grubbo

A somewhat slighting reference to a person who has done something unpleasing. Meaning can range from "imp" almost to "jerk". Almost always humorous in one respect or another.

That grubbo took the seat I was saving for you.

He's not a grubbo, he's a true jerk!

You're such a grubbo, honey, when you take the last piece of cake just to do it.

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Blinding

(U.K.) Cursing, specifically saying "Bloody" this and "Bloody" that.

"If I hear someone effing and blinding in the street I give them a look." - Roy "Chubby" Brown (of all people!)

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Panelbeater

(UK) an employee of an automobile body repair shop who repairs body damage.

Ezra's an excellent panelbeater. You can't even see where the bonnet was crushed.

Paltrowism

1. A verbal usage coined by or reminiscent of Gwyneth Paltrow. A Paltrowism is an elitist expression uttered with vacant ignorance of what 99% of the world knows by hard experience. Can generally be preceded by the noun "Gwyneth..." as subject of the sentence.

2. An ideology indulged in by Gwyneth, based on the inpenetrable perfection of Gwyneth and her knowledge that the world needs Gwyneth's deep level of enlightenment.

3. Bathos disguised as erudition.

"Conscious uncoupling" is a Paltrowism.

According to Paltrowism, single women working in an office for minimum wage have a much easier life than a hundred-millionaire actress who is financially secure enough to devote all her time to her children, except that she wants more than to be "just" a mother.

"Gwyneth, however, believes differently," is a Paltrowism when uttered by Gwyneth.

fajita

Pronounced "fah HEE tah", it literally means "little bundle" in Spanish.

In southern Arizona, the word meant only "skirt steak" (near the rump on cattle) until around 1980.

The invasive use of the word (to mean "taquito") by mass marketing of pseudo-Mex cuisine by Taco Bell and California-Mex and Tex-Mex chain restaurants such as Chipotle has pretty much obscured the original local meaning except when making purchases at the butcher.

We bought two pounds of fajita at the butcher and chopped it up to make carne machaca.

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habanero

An unbelievably hot pepper, reputed to have originated in Havana (La Habana), Cuba.

Often mispronounced by English speakers, the word should NEVER have a "y" sound: it's "hah bah NEH ro", NOT "hah bah NYEH ro". (The "h" is not pronounced in Spanish, but that's probably too much to ask of any gabacho.)

Bob's waiter did not understand why the habanero salsa looked like it hadn't been touched. Bob understood all too well.

The habanero pepper is deceptively un-hot looking: like a brilliant miniature smooth pumpkin.

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burro

The local Anglo term for "burrito" (the food) in Tucson, Arizona. Bean burros are the "vanilla" type (pronounced "BEEMburrows").

They laughed at me when I asked for a burro in Phoenix. Everyone there calls it a burrito. But they always speak Cali up there, so it don't matter much.

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