I just wanted to know if "negrita chula" is a compliment. I know, it translates into "black girl/woman". While I was on the street in the Dominincan I was called out as "negra", or "negra chula". But, in English, that translates into "black" and "black girl". Now if someone in Canada were to yell that out at me in Toronto, Canada, I would be royally ****ed, the only reason why I never got angry in the Dominican was because I knew the culture and the term could have meant something different. I just want to know what those things mean in the Dominican culture and the Dominican version of Spanish.
Thanks
It's a complement.
Many times to foreigners Dominicans can seem to be insensitive when in fact they simply are saying something with no harm intended.
For example, it's quite common for Dominicans to call a fat person "the fat guy" (el gordo), or an Asian, regardless from where they are/decended from, as "the Chinese" (el Chino), or anyone with blonde hair regardless of skin color as "the blonde one" (la rubia), etc.
If you are dark but have "softer" facial features (ie. thin nose, thin lips, high cheeks, light color eyes or light brown eyes, etc) they may refer to you as "la indiesita" which litterally means the Indian, but in the DR it simply means a mulatto/a with soft facial features. It's always a complement. This is one of those weird habits reminescent of the unique history of the country similarly how in Nicaragua mestizos perfer to call themselves "espa?oles" which means Spaniards. These are the little things that makes speaking Spanish in different countries confusing for non-Spanish speaking peoples because the same word often have different meanings in different places.
Often it actually becomes the nickname of such person. No harm intended.
Of course, in the US calling anyone any of those things is an insult, but not so in the DR.
Concerning the word Negro/a, it depends on the tone of voice. If a person calls you a Negra with a belligerent voice, then it was meant to be an insult. If they call you a Negra after an argument you had with such person, then it was meant to be an insult.
In most other cases, it's simply used as a description of the person they are referring to (no harm intended) and often it's used as a way of expressing affection, even among light skin Dominicans regardless if they have Africanoid facial features or not.
Thus, if a guy says "mi negrita" or a woman calls her boyfriend/husband "mi negrito" and there is nothing black about the person they are referring to, then obviously it's an expression of love or caring. If a Dominican says such thing about his/her spouse and they happen to be dark or Black, it's still an expression of caring under such circumstances.
It sounds complicated, but after a while you should be able to understand when it's an insult and when it's not. Most often it's not an insult, however.
-NALs
