Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Eugene

(61,592 posts)
Mon Nov 7, 2016, 02:55 PM Nov 2016

Glossary of graft lays bare Mexico's lexicon of corruption

Source: The Guardian

Glossary of graft lays bare Mexico's lexicon of corruption

Corruption is so endemic it has generated a vocabulary of its own.
A new book, the Corrupcionario Mexicano, hopes to make people
stop seeing it as normal


David Agren in Mexico City
Monday 7 November 2016 11.30 GMT

The word chayote is a term originally from the Nahuatl language which denotes a greenish edible gourd. In Mexico, it also means a payment made by a politician to a journalist in exchange for favourable coverage.

Chapulín signifies “grasshopper” – but can also mean a politician who changes party affiliation in search of financial benefit.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

So well-entrenched is corruption in Mexico’s political life, that an entire lexicon has evolved to describe its intricacies. Now a group of activists has published a compendium of corruption terms in an effort to highlight the country’s graft problem.

Those behind the Corrupcionario Mexicano – or “Mexican Corruptionary” – argue that curbing corruption starts with changing the way criminal behaviour is described.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/07/mexico-corruption-dictionary-corrupcionario-mexicano
Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Latin America»Glossary of graft lays ba...