Language Lesson

Cucufate. n. (koo-koo-fah-teh)
1. To confuse things in such a way as to cause confusion all around you.
2. a screw-up.

We have been using this term idiomatically in my family as far back as I can remember.
We have taken to calling everything we do a Cucufate (big screw-up). This might be one of those things that is very specifically Cuban.

A few years ago we had an extended family reunion with dozens of names represented.
We just called it "Cucufate Reunion 2002."  I even created a logo. It works for us.

I think it’s cool because it puts a light-hearted spin on some potentially annoying situations. And of course, who doesn’t screw up every now and then? We just chalk it up to another Cucufate.
My mother, however is Queen of the Cucufate. I guess that makes me a sort of Reigning Princess. Yep. When we screw up, we do it royally! 😉

Some examples of Christmas Cucufates would be:
From Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – "Olive, the other reindeer," would be a Cucufate.

From ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.. – "when up on the roof there, a Rose Suchak Ladder."
Cucufate again.

When my Aunt and Uncle come to visit (my mom’s siblings) we call it the Cucufate Olympics because since they’re all going deaf it becomes ALL-CUCUFATE-ALL-THE-TIME.  Take the time when my mom tells my uncle to call his daughter, "Llama a Ileana." and he gets a puzzled look because he thinks she’s talking about the weather. "que llueve mañana?" Are you catching on to the Cucufate madness?

I know it’s not just us. When Eric was wearing his Cucufate shirt in Key West, the Cuban salesgirl in the market made a comment on it. "A Cucufate was just a big mess," she said.  I nodded. I didn’t have the heart to explain that we had taken it to a whole new level.

So it is only fitting that in making our Christmas videos we call ourselves Cucufate Pictures.
I’m especially proud of how Amy totally knocked off this logo. One day I will figure out how to upload it to www.Youtube.com and you can see it in motion with the stars coming in to the music. Trust me. It’s fabulous.  (sadly, today’s not that day)

But my mom insists on telling everyone it’s the logo from MGM.  See what I mean?

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