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Summer is finally here and that, my friends, means we have officially entered “chancla weather,” this writer’s favorite time of the year, and the perfect opportunity to hisplain the importance of chanclas among my people (i.e., the Hispanics).
If you open any dictionary, or even Google Translate, and type in the word chancla, you’ll get a fairly decent translation as “sandal,” “slipper,” or “flip-flop,” all of which is, of course, accurate. But for many of us who were born and raised south of the border, the word chancla brings about all kinds of memories—from terrifying to truly hilarious.
The reason for this is simple: millions of Latino moms across generations (mine included) have, at some point in their lives, embraced their slipper (or slippers) as a weapon of choice to discipline their children when they misbehave, if not using them to actually whack them, certainly to scare the living Jesus out of them.
It’s called a chanclazo. Trust me, I know this firsthand.
WARNING: Before you keep reading and/or proceed to impart this writer a series of chanclazos so she can go write about some relevant topics for a change, please remember this column was conceived to be handled with a serious dose of humor.
A Weapon of Choice
I grew up in a small apartment in Mexico City, raised by a single mom with two jobs and three wonderful—and often annoying—older siblings. While we spent most of the day alone, doing our homework, cleaning the house, and even cooking for ourselves, we knew our mom would arrive at the end of her two shifts to check on things. If some homework was unfinished, a bed unmade, or a dish unwashed, we knew what was coming: the inevitable ensuing chanclazo, or at least the threat of it.
Truth is, my mom never really spanked us. She would, however, stare us in the eye and make a motion of taking off a flip-flop or any other easy-to-reach type of footwear to let us know she meant business.
That’s all it took. The very sight of it would make us run for our lives, or rather finish that homework, make that bed, wash that dish. The threat of a chanclazo was so effective in making things happen that I started applying it to my siblings (even though I was the youngest). Being creative as I’ve always been, sometimes I used a regular shoe or even a kitchen spatula to make things more interesting. I had found a way to assert my authority.
Of course, this was a million years ago, back when spanking (or threatening to spank) your children was not only OK but actually “recommended” by parenting experts. Today, even joking about it might get you “canceled” or drag you into endless discussions about how la chancla is nothing but a silly Latino stereotype.
I remember not long ago, when the Pixar movie Coco came out, many Latinos took to internet forums and social media platforms to blast one of the film’s main characters: a very determined abuela who made the best use of her chancla to whack people around. Some went as far as to propose a trigger warning of “physical abuse” when portraying someone in a film or a short video swinging a chancla around.
Little did I know that pairing a sandal with a very angry mom was not limited to Latino culture.
A friend who introduced me a while ago to the “Five Deadly Weapons of Arab Mothers,” among which there is—of course—a sandal type of thing that has produced some hilarious memes and even a how-to video in which a young Arab man gives a practical tutorial on how to defend yourself when your mom comes swinging at you with a sandal. From earning wrist control to actually disarming the enemy and getting ahold of said chancla—only to have your actual mom come at you with a decisive chancla blow.
Whether we like it or not, la chancla—and the imagery around this otherwise harmless piece of footwear—has become a feature of Latino culture. And for those who wish to disentangle it forever from a culture of oppressive parenting, that’s also fine.
For now, I suggest we all put a pair of chanclas on and go out to enjoy chancla weather—while it lasts.
Stay tuned for Laura Martínez’s next Hisplaining column, which will tackle other key biz terms and jargon and help leaders everywhere smoothly navigate the multicultural business world. In the meantime, send us tips and ideas for other terms and jargon that you’d like to see us feature. And remember: Don’t panic . . . it’s just his-PANIC!
