Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

¡Burque!

After some controversy of referring to Albuquerque as “Burque” I decided to ask my grandpa if he had ever heard the term Burque, how far back he had heard the term, and if he knew how it started. After he told me that yes he had heard the term he also told me that he heard it as a teenager. Now my grandpa is no spring chicken, he is 79 years old so that means that he was a teenager in the 40’s in Burque.

I then proceeded to ask him if he knew how this term came to be. He told me that it is just Spanish slang and that the pachuco’s back in the day coined the phrase “Burque”. He said that the pachuco’s had a very unique language all their own.

Now I have heard of a pachuco and when I hear the term pachuco I automatically think of a gang type of person. Not knowing the true meaning of a pachuco I asked my grandpa his interpretation of it, since he did not only grow up in the era of pachuco’s but also told me that he knew a few. He said “they were the guys who dressed up in baggy pants and big hats, zoot suits”. I asked him if they were gangs and he told me that they were not.

Still not satisfied with the term pachuco and I am sure since some of you have never heard the term “Burque” you probably never heard the term pachuco, I decided to look it up on wikipedia. So here is the wikipedia take on pachuco.

Now some of you have said that you thought that the Alibi had coined the phrase and some of you just thought that some new transplants from some other state were trying to be trendsters and call Albuquerque Burque. Well it looks like the trendsters were the pachuco’s of the 40’s.

So there you have it, at least according to my grandpa. Burque has been around quite a while, wether you have just heard of it from DCF or if you heard your father say it when you were just a wee little one in the 60’s.

I am curious to see if some of you have heard other stories of how Albuquerque became Burque.

30 Comments

Comment by Self Serve on April 12, 2008 at 8:58pm: a few weeks ago I went to the Albuquerque museum (hurray for free sundays!) and learned that the original spelling of the town name was Alburqueruque--which is probably where the burque came from....

Comment by Atrisqueño on April 12, 2008 at 9:10pm: Mayor Marty had had added the r back in the spelling on a few trollies during the 300th birthday of Albuquerque a few years ago. I'm not sure what his intentions were but he received some backlash from the community.

Comment by bleve on April 12, 2008 at 9:22pm: Yes, Burque is an obvious abbreviation of 'Alburquerque'. Its important to note that there has always been some cultural influence from California (Califas) in New Mexico and especially Albuquerque. During the 1940's Zoot Suites and Pachucos were primarily a Mexican-American cultural manifestation in Los Angeles which spread throughout the Mexican-American and Hispanic cultural ethos.

The Zoot Suit Riots of the early 1940's was national news and most likely contributed to other regions with Hispanic roots to identify with the zoot-suiters of Southern California.

The play Zoot Suit was written about the incidents surrounding the Zoot Suit Riots and was later adapted to a filmed version of the play
that was awesome.

UNM offers some great courses in Chicano history and Chicano film if anybody is ever looking for culturally enriching electives... some of the best classes I took there.

Comment by Pat O. on April 12, 2008 at 9:26pm: Funny thing--I lived in Abq. from 1985 through 2007 (mostly in the NE Heights, but we had Hispanic neighbors), and had only read the word "Burque" in the last 5 years or so (and have rarely heard it spoken). Maybe it's because the word fell out fashion, then was recently revived. Mostly I remember the "Duke City" nickname before that.
Is the word officially pronounced "Burkee," "Burkay" or "Burke"

Comment by Atrisqueño on April 12, 2008 at 9:30pm: I don't know about oficial but I have always heard and said, Boor-keh. roll the r.

Comment by Adelita on April 12, 2008 at 9:44pm: Right on Atriqueno! Thanks for giving us more proof that it's been around for a while. And if I can find it, I'll post a picture of one of my uncle's in a zoot suit.

Yeah, bleve, Zoot Suit is one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it! Watcha!!! (if you see the movie you'll understand the 'watcha')

Comment by hettie on April 12, 2008 at 10:51pm: I taught english at a charter school a few years ago and the biggest hit of the year was reading the play "zoot suit" and watching the film. edward james olmos is awesome in that movie.

adelita, do you know if there was a big zoot scene in burque back in the 40s? I would assume there had to be a scene some extent, but I mostly associate it with california, I guess because of valdez' play.

Comment by SoyJames on April 13, 2008 at 8:00am: My grandfather (not from Burque, but Bosque, so close enough in a couple ways) used the word pachuco quite a bit, but I never heard him say cholo. Maybe cholo was a more modern 'northern variation'?

Comment by Dr Dan on April 13, 2008 at 8:44am: My Dad who grew up in northern NM said that the young men who were from Burque in the 40's refered to it as that and that El Paso was known as EL Chucho

Comment by Barelas Babe on April 13, 2008 at 9:00am: I wonder if the cholo/pachuco usage depends on location and era? My grandfather (East LA/Boyle Heights) used cholo, but I don't remember ever hearing him say pachuco. Incidentally, his cousin George Shibley defended some of the Zoot Suiters...

¡Burque!

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