Pollo Loco

Hi guys. Time for some more chicken scratch. How about a helpful tip?

Pollo loco.

It's a dish commonly served at Mexican restaurants. It's great. The name translates, as you have probably guessed, to "crazy chicken" in English. The only problem is that half the time, people don't realize that they're not ordering crazy chicken.

Now, this isn't some scare tactics story about how the food you think you're getting isn't actually the food you are getting. Pollo loco is great. Really. This story is about Americans, and how we can't order Mexican food correctly.

Pollo loco.

It translates to "crazy chicken", and it's pronounced "poyo loco". That's the funny thing that we Americans don't understand about the double-L in Spanish. It makes the "Y" sound. The regular, single L makes the "L" sound, but the tricky double-L throws you a curve.

What's that mean for you if you've never been taught that? Thanks for asking! I'll tell you.

It means that you've been ordering "crazy shirt" all along.

Wow, right? But here's the good news for you as an individual: It happens all the time. The people taking your order are used to it. How do I know? I'm one of those people. Actually I'm one of the people getting your chips and drink, but hey, I'm there. I have a picture of a bottle of salsa with a straw in it to prove it. The things you see, right?

But hey, that good news for you as an individual, sadly, is not good news in general. Our excuse for mistakes (although this is a very small one) shouldn't be that it happens all the time. What kind of an excuse is that? It's common, so it's okay? (How did we get this serious about the correct pronunciation when ordering chicken? Hey guys, you really bring out passion. How cool!)

Oh, hey, more good news! We can fix the problem! Spread the word; it's pronounced "poyo loco". Easy, yeah? I thought so.

Keep this for your records to look back on the next time you feel like ordering "crazy shirt".