Ganale al PRI

            “’Ganale al PRI’ se refiere a anos atras en cuando la corrupcion en Mexico era demasiada que aunque toda la gente sabia que no votarian a favor de el partido del PRI, ellos de todos modos salian ganando. Entonces por eso se empeso a decirle a la gente muy terca que “ganale al PRI”… En realidad no me acuerdo donde fue que lo escuche por primera ves, solo se que es algo muy comun para nosotros los Mexicanos.”

“’Beat the PRI’ refers to years ago when corruption in Mexico was big and even though all the people knew they were not going to vote for the PRI party, they still ended up winning. Therefore, we began to tell really stubborn people, “beat the PRI”… to be honest I cannot remember where exactly I heard this for the first time, all I know is that it is something very common for us Mexicans”

The informant is a native Valparaiso, Zacatecas; in the country of Mexico. She was born in the year of 1952 and lived in Mexico until the age of 26 which was when she migrated to the United States of America. As a native Mexican, proverbs, myths and other sorts of folk tales she knows, all have been influenced by her Mexican culture. Furthermore, she learned most of her proverbs from the household setting, from family members, friends and others who she was in direct contact since according to her, she had no recognition of what a TV was; media did not influence her knowledge of folk tales, people who she had contact to were the ones to influence her knowledge of folk tales. She grew up hearing these proverbs and other folk tales constantly on a day to day basis from people all around her. Because of the constant exposure, the proverbs and other folk tales have now become a part of her daily life vocabulary.

The fact that the informant does not recall where she first heard the proverb or who she first heard it from can hint that this may have been because the proverb is a really common line for the Mexicans residing in Valparaiso, Zacatecas; the place where the informant grew up in. This specific proverb takes upon a very literal situation, the corruption among a specific electoral party and then uses it to sort of mock any future situations which may relate to the same task. In my opinion, I find it to be a brilliant way to make fun of a very difficult time in Mexican history while still using the proverb to not forget about the time either. I guess this proverb serves to keep that part of Mexican Culture reality alive and by it being kept as it is, it is in some way there to make sure that future generations know about a time when corruption among the electoral party PRI was very present.