Posted 3 years, 7 months ago at around evening time by oso
There is a saying, or dicho, I hear often in Mexico. And I hear it most often when I am talking with my girlfriend’s grandmother:
Si Dios Quiere
Which translates to, “if God wants,” or “God willing.” Equally common are “primeramente a dios” which also sorta translates to “God willing” and perhaps the most popular, “gracias a dios,” which explains everything from why you were able to find a parking spot to why your favorite shampoo is on sale at the grocery store. The idea is that, in Mexico, you don’t make choices. God chooses for you.
Which, given my still ever present crush on my girlfriend, is an idea I can tolerate for 45 minutes while talking to her never-miss-a-telenovela grandmother. I mean, semantics aside, it is true that we are never in complete control of our situation. Chance always plays her part. So if “god willing” translates into “hopefully nothing will fuck with me on my way to the video store,” then, “si senora, si dios quiere.”
There is also my own grandmother who, rather than recounting the extended biography of Pedro Infante and all of his mistresses every time I see her, sends me emails like this one which arrived just a few days ago:
just a quick note in case you missed it. One of the best, clearest and informative pieces on Quatum Mechanics in the New York Timnes Op Ed section today. “One Hundred Years of Uncertainty“. Worth bringing up online and keeping. Find it fascinating as you think about science, spirituality, religion, psychology, philosophy , the whole bag!
Love,
Nana
Now that’s what I’m talking about. So I read through the massive Op-Ed piece and I’m reminded of some of the more advanced concepts from my college physics class. I’m reminded that the universe isn’t governed by static physical laws so much as probabilities. One big Vegas without the cheap buffets.
And it occurs to me that maybe good ol’ Nana is trying to tell me that Laura’s grandmother might not have it so wrong after all. Call it god, call it nature’s roulette table, but either way, we’re not the ones in charge nor do we even know the rules. If that’s not hugely humbling and monumentally intimidating, I dunno what is.
The point of this pointless post is a.) I drink too many beers every other monday and b.) if you’ve always been curious about quantum mechanics and how it differs from einstein’s theory of relativity in clear, concise, everyday language, this is the article for you.
I’m not that interested in quantum mechanics nor physics. Ugh… I feel like kicking a former physics major. (I’m not quite out of that bad mood just yet.)
I grew up with those sayings. It’s almost part of the way I speak with my parents. When I talk to them and I talk about my plans or goals or even if I tell them, “I’m going to the grocery store after this to pick up a case of beer, scent-less deoderant, and a pack of Sabritas limon peanuts si dios quiere.” Without it, you’re not blessed or the force isn’t with you or something.
Oh man, I can’t get enough of the sabritas limon peanuts lately. The cacahuates japoneses just started getting to starchy and I needed to move on to a more citrusy experience. In fact, I think I’ll pick some up right now … si dios quiere.
Speaking of probabilities, I am almost certain to be down there on June 11th. Planning to stay for two weeks, and return on June 26th, the whole time off I have between spring and summer quarter. So put the Pacifico in the fridge and fire up the grill, your favorite conservative is coming down…si dios quiere!!
whats a “dios”?
Que onda guey…Me gusto tu posting de ‘Si Dios quiere’, voy a leer el articulo de quantum physics. Recuerda que inclusive Einstein reconocio que la teoria de quantum physics estaba basada demasiado en la probabilidad y por eso mismo la rechazo, porque el creia firmemente en la existencia de un ser superior ‘who didn’t play with the dices’.
Como nota cultural me parece que ese dicho, ‘Si Dios quiere’ tiene origen en la palabra ‘Ojala’, que proviene del arabe y fue introducida a España por los moros. Ya se que en tu pais no quieren a los musulmanes asi que probablemente por eso te sorprende tanto que la usemos en Mexico…(es broma)…saludos a Laura.
HP,
Asadas and cabritos we will have, but sorry bro, machos toman Indios.
Moreno,
It’s that thing between your momma’s legs.
Zama,
Todavía estas vivo cabrón. Gracias por el comentario pero que triste que usas Internet Explorer … yo siempre espero mas de mis carnales.
Tienes razón … la abuelita de Laura y Einstein tiene mucho en común. Como cabello.
Mira, yo no tengo nada contra los muscle men. De hecho, muchos me dicen que yo también soy un muscle man. Pero yo voy a comenzar un nuevo dicho - si los dioses quieren. O mas bien, si las diosas quieren. Como ves?
Saludos a tu guera.
Sabritones for me y un vaso de elote, si dios quiere.
I use it. My parents use it. Everyone I know uses it. It is god’s will.
We also say, “come decia Don Manuel, en paz descanse.”
No’hombre, I can’t get enough of those Sabrita style cacahuates y con una caguama…shhhh, even better. Haber si dios quiere este weekend despues de ver Los Amigos Invisibles.
“Ojala” is also used a lot. Which I found out is actually from the Arabic InshAllah, God willing. Mi novio me dijo.
