Woman Sparks Fiery Debate With Latina Girlfriend Over Her Refusal To Pronounce Spanish Loan Words With An Accent

“I’m American, and I’ll speak with my God-given accent and nothing else!”

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• June 7, 2024

Let me tell you about the latest drama in the life of one 23-year-old quirky American girl. It’s got everything: cultural differences, linguistic debates, and the phrase ‘holy moly guacamole.’ Yes, you read that right, so buckle up.

Our narrator (Original Poster), who had a penchant for playful expressions, found herself in hot water with her girlfriend over the seemingly innocent phrase ‘holy moly guacamole.’ 

The problem? Apparently, she’d been saying ‘guacamole’ all wrong. The correct pronunciation was ‘hwuacamole’ according to her girlfriend of Mexican descent. And hearing the word slaughtered in OP’s American tongue was, in her words, painful.

OP thought the phrase was cute and silly—a harmless bit of fun. But her girlfriend’s reaction was anything but amused. She insisted on the proper Spanish pronunciation, which OP found a bit over the top.

OP was all for cultural sensitivity, but she didn’t speak Spanish. The idea of painstakingly trying to get it perfect every time felt a bit cringe and took the fun out of it. Plus, if she was being real, she didn’t want to butcher it even worse and then have her girlfriend laugh at her accent. 

The annoying part was that OP’s girlfriend never made fun of Spanish speakers who mispronounced English words. But when OP had some fun with the Spanish vocabulary, it was World War Three. 

Her girlfriend’s counterargument? Expecting Mexicans to speak with an American accent was racist. Did OP’s reasoning hold some weight, or was her girlfriend overly critical?

Let’s dig into the details

OP also brought up how she (rightly, imo) wouldn’t make fun of a Spanish speaker for mispronouncing an English word. It’s fine to have an accent, I think, and she tolerates all accents except mine when I occasionally say a Spanish word in an English sentence.

She says expecting Mexican people to speak with an American accent is different because it’s racist.

I will apologize to her if Reddit thinks I’m the asshole here.

OP pronounced a Spanish word wrongly which made her girlfriend mad at her. Although OP is afraid to pronounce words and get laughed at, she feels that the only way to please her is to spend a lot of time learning the language.

OP pointed to her friend how she endured listening to Spanish speakers pronounce English words wrongly but not her who isn't Spanish but English. OP feels the yardstick is unfair.

We gathered the highest upvoted comments from the Reddit community:

“We would sound ridiculous if we suddenly began trying to pronounce all loan words as they're pronounced in their languages of origin.”

“Does she also think you should pronounce Texas as Tay-has? Or croissant as qwass-aunt?”

“Your girlfriend seems to have hang-ups about languages that could be rooted in some sort of racial dynamic, probably on the double standard imposed on non-white Americans.”

“Loving her stupid double standards, lol.”

“Making fun of people for their accent, or demanding someone prioritize accent reduction over everything Else, is mean.”

“Policing your accent is shitty. doing it wrong is hilarious.”

“Do not pronounce guacamole with an h, only pronounce g as an h if followed by an i or an e.”

Redditors moved swiftly to OP’s side as they echoed a loud NTA verdict. They argued it would be awkward to pronounce guacamole with its Spanish accent in the middle of an English sentence.

After all, in American English, the accepted pronunciation for guacamole was…guacamole. If everyone started pronouncing all loan words as they are in their original languages, conversations would sound absurdly inconsistent.

The consensus was clear: OP’s girlfriend needed to chill out.

Do you agree with this verdict? Let us know in the comments.

Jesse