The Cuban-American presenter Roxanne Vargas, affectionately known as "Roxy," had a fun moment on the social media of NBC6 South Florida celebrating that "asere" —one of the most iconic words in Cuban Spanish— has officially entered the Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).
In a thirty-second video posted on social media, Vargas kicked off his presentation with a "¡Asere!" and then enthusiastically explained the news: "Did you hear? It's one of the most popular words in Cuban speech. And you know what? It's now part of the Spanish Language Dictionary."
The journalist also clarified the spelling question that has divided Cubans for years: Should it be written with a "c" or an "s"? According to experts, both forms are valid, but the recommended one is "asere" —with an "s"— as it is the most commonly used in everyday language.
To illustrate the use of the word in a sentence, Vargas turned directly to his colleague with the phrase that serves as the title of this note: "Hey, my asere!" and ended the clip with a smile, asking, "Did I say it right?"
Muñiz, a journalist and presenter for NBC6 of Puerto Rican origin, was the recipient of the gesture, turning the moment into a small celebration of the Caribbean diversity that characterizes South Florida.
Vargas, with over two decades associated with NBC6 and four Emmy Awards in her career, grew up in Miami within a Cuban family, which explains the enthusiasm with which she embraced the coverage of this linguistic news.
The inclusion of "asere" and "cocotaxi" in the new edition of the dictionary was announced on October 31 in Madrid, when the RAE and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE) presented the 24th edition of the DLE, the first one originally conceived in digital format and the one that arrives twelve years after the previous edition.
During the ceremony, the Cuban Academy of the Language selected "asere" as the representative word of Cuba, thus concluding a long process of recognition: this term was already included in the Dictionary of Americanisms by ASALE, but its inclusion in the general DLE represents a higher level of acknowledgment, as it pertains to the reference dictionary of Spanish worldwide.
The debate over the correct spelling has its own history. In February 2021, the RAE published "acere" with "c" as the Cubanism of the day on its social media, which sparked a wave of criticism from Cubans who argued that the usual form was with "s". The new edition of the dictionary definitively settled that controversy.
NBC6 South Florida is the local NBC affiliate in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area, one of the markets with the highest concentration of Cubans and Cuban Americans outside of the Island, making presenters like Vargas natural voices to celebrate such cultural recognitions.
The director of the 24th edition of the DLE, Paz Battaner, summarized the spirit behind each update: "Dictionary authors can only aspire to explain the meaning and use of words at a given moment, but they cannot predict the future. For this reason, works that compile the lexicon of languages must evolve if they want to remain useful."
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