It is time for our collection of funny Mexican memes once again!
Dehydrate AND laugh with this week’s collection:
Meme translation: “If you’re not happy, then you have failed as a worm.”
What does it meme? Spoiler alert: Paulo Coelho (famed Brazilian lyricist and novelist) didn’t really say this. In fact, I’m not sure he even spoke Spanish. Such is the internet – brimming with often very untrue, but often very funny, content.
Anyway! Notice how “feliz” (happy) and “lombriz” (worm) rhyme in Spanish? “Feliz como lombriz” (Happy as a worm) is the Spanish equivalent to the cutesy “Happy as a clam” in English. So unless you want to fail as a worm – and I don’t believe you do – it’s time to get happy, STAT!
Meme translation: “I declare war against my worst enemy, which is… (clockwise from top) my boss; CFE (the state electricity company); the heat; the bill collector (an informal role by someone who sells on credit or in payments and then comes to collect periodically); love; my neighbor; his damned little “friend”; Coppel (a popular department store in Mexico that gives terrible opportunities for buying on credit).”
What does it meme? Well. It seems we’re all a little irritable lately, and unfortunately, have plenty of reasons to feel that way. And hey, I’ll also admit it: sometimes you’re just in a bad mood and whatever happens to pop up in front of you when you’re feeling that way becomes The Absolute Worst.
What’s got us irritable? Spin the wheel and find out!
Meme translation: “Mexicans trying tacos anywhere else in the world.”
What does it meme? Mexicans are not known for their pretentiousness, but I think most people would admit that they’ve earned the right to be absolutely intolerable snobs about tacos. The man in the photo is dressed as Anton Ego, the infamously dissatisfied food critic from Disney’s “Ratatouille.”
Now that a taco stand has won a Michelin star, there will probably be no living with them on this subject.
If you really want to get a Mexican going, tell them about your favorite Taco Bell order. If you want to see their head explode, talk about how much you appreciate Taco Bell as a seller of Authentic Mexican Food and wonder aloud why they don’t open any stores in Mexico.
Meme translation: “Oh, how I’d love to be a dried-out lime just hanging out in a nice, cool, fridge.”
What does it meme? Has the life of a dried-out lime ever looked so good? I’ve found myself lingering lately in front of my own refrigerator, basking in the cool air.
And that’s about as good as it gets right now in the many areas of Mexico that don’t have air conditioning, because it is hot, hot, hot with no end (so far) in sight. When you start fantasizing about being a cold piece of fruit hurrying toward decomposition, you know things are getting intolerable.
Meme translation: “When you’re over 30 and you prefer to party at someone’s home, with music at a reasonable volume so you can chat.”
What does it meme? Last weekend I went out for a “girls’ night” with some friends. We’d originally planned on a low-key bar not too far from my house, but then someone noticed they’d be having a show, with a cover no less: 100 pesos to listen to a Norwegian folk music soloist on a Saturday night.
We decided to avoid the “Midsommar” vibes and went to an Irish pub instead. And let me tell you: after a while there, we were dying for Norwegian folk music at a reasonable volume. Though we’d sat outside to avoid the noise, it was all in vain: after the soccer game (which had attracted many very loud fans), there was a Metallica cover band.
Next time, we’re going to a friend’s house.
Meme translation: “I’m up, God. What time are you helping me, or how’s this going down?”
What does it meme? There’s a cute little rhyme in Spanish: “A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda” (God helps those who wake up early).
For this little chick unaccustomed to waking up early, the effort should result in some pretty immediate results. I especially love the phrase, “o cómo va a estar la onda,” as it’s so casual, as if it had been a deal struck the night before with one’s buddy.
Good luck, little guy! I hope someone gets back to you with that help.
Meme translation: “The ocean might have me beat on water, but it’s got nothing on me when it comes to salt.”
What does it meme? To be “salty” in Spanish is not quite the same as in English: here in Mexico, it means that you’re unlucky…the saltier you are, the unluckier you are. Indeed, “más salado que el mar” (saltier than the ocean) is a phrase I’ve heard several times.
The other phrase you’re probably not used to, “me la pela” means, in this case, that there’s no competition – that little doggie is the clear front-runner!
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
I learned something new with some of the memes but thoroughly enjoyed all of them! No! de veras, en serio!
That pup is going to have to spend about a week as my computer wallpaper!
I would appreciate more of the same and also some of the most well-known dichos, if possible! My Maya friends use them ALL. THE. TIME. I feel as though they live by them to a degree which used to spook me out at times. They also know a lot about herbs and weeds and practically every day I had Chaya for breakfast with eggs and Salsa Verde. I was never sick a day for twelve glorious years… That weed grows wild in Yucatan but you can’t buy it in California, unfortunately. It looks similar to spinach, but nutrition-wise it’s said to be far superior. I believe it.
Feliz como lombriz y amando mi vida cada día más aquí. ¡Viva Mexico!