You've seen them around town. They cook your food, weed-whip your weeds, and send a heck of a lot of cute children to school. They drive tricked-out Chevrolets and they ingest tequila -- and Mexican food.

They're Mexicans, and you have questions. "Will Mexicans eat anything without hot sauce?" "Why do Mexicans call white people gringos?" And now you have some answers.

Gustavo Arellano is a native Californian, son of a tomato canner and an illegal immigrant. Two years ago, as a sort of editorial dive off the high board, Arellano began to answer questions about Mexicans in a column for the OC Weekly newspaper in Orange County.

To get the ball rolling, he made up the first one: "Why do Mexicans call white people gringos?"

And he provided the answer: "Dear Gabacho, Mexicans do not call gringos gringos. Only gringos call gringos gringos. Mexicans call gringos gabachos."

As Arellano explains it, "We named the column 'Ask a Mexican' and paired it with an illustration of the most stereotypical Mexican man imaginable -- fat, wearing a sombrero and bandoliers, with a mustache, stubbly neck, and a shiny gold tooth. My dad in his younger days. We laughed.

"Reaction was instantaneous. Liberal-minded people criticized the logo, the column's name, its very existence. Conservatives didn't like how I called white people gabachos, a derogatory term... Latino activists called (the editor) demanding my resignation and threatened to boycott the Weekly. But more people of all races thought 'Ask a Mexican' was brilliant. And more surprisingly, the questions poured in: Why do Mexican girls wear frilly dresses? ... Is it true Mexicans make tamales for Christmas so their kids can have something to unwrap?"

Now the first two years of "Ask a Mexican" columns have appeared in a new book of the same name. Arellano writes, "I answer not so much to inform but to debunk stereotypes, misconceptions and myths about America's spiciest minority in the hope that Americans can set aside their centuries-long suspicion of Pancho Villa's sons and hijas and accept Mexicans for what they are: the hardest-working, hardest-partying group of new Americans since the Irish."

And now, some answers from ¡Ask a Mexican!...

On Mexican food: "Dear Gabacha, The much discussed Mexican reconquista already happened -- we took over American taste buds long before we did California."

On Chevys: "Mexicans consume Chevys like mescal and, come to think of it, sometimes together... Dating back to the 1930's cruising culture, Chevys were quite simply 'cheaper and more plentiful' than other brands... Sure, Mexicans should invest their money in better things than Chevys equipped with spinning hubcaps and built-in flat-screen televisions, but dig this, gabachos: while more and more of youse ditch Detroit in favor of jalopies pieced together by goldfish farmers, Mexicans buy American. So who's patriotic now, cabrones?

Ask a Mexican anything: funny to serious, respectful to racist, clean to dirty, and he will answer. The best part is Arellano's attitude. His message is it's time to cut the crap and meet the neighbors -- and if they're not Mexicans now just wait -- they soon will be.

Aired Sunday May 13, 2007 at 10:55 am and Wednesday May 16, 2007 at 1:00 pm

Orders/Information:

¡Ask A Mexican! (printed with an upside down exclamation mark or "signo de admiración invertido" before the A in Ask) Scribner hardcover $20.00 ISBN 1416540024.

This Internet page contain's Arellano's explanation of how it all got started (page down to the second article to find it): http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/almost-famoso/27089/

If you'd like to "Ask a Mexican," write to: themexican@askamexican.net "Include a hilarious psyeudonym, or we'll make one up for you!"

This book could use an index. Otherwise, it's perfect.

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