"Little Yankee" term of derision by Venezuela's Chavez

(NY Times): "What could be lower than “yanquis,” the less than endearing term that senior Venezuelan officials use for Americans?

• The answer, according to President Hugo Chávez, a connoisseur of the spoken word, is “pitiyanqui,” a term that roughly translates as “little Yankee.” Employing the neologism in recent weeks to mock everyone from his political opponents to the nation’s moneyed elite and Honduran businessmen, Mr. Chávez has yet again displayed his knack for shaping the way that Venezuelans talk to one another.

“The pitiyanquis,” Mr. Chávez recently proclaimed, “should thank God that this revolution is peaceful, because we are many and if it were violent, there would not be a trace of pitiyanqui left on this Earth.”

• After a few such rhetorical flourishes, “pitiyanqui” is suddenly on everyone’s lips, the bon mot du jour of broadcasters, comedians and political partisans. The term has caught on to an extent that eluded the president’s previous array of adjectives for people with pro-American leanings: “lackeys” or “tin soldiers” or, in the case of one Mexican president, a “lapdog of the empire.”"...

Of course, Venezuela's national oil company, Citgo, has a plaque enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. No one will complain about this. (sm) via Lucianne.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon