This study explores the effect of listener consciousness of regional sociolinguistic variation on sociolinguistic speaker perception. It compares in particular how the social meanings assigned to word-internal, preconsonantal /s/ diverge according to listeners' and speakers' use of mainly /s/-weakening Puerto Rican or mainly non–/s/-weakening Mexican Spanish. The study indicates that listeners blend their own local ideologies with their comprehension of regional differences when socially assessing language variation.