Mordida

A Mexican euphemism for a bribe – literally, a “bite.”

Minnesota state senator Michelle L. Fischbach recently made headlines after her family came face-to-face with a Mexican tradition of bribery while on vacation in Cancún. As Elisabeth Malkin explained in The Times:

The police took [Fischbach's husband's] driver’s license and told him they would take him to jail unless he came up with $300, she said. The patrol car escorted the family back to the hotel, where she says the group came up with the money. The officers declined to write a receipt.

What the police may not have expected, however, was that Mrs. Fischbach was a Minnesota state senator – or that she would complain so effectively. …

On Wednesday, the episode made front-page news in Mexico after Cancún officials released the information to news organizations, some eight months after the event. (Yes, those police officers were fired long ago.)

And in Paynesville, Minn., an hour and a half northwest of St. Paul, the Fischbachs got a check in the mail for about 4,000 pesos, about $300, from the Cancún city government reimbursing them.

The transit officer’s “mordida,” which translates roughly as “a little bite,” is standard practice in Mexico.

According to reports from travelers, the “mordida” extracted by civil servants has long been part of Mexican life. Indeed, a 1946 Times articlecalls the bite “historic,” but notes (rather hopefully) that it may be on its way out.