Spanglish

While spanglish does produce some very similar and sometimes comical words, I think it is very important to know WHEN to use spanglish and when to use proper spanish. For instance, my dad told me a story a while ago about one of his friends who worked in the border patrol.

One night, my dad was at the station on duty. He saw his friend stop a car at the check point and ask the man to get out. Now, my dad is fluent in spanish, but his friend, who we'll call Bill, just finished cramming the whole language into his head at a 4 month long academy. Anyway, so my dad turns around, takes care of whatever he was doing, and suddenly hears yelling coming from his friend. He turned around to see his friend angrily yelling while the owner of the car was covering his face and spinning in circles. Then, very swiftly, Bill threw the man into the back of a holding truck and slammed it shut.
My dad went to investigate. "What happened Bill?" my dad asked. "That [blankety blanking] son of a [blank] wouldn't do nothin' but put his hands on his face and spin around!" Bill managed to huff out, drenched with sweat from his blind fury. "Well, what did you tell him to do?" my dad asked curiously. "I told him to turn around and put his hands on the car. You know "Pongo sus manos en la CARA.""

My dad and his friends still laugh about that story. But I'm sure Bill doesn't. That was the day he got fired.