# Derogative name for spaniard



## LangueLover

First of all, I am doing a translation..I AM NOT RACIST

Is there in English a derogative name for a person from mainland spain? IE the way a french man is called a Frog, or an American is a Yank or someone from Ireland is called a Bog Trotter?

There is the term gallego in the text, but all  I can find under Gallego is someone from Gallicia?

Thaknks for your help


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## outkast

I never thought "Yank" was derogatory.


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## LangueLover

Well, its an example in the text  Its's just not a very polite thing tio say. Like I wouldnt walk up to someone in NYC and say" Hello there u big Yank, How are u? "
 lol


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## Gabrielaa

In Argentina, we call Spaniards "gallegos" in an almost loving way (most people here descends from Spanish people). But as far as I know, this modism is used only in our country, and we're concious that Galicia is just a Spanish province....


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## LangueLover

Thankyou for your suggestions Gabriellaa. The passage I am translating talks about Victoria Ocampo saying (jokingly) that her father did not like the idea of her marrying a 'gallego' 'Franchute or 'gringo' ?

Jajaja...its rather confusing!


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## Whisky con ron

I think your interpretation of the use of the word "gallego" in your original text is correct, langue. I have never heard an equivalