Monday, April 2, 2012

Tenemos tequileros

During one of my visits to Mexico, I was out looking for a gift for my daughter when I came across the perfect gift, a cobija, or blanket.  After securing the sale of the cobija, the shop owner showed me some of the other merchandise she had.  I really wasn't interested in anything else, so as a last ditch effort, she says to me...

Tenemos tequileros

Say what?  I found myself thinking:

¿Qué rayos es un tequilero?
What the heck is a tequilero?

I had no idea what the heck a tequilero was, but as soon as she showed them to me it all made sense.



That's right, a shot glass is called a tequilero.  A glass made for drinking tequila.

There were even tequileros that were even more, ummm, how shall we say, interesting.



A shot glass can also go by another name you may find surprising.  And that name would be caballito.  If you don't know,a caballito is a little horse, or maybe even horsey.  Don't ask me why it's called a caballito, sometimes you just have to accept things and move on.  But if any of you have the answer I'd love to hear it.   You may also see it referred to as a caballito tequilero.

For those of you who drink, you'll also find it useful to know that you can order your tequila shot by saying...

Cantinero, un caballito de tequila
Bartender, a shot of tequila

You can actually put the liquor of your choice after "caballito de".  

And since we're talking about the word caballito, it also has a few other meanings worth mentioning.  

This is a caballito de mar.


These are also caballitos:

 

Remember those?  Nothing like a flashback to the good old days right?


And lastly, this one should come as no surprise.


That cute little guy hugging his mom is also a caballito.

Well, that's it for today.

Espero que te sirva, chao.

2 comments:

  1. Hola, i just discovered this blog literally 5 minutes ago. I googled "being codo" because i really appreciate americans which love the mexican culture, so wenever i think of a mexican slang i google it to see what i find.

    Your Blog is amazing, you really know a lot of slangs by now!

    I decided to comment on this one because i happen to know why its called a caballito.

    It is related to the tequila, you see, long time ago, the owners of tequila distileries would go on their horses with a bull horn attached to their belts to taste the tequila they were producing, and that is actually one of the most traditional ways of drinking tequila, from the cuerno or cuernito, anyways, people would ask them why they had the horn? And they would reply "Es para el tequila en el caballito" refering to the horse, and eventually it got the name caballito but now made out of glass.

    Thats the history behind the caballito, more or less.

    Keep posting your adventures, and hope to see a reply from you!

    Nos vemos!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the reply, I'm glad you like the blog and thanks for sharing the origin of the word caballito.

    It's nice to know someone else is an afficiando of Mexican culture and Spanish.

    Take care!

    ReplyDelete