PITI POIS Y PITI YANKIS AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

In order to understand this body of ideas and consequences, several concepts and archetypes must be first clarified: 

On concepts and words: the Puerto Rican usage of “piti” comes from the French word petite that began to be used by “la creme de la creme” intellectual and social elites during the first years of USA colonization of the island, to refer pejoratively to those Puerto Ricans who were more “gringos” than the American themselves. Like most Latin American elites at the time, for its Puerto Rican counterparts, French culture and language was the ideal to be mastered. “Petite” became “piti” for the Puerto Rican masses, who also use it with the “petite pois”, calling the sweet peas, “piti pois”, with “pois” following a Spanish pronunciation: “pois”. 

On archetypes: The pitiyanki continues to represent a certain type of Puerto Rican, but, strangely enough, it currently includes, the "independentistas" (Puerto Ricans who favor complete decolonization and independence from the USA), who sent their children to English only schools run by American educators. To make matters more confusing, there are a lot of traditional "pitiyankis" who send their children to "escuelas públicas" where very little English is being taught. So, it is not uncommon in Puerto Rico to meet lots of pro-statehood USA flag carrying individuals who cannot speak one word of English.  And then, in the continental USA, there are suburban middle class Puerto Ricans who use their Puerto Rican ancestry as a tool to classify themselves ethnically,  like an outfit, or in order to react to the perceived significant other, as a reaction, but cannot even say “gracias” in Spanish. All of them are considered “piti yankis”.

Actual subjects or representations in the visual arts. poetry, narratives, theater, essays and academic treatises can be used to answer  the central question that would inquire as to how American Exceptionalism is being transmitted to -or expressed thru- the Puerto Rican personae.