Being from Laredo, we don't give much thought to the announcements of sales and promotions over the public address system at Wal-Mart, Target or any of the other stores. But those who might be from up North, or have simply been out of Laredo for a while might react with a puzzled look when they hear "Attention Wal-Mart Choppers"! Some may even look somewhat uneasily over their shoulders.
As we all know, many of the employees at our local retailers might have a hard time distinguishing between the Sh sound and the often-substituted Ch sound. In Spanish, we use the harsher-sounding Ch sound quite a bit. Words such as charco, chico, chile, chocolate are a few examples. On the other hand, we don't hear the softer Sh sound in Spanish much at all. Although, I have spoken to people from West Texas and they do have a tendency to use it in words such as ocho and noche; thereby pronouncing the words "osho" and "noshe". So, next time you're Christmas chopping, oops I mean shopping, listen closely and you might hear- either a call to buy, or a call to arms........"attention Wal-Mart choppers"!
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