THE HEADING

Antojitos

a typical snack of Mexican cooking

The Diccionario del espanol de Mexico ties the word to maize, and gives tacos, quesadillas and chalupas as its examples.

English menus call it appetisers. That is misleading. Four antojitos are dinner.

THE OTHER HEADING

Guisado

the main or heavy dish

Usually meat with a sauce, sometimes with vegetables. At a taqueria de guisados there are pots on the counter and no grill.

Point at the pot. That is the accepted way to order.

THE TRAP

Torta

In Mexico it is a split white roll filled with ham, cheese, tomato, avocado and chilli. The RAE lists that sense ninth and marks it Mex.

Sense three of the same word, marked colloquial, is bofetada en la cara. A slap in the face.

WORD FOR WORD

Tortilla

a maize disc, about 15 cm across

The Mexican dictionary makes the other two versions ask for extra words: tortilla de harina, and tortilla a la espanola.

Ask for a plain tortilla in Mexico and you will get maize.

THE ARGUMENT

Cheese is optional

The dictionary defines a quesadilla as a tortilla folded in half and filled with various foods such as cheese, potato, mushrooms, minced meat, pork crackling or squash blossom.

The fold is compulsory. Cheese is the first example on a list, not the definition. Mexico City has the dictionary on its side.

THE BOARD

Six words read any stand

Suadero is the cut from the animal's chest. Buche is the front of a pig's neck. Tripa is intestine, fried crisp. Longaniza is spiced pork sausage.

Barbacoa is mutton or goat cooked in a pit. Cochinita pibil is pork with achiote, cooked under the ground.

THE ONE THAT HURTS

Picoso

a strong or chilli-hot flavour

Caliente is about temperature. For heat from chilli, Mexico says picoso.

Esta muy picosa la salsa? Getting this right saves you a genuinely bad afternoon.

NOT A DISH

A la gringa

paying each for what one consumed

The dictionary lists it under gringo. It means everyone pays for exactly what they ate, especially in a group.

If someone suggests it at the end of dinner, they are talking about money.

ON THE WAY OUT

Provecho

an expression of courtesy

The dictionary defines buen provecho as wishing someone enjoyment of what they are eating.

Strangers say it to strangers. Say it back.

WHY IT IS HARD

A second lexicon

In 2010 UNESCO added traditional Mexican cuisine to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A cuisine that size grows its own vocabulary. That is exactly why Mexico built its own dictionary.

WHAT TO DO

You are not failing at Spanish

You are meeting a lexicon your course never opened. Read a few entries in the Diccionario del espanol de Mexico and the menu turns from a wall into a list.

Then name the filling when you order, and the argument never starts.

Tap for the full piece, with both tables and the four mistakes.