Shannon Scarlett

In Mexico the name Alex is written Álex and is usually a short form of Alejandro for a man or Alejandra for a woman.

In Mexico waffles are wafles, a Spanish spelling of the English word, and many menus keep waffles. The singular is wafle. In Spain the word is gofres.

In Mexico basketball is basquetbol, sometimes written básquetbol with an accent. In Spain the usual word is baloncesto.

In Mexico cumin is comino, the same word used throughout Spanish. It is common in meat dishes, beans and stews.

In Mexico sweatpants are called pants, spoken close to the English sound. A full phrase is pants deportivos or pantalón deportivo.

In Mexico the sky is cielo, usually with el. It is the same word as in all of Spanish, and it also means “heaven”.

In Mexico the word is the same: picadillo. It is a home-style dish of ground beef cooked with tomato and diced vegetables such as potato and carrot.

In Mexico a student is an estudiante, for any gender. In school, teachers say alumno for a boy and alumna for a girl.

In Mexico a pimple is a grano or, very commonly in everyday speech, a barro. Both words are understood by everyone.

In Mexico a hotel is hotel, the same word as in English with the stress on the last syllable. Small guesthouses are sometimes called posada or hospedaje.