The term naco is defined in MEXICAN SLANG 101 as a “nerd, hick, or low class oaf”, but it’s a lot harder to nail down that that. So let’s try.

There is an element of “redneck” or “urban hill-billy” in the term. A naco (as defined and delineated in the book El Naco Y Como Criticarlo”) is a guy from the country who didn’t stay in the country. Notice on this T-shirt design, the word is illustrated by a bus pulling into the city.


The naco has crude country manners, likes loud “ranchero” music played by guys with satin suits and big necklaces, Mexican wrestling and street tacos. He’s an Indian, for sure. And definitely, as shown in this decal, the type of guy to drive an old “vocho” and piss in the street.

So it isn’t just musica naca that people are bitching about, it’s a culture. And underclass. And it’s become very poltical. Yeah, naco is politics these days. The appeal of leftist crybaby Andres Lopez Obrador was definitely to the naco culture. They didn’t mind camping out in the Zocalo to protest his squeaker election loss: they’re used to it. The political appeal to this people is at the heart of much of the class and race distinction in Mexico. That's what the "pinche naco" is satirizing.

The natural enemy of the naco is the fresa, the light-skinned, educated, sophisticated twerp who uses English words and votes for guys who went to Harvard. The fresas are the “socs”, the “preppies”, the yuppies of Mexico. This clash is depicted in a popular YouTube video series. Naco y Fresa. President Felipe Calderon, a Harvard slarpie who beat Lopez Obrador, was recently quoted: “I can’t drive my BMW downtown…the nacos are rebelling against us.

But a weird reaction has set in recently. A new buzzword/grafitti is ”Naco es Chido”, recalling the 80’s US catchphrase, “It’s Hip to be Square”
There is undoubtedly a lot of kitchy camp behind this movement, which has spawned discos and albums like “Nacoteque”…as with the US “Lounge” fad…but it could also be seen as a bridging of the cultural difference, and might even be ushering in new politics. Or not. But one phrase is unlikely to die out quickly: you hear a lot of people saying, ”Es naco criticar lo naco."