then!"
Si
Chinga la migra
Hasta la vista, baby
Like you'll never hear disculpe or something, but realize that some Spanish words are deeply engrained in US pop culture since before the war back when white (by then standards) Spanish speaking entertainers were all the rage. If it was on looney tunes you can assume folks can use it without batting an eye.
In some communities it can be 50% or more, called Spanglish.
I’ve heard IRL: “Pero, the thing is mi tio da me un present for my quinceañera…”
And my Irish grandfather picked up some vocabulary like “chingadera” and my (not at all Latin) mother used “mintiroso,” “chismoso,” “chones,” etc.
A popular example of Spanglish is Caress Me Down by Sublime. Lyrics are explicit.
my friend's grandpa mixes three chinese dialects with english in a similar way, plus dementia, and nobody ever knows what he is on about.
mmmm. common. maybe more its not uncommon. hombre, amigo, caliente. A lot of terms are known and used but dude, friend, and hot are not going anywhere all the same.
Yes, but a lot of people say them incorrectly, like "no problemo" with all the diphthongs, instead of "no hay problema".