Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/235

 Another way of putting it is, "Me queres tu?" ("Lovest thou me?'"), "Si, te quero" ("Yes, I love thee"). Still other loving expressions which are heard in Mexican homes every day are, "Luz de mis ojos" ("Light of my eyes"), and "Idolo mio" ("My idol"). "Mi corazoncito" ("My heart's treasure"), and "Vida mia" ("My life"), all having an added zest by the speaker's tender manner.

In the baby language of mothers, nothing is sweeter than these



expressions. Intonations vary in different localities. At the capital the rising inflection is generally heard, the voice running on an upward sliding scale—the marked rising inflection—as nõ, Buènó, with pleasing effect.

Great delicacy is always exercised in speaking of ages. In one part of the country, one a little advanced in years, or even quite old, is called viejito (a little old). In the choice society of the capital this term is considered wanting in good taste; un poco grande or grandecito