This paper focuses on problematic nature of the term "chicano" within the United States-Mexican community, and expecially in Texas. A revisionist thesis is discussed in two parts: (1) the conversion of this folk name into a public, ideologically expressive symbol in the 1960's did not achieve its intended purpose of political unification; and (2) in part this failure may be attributed to the unintentional violation of a community's cultural rules for the socially appropriate use of the term, rules keyed on "chicano's" definition as folkloric performance in the generic areas of nicknaming and slurs. Literary, historical, and anecdotal evidence is elicited to support the claim that the term "chicano" affirms cultural identity and that it involves a cultural and not a manifestly political use of the term. The claim is made on the basis of field-work, anecdotal reports and dialogues, as well as surveys of attitudes toward self-referent terms among Mexican Americans that the folk performance of chicano appears to be governed by certain cultural rules of restriction. One conclusion is that those who would use folkloric aspects of culture should be attentive not only to textual accuracy, but also to such things as context, performance rules, and folk attitudes toward their own folklore. (Author/AMH)