Órale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Órale is Spanish (only in Mexico) for, literally, "pray to him".[1][2] It is the imperative form of the verb orar with the indirect object pronoun le attached.
The phrase is also used as an interjection in Mexican slang [3] with varying connotations, including an affirmation that something is impressive, an agreement with a statement (akin to "word"), or a simple greeting. This phrase is very versatile, and those who have not grown up with it as a part of their daily speech may have trouble knowing when its use is appropriate.
The Mexican usage may be actually a variation of ahora le ... which means "now to it ..." as Spanish-speaking people often omit some letters from words in fast speech. In this context, órale along with híjole [4] or jíjole are used indistinctively to express a state of alarm, surprise or danger.
As a greeting, the word was used by Cheech Marin in his 1987 film Born in East L.A. in the phrase Órale vato, ¡wassápenin! meaning Hello man, what's happening? a popular phrase used by Mexican American gangs who have taken the gitano (Spanish Gypsy) word vato from northern Mexico slang to mean man.
Órale was the inspiration for the title of the Beck 1996 album Odelay; the English pronunciation of Odelay is similar to proper Spanish pronunciation of Órale.
The phrase was also popularized in professional wrestling (as a de facto catch-phrase) by Konnan and Eddie Guerrero.
Órale was used as a song title on the Los Lonely Boys second album, Sacred, released in 2006. "Everything is all right, so I say Órale".
