English? Spanish? Spanglish?

Via Stace Medellin (Dos Centavos), comes this political advertisement from Texas.  Where I grew up in western New York, it wasn’t unsusual for politicians to throw in a little Italian  into their advertising, but about the only Italian anyone uses regularly up there are a couple of Sicilian swear-words.  Meaning, I guess, that the Italians were assimilated into the mainstream, though a few traces of what was once a minority left its marks on the mainstream.

I wonder if the candidate is inching into “Spanglish” (which I believe is a true “creole” language… with its own literature to boot) or just … like politicans appealing to any minority community… proving she is one of them, while simultaneously assuring mainstream voters (i.e., English-speakers) that she is not an “ethnic” candidate.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Her opponent apparently is also running ads in Spanish-language media… though weirdly enough, he’s running on an anti-immigrant platform.  If I were still a Texas voter (and some of you are), I’d vote for her, even if I’m not sure she’s speaking one, two, or three languages.