Raymond Padilla

rvpadilla1@GMAIL.COM
Saturday, October 17, 2015 7:32 PM

Interlude 2: Zurumatos Unite! (And a surprising conclusion)

10/17/15
Colegas,
In a response to my first Interlude posting on pendejismo, one of our
colegas informed us that the word "zurumato" was offensive in his ideolect
(an individual's particular version of a language). Moreover, he provided an
etymology of the word. He stated that the word is toponymic and refers to
the town of Zuruomato in the Mexican state of Michiocan. He further
informed us that former residents of Zuruomato who migrated north to
escape the scourge of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz were mistreated by
the northern people that they encountered who gave rise to the neologism
of "zurumato" as a synonym for "tonto".
Since the word "zurumato" does not appear in the Diccionario de la Real
Academia Espaola (DRAE), the standard bearer for the Spanish
language, it is not easy to ferret out the origin of the word "zurumato".
Recall that I conjectured (with no facts to back it up) that the word
"zurumato" might be a blending of two other known Spanish words that
each means "tonto".
So I decided to look into this linguistic tangle a bit more using the Internet.
Here are some of the findings:
1. There is little question that the word "zurumato" is a Mexicanism.
2. The word is not recognized by the DRAE.
3. In other dictionaries where the word does appear it is glossed as
meaning "tonto" or "estpido".

4. I found a web site that listed over 200 words in Spanish that are
synonyms for "tonto", "estpido", etc. If you really want to see the list, send
me a note and I will send you a PDF with my findings. In this list, the word
"zurumato" appears only at the end of the list where some Americanismos
for "tonto" are listed.
5. The technical linguistic term for words denoting stupidity is
"disfemismos".
6. I found a number of entries that attempt to provide an etymology for
"zurumato" and they all refer to the same thing, namely that the word may
be related to the word "zurumbtico", which can be expressed in English as
"dumbfounded" (my interpretation). The word "zurumbtico" does appear
in the DRAE. Moreover, it is suggested that the word "zurumbtico" may
come from the Portuguese "zorumbtico", which means glum or
melancholy and derives from Old Portuguese.
7. I was surprised to find a page where the meaning of the word
"zurumato" is reversed! Here is an excerpt:
Justavo Arias Murueta (pintor)
En aquel tiempo conoc a un hombre que era culto (no como yo), un
zurumato, como dicen en Torren y l me invitaba a conferencias, a
exposiciones y empez mi mente a abrirse un poquito y me interes
mucho todo lo que aprenda, especialmente la pintura, pero ms que otra
cosa, me encantaba el teatro.
So in Torreon the word "zurumato" can mean cultivated or educated! We
ought not be too surprised at meaning reversal in words, as this is a quite
common linguistic phenomenon, cf Black English "bad" which actually
means "good". What needs to be resolved is whether the Torreon meaning
of "zurumato" antedates or is contemporary with the negative meaning of
the word. Or is it the case that the negative denotation of "zurumato" is an
ironic use of the word in its positive meaning, as we might say "genius" to
someone who is acting foolishly?
7. So far, then, we have three conjectures as to the etymology of the word
and two completely opposite denotations in Mexican Spanish (I have to
confess that I had not heard of the word used positively). I won't go into
the linguistic methods that we might use to clear up this mystery but let the

chore fall on the shoulders of the curious and energetic who care about
who we are.
Now the Surprise
Our brief sojourn into pendejismo and zurumatismo has given rise to a very
interesting insight. If you were following closely the discussion so far (and I
hope it was entertaining), you probably noted that one reason that the
meaning and etymology of "zurumato" is so tangled up is that it does not
appear in the DRAE. Thus, the word has not received the attention of
linguists and other scholars who can explain the word to us. But what this
means is that the DRAE is somehow a transcultural arbiter of the Spanish
language. Whatever appears in the DRAE must be Spanish. However, at
the very same time, language itself is very dynamic and cannot be made
static. Language is constantly being invented. Therefore, language has
what I call an elliptic quality.
But wait . . . !
Go back to the Unity and Pluralism (U&P) model that I sent you earlier.
The model purports to show how unity and pluralism can co-exist. To
make that happen, there has to be a transcultural component, which I
dubbed "bracketed culture" and a multicultural component that I dubbed
"elliptic cultures". Bracketed culture is slow to change and maintains a
unity across all elliptic cultures. An elliptic culture is freewheeling, dynamic,
and subject to constant change. But elliptic cultures cannot stand on their
own because they would fly off into never-never land or turn on each other
(cf the Middle East). They are able to thrive only when they have the glue
of the bracketed culture to hold them together.
So the DRAE is an artifact of Pan-Hispanic bracketed culture that can allow
elliptic language variations in the Americas, among Chicanos, etc. The
bracketed social structure that maintains this dictionary is the Real
Academia Espaola (RAE).
But here is the kicker. There are Academias de la Lengua in virtually every
Latin American Country and even one in the U.S. This provides a social
structure for calibrating the elliptic Spanish language of each country.
These academias have an association that binds them together.

From all this we can gather that the U&P model does give us direction as to
what we must do to promoted greater unity while stoking the fires of
diversity and creativity.
So now to action . . .
What Chicanada (or U.S. Latinos if you wish) should do is to create a
Chicano (or Latino) Academia de la Lengua. Such an academia would
clarify the elliptic Chicano (Latino) language situation. Given the
tremendous diversity that Chicanos (Latinos) have in our genetic and
cultural makeup, the work of the academia could be incredibly fruitful and
produce astonishing results.
The academia should formally join the association of academias that
already exists so that we can take our place in the wider international order
of things. For Chicanos, the academia would represent a bracketed social
structure for all Chicanos. Likewise if the academia were to be conceived
along Latino lines. At the same time, the academia would be an elliptic
social structure within the bracketed Pan-Hispanic language and culture.
In other words, Raza, follow the U&P model. Work on the bracketed
culture (if your forte is unity) or go to work in one of the elliptic cultures
where diversity and creativity prevail. It's your choice, but work from either
end.
Otherwise, we'll all continue to be zurumatos not knowing how to move
forward and why we are in a pickle too often.
p.s. I leave it up to your good brains as an exercise to expand on the
language example and determine how it is that the Amercas21 proposal
attends to the issues of unity and diversity. Don't worry about the specific
content of the proposal but focus on the theory of how unity and diversity
can be maintained as we move into the next phase of our historic
development as a people. Anyone can propose specific content to the
structure provided by the theory. And certainly anyone can propose their
own theory of how to promote unity and diversity.
Regards,
Ray Padilla

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