Hola Oso - Linking to the wrong blog. The correct address is: http://soulmusings.blogspot.com
BYT, I finally saw Swingers….funny! I loved that scene where you got your nickname
DT,
You lost me with the last one. Who’s Don Manuel?
EMC,
I know real men drink caguamas, but I’m clearly no real man. Lately I’ve been all about the huevo. No snickering. I don’t know if you guys have seen these things, but Corona’s putting out a beer that everyone affectionately calls the huevo and is a perfect snack to go along with a five peso bag of peanuts - 8 oz. of ice-frigid beer in the shape of a cuaguama’s (the animal) egg. Coke’s doing the same thing. They’ve got this new little 8 oz. glass bottle for just 3 pesos. In a country with ever more American sized portions, I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Alma,
By any chance, is Mario your boyfriend? I’m glad you saw Swingers … everybody should. The scene when the pizza guy comes … so good. My friends and I try to be as funny as them, but we’re not.
About the link. That’s not my doing, but yours my dear. To change it, next time you write a comment, click on “(Change)” where it says “Welcome back Alma” and enter the correct URL - that’ll correct it so you don’t have to enter it each time.
Are those the baby Coronas? The tiny bottled versions of their larger halves? I got drunk on those at a family wedding in some rancho in Mexico. This was recent. I took my girlfriend, who had NEVER been more than ten minutes inside Mejico, to this random rancho where there was Mejican food up the wazzoo y lots of those baby Coronas. I can drink a caguama although I’m a little guy, so without any those caca-peanuts, I’d roll over drunk.
Speak for yourself. I don’t know about you but I’m fuckin’ money baby! This girl across from me in the cafe I’m at right now is sending me crazy vibes…oh man, she’s totally diggin’ me. Does she know me? She doesn’t know me. Man, I’m getting crazy vibes…
…oh…
…wait…
…sorry, what were you saying Oso? Right…something about…um, not funny…yeah…so…
Yeah, see, perfect example. We try so hard.
Jajaja…err..claro que lo sabia….
hello!
Que onda guey?
Im writing a paper for temple university’s English department. The course is Semantics - basically the meaning of words - and my paper expands on a professors essay on the word dude, which now is used as an exclamation in speech. My paper will analyse the mexican use of the word guey, making an analytical comparison between dude and guey. I understand that guey is (among my friends from mexico city) widely used among both young men and women; it is even used as an exclamation (GUEY!).
Could someone please explain the meaning and use of the word guey to me? I would of course use your explanation in my paper as data.
Thank you.
Christopher Rogy
crogy@temple.edu
ifthefoeshits@hotmail.com
Sup crogy,
(couldn’t they have given you a better email address than that?)
You know, I was actually just talking with some friends about the word güey last night. One difference between güey and dude to be aware of is that güey has negative connotations. I really don’t know how to translate it. Idiot is to severe. Dummy doesn’t sound right. Neither does fool. But something along those lines.
So my friends were telling me they’d rather be called “cabrón” than güey because it sounds more macho. Better to be an asshole than an idiot is the thinking.
There’s tons of info on the etymology of dude, but I can’t find anything for güey.
Here in Monterrey it seems like I hear güey less and less. Especially amongst the upper class. Instead I’m hearing a lot of que tal gacho/a or que onda menso/a.
Interesting paper. Make sure to come back and let us know what you find.
If you’re going to cite my entire name it’s “oso pecoso.” And you should also ask Daily Texican - he’s the master of the cholo vocab.
Hi!
My name is Laura and I am in Australia, doing a study on “si Dios quiere” and “insya allah” (the equivalent expression in Arabic). I lived in Colombia for about five years, so I have some intuition on this, but I thought maybe you could help me out a little. I happened on to your site because it comes up when you type in “si Dios quiere” on google. I’m wondering if you guys could help me understand the use of this expression a little more. I’m interested in hearing when it’s used the most and by what type of people. I’d also like to know where you (whoever answers) are from and where you live now!
Thanks!
Laura
Laura,
I’m probably not the one who should be answering, since I’ve only been living here for 4 months, but “si dios quiere” maybe isn’t quite as prevalent as I make it sound in this post. To stereotype heavily, I’d say it’s said most often by the extremely religious, campesinos, and more often by women than men.
Also, I’ve noticed it’s said much more in the conservative north than in the center of mexico or even the south.
I’d be curious to read your paper. From what I’ve read, it seems like Mexican and Arabic culture have a lot in commont. Good luck and hopefully some others will drop you their thoughts.
Thanks, Oso! I appreciate you taking my question seriously. Interesting that you think this is a conservative thing. My impression is that in Colombia it’s probably used more by the middle and lower classes than the upper class, and probably more by people originally from the country than the city.
Where are you originally from and what’s your family background? By the way, my family lives in Michigan. I have been in Mexico– staying with a family in Guadalajara (definitely a name that comes from Arabic) in 1990 or so, but that was too long ago for me to really remember, and I was at a Casa Hogar in Matamoros for about a month last year.
Laura