Three Amigos Throwback

Being in Mexico has only brought me closer to the movies I used to watch as a child. One of the classics of course, is the Three Amigos. These actors (Dusty Bottoms, Ned Needlander, and Lucky Day) are down on their luck after being fired from their jobs as the Three Amigos--three wealthy Spanish landholders that fight for the right of peasants.

They recieve a telegraph as they are being booted out of the studio. Someone in Mexico want them to put on a "show" and stop the "infamous" "El Guapo". Obviously, they take this to mean that "El Guapo" is more than just famous--he is in-famous. And believe they have struck it big in Mexican show biz.

They show up to the town and find out that "El Guapo" is a man who actually wants to kill them. After some run ins with the local beverages (tequila), the Mexican women, and a few bullets, they become the three amigos for real and fight for the right of peasants.

I bring this up because I just learned about a possible root word for the word infamous. Back in colonial days here in Mexico, Africans were very scarce. They could use indians as slave labor for free and only the richest of the rich bought a black slave as a status simbol. Often times, this slave would not work but would accompany his master in his daily travels to show everyone how wealthy that guy was.

The Africans could be bought and sold as slaves because the Catholic church had decided they they didn't have souls. The word for this is "infame". Since that time, I believe the Catholic church changed their minds and realized that we are all equal.

I think we can all see the correlation here. The true meaning of infamous is someone absolutely horrible, without morals, without concience, dare I say it, without a soul.