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Mexican X-plainer: Demon Hands & Poop
Since I’ve recently annoyed folks by debunking Nahuatl etymologies for the “güey” and “chingona,” I thought I would compensate by discussing two Mexican Spanish words with indigenous roots.
As a kid, I loved spooky folktales, especially about “cucuys” (monsters). The story that scared me the most was “la Mano Pachona,” also called “la Mano Peluda” (the Furry Hand) or “la Mano Negra” (the Black Hand) throughout Spain and Latin America.
This apparition is said to be a disembodied, hairy, dark claw that crawls around in the darkness, attacking mischievous boys … with Spanish blood, if we believe the claims made by my Grandmother Marie Garza and my Uncle Joe Casas.
The very idea of the thing terrified me. Once, when my uncle was telling us creepy tales on his ranch, my cousins laughed at my expression of dread.
“Ni le cuentes lo de la mano pachona al güero,” René Casas said. “O se hace cuacha.”
Now, I didn’t personally use that word, but I knew what he meant. I would shit myself if I heard the story of the hairy claw. He wasn’t completely wrong.
But wait. What the hell? “Pachona”? And “cuacha”? Where did these strange words come from?
Let me explain. Francisco J. Santamaria’s 1959 Diccionario de Mejicanismos has an entry for…
