Published: January, 2018
Authors: Alena Ledeneva
In Mexico, mordida is a widely used ‘euphemism’ for a petty bribe (Morris 2003). The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this euphemistic use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to ‘have a bite of’. It is significant that several studies (Del Castillo and Guerrero 2003; Bailey and Paras 2006: 64) have found that mordida is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as linked directly to corruption, whereas average citizens appear to struggle with articulating the meaning of corruption in a more abstract sense (Del Castillo and Guerrero 2003)
