Asbury Park Press: Hispanic culture expert discusses tradition of dual surnames

Release Date: October 13, 2008 This content is archived.

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An article in the Asbury Park Press on the impact American culture is having on the Hispanic tradition of giving children the surnames of both parents quotes Jose F Buscaglia-Salgado, director of the Caribbean studies program and associate professor of American studies. "To put it in plain terms, a common insult you can give someone in a Spanish-speaking country is to tell them they have no mother -- No tener madre," he said. "That usually means that somebody is a particularly bad person so there's a connotation [when the mother's surname isn't used]."

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