Day 12 – Do I speak Spanish?

I was just chatting with my sister about this ---- it kind of annoys me if I say something in Spanish a certain way and someone answer back in the way THEY say it. For example "... y habichuelas rojas.." "frijoles?" ... "-_- si...." (Those beans were definitely red by the way ...) As if to say I said it wrong - and maybe they didn't mean it that way  but sometimes they do.

Second story:

Person A: "Quieres con-con?" 

Me: "Huh?" 

Person A: "You don't know what con-con is?.." 

Me: "No... mom, what's con-con?" 

Mom: "Oh, it's the same as pegao"

Person A: "Ugh... you made her a Puerto Rican"
(con - con/pegao - the slightly burned rice that gets stuck to the bottom of the pan when you make rice a certain way)

Like I've said before, I'm not a fluent Spanish speaker which already makes me feel bad - but this conversation happened when I was younger and already annoyed at the fact that people don't get that people can't just pick up a language past a certain age. Then to have something like this happen, is not motivating or productive. She made me into a Puerto Rican?? Nationalism is real, and I think its wonderful to be proud of where you came from BUT you cross a line when you put another Latino nation down and make yourself higher.

The above conversation happens all the time even to fluent Spanish speakers. The great thing about our people is that we look so different from each other, act so different but despite small hiccups our Spanish is one of the few things that connects us as a people. Yet we still choose to align ourselves with whether you say "habichuela" or "frijoles" / "con-con" or "pegao" / even the way you curse can draw scoffs and even prejudices.

The fact is Spanish is beautiful language and considered skill in this country who is rapidly because a bilingual nation. So instead of criticizing each other, we should use this connection to our advantage.

Apologies if I spelled any Spanish words wrong..
Z