Perro Sánchez… What is the origin of this nickname?

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Since Pedro Sánchez assumed the presidency of the Government, there are many nicknames that his detractors have used to try to ridicule him or, as the president himself would say, to “dehumanize” him.. One of the most profound has been that of “Perro Sánchez”, or its variant “Perro Sanxe”. In the case of this nickname, and although its exact origin is somewhat uncertain, it has been used from network sites such as Twitter and Forocoches even since long before Sánchez arrived in Moncloa, although over the years it has come to become more popular. In fact, the curious thing is that today it has become a transversal nickname, and even some supporters of the president use it in a friendly way, giving new meaning to an alias that originally had rather negative connotations..

No one will be surprised that the nickname began to make its way in Forocoches, a community conducive to the use of the most ingenious disqualifiers when talking about politicians, especially when they are from the left.. If we do a search in their forum, we see that in threads from 2014 there were those who already called Perro Sánchez the then presidential candidate. And not only to criticize him, but sometimes they also used that name to speak well of him.

To me the “sanxe dog” freaks me out because on the one hand there is a twitter-facha who uses it as an insult and then there are those of us who have resignified it and in our heads it is almost a show of affection hahahahaha 🫶🏻🐶 pic.twitter. com/uyEsmU2xwI

—Mr. Handsome (@pdrsnche) June 26, 2023

On Twitter there are also vestiges of early uses of the nickname, such as a parody account from 2016. It's actually a very simple word game, where you only have to change one letter, so it would stand to reason that different people would have come up with it over time.. However, the use of the nickname skyrocketed after Sánchez became president.. More and more memes began to emerge with this name, and it was used in videos that went viral.. One of the most influential was the one that starred a child in 2021 when, asked by a Telemadrid journalist about the closure of the Navacerrada ski resort, he exclaimed: “Don't close it, Perro Sánchez, you're the worst”.

A resigned nickname

The left, and more specifically the PSOE itself, has ended up picking up the gauntlet and redefining the nickname with a positive or even heroic interpretation, as Deku did with his in My Hero Academia.. After years in which the president's detractors have chanted “Perro Sánchez” to shape their attacks, now the socialist leader's allies are trying to turn the nickname on its head..

A very clear example of this is in the recent action of the Socialist Youth: they have created a video game called The Unbeatable Game of Perro Sánchez. It is a simple game of answering questions, which reveals some of the Government's achievements as part of this electoral campaign, but titled it like that is a declaration of intent.

Doesn't the Sanxe Dog game exist? 🤔

The game of the unbeatable Sanxe Dog appeared wildly 😎

Run ➡️🫵🏼 https://t.co/YkIvLwELDK pic.twitter.com/6dxL7RUcEc

— Socialist Youth (@JSE_ORG) July 14, 2023

Sánchez himself, although not long ago said in interviews that “it is not nice” to be referred to by names like Perro Sánchez, more recently he has dealt with this issue in a more playful and carefree way, in his visit to the podcast La Pija y la Quinqui. He emphasized that “it is an experience that has been turned around”, and that he even loves the meme of “the dog sanxe knows more for a dog than for a sanxe”.

The Sanxe Dog is here to stay pic.twitter.com/g2mfddDsuw

— Public Education (@emofacc) July 17, 2023

Now, those who create the most Perro Sánchez memes and jokes are the socialists themselves and their allies, and the hashtag #PerroSanxe is a trend on Twitter these days. In short, it is a curious story of how an insult has ended up turning into a friendly and transversal nickname, which is something worthy of merit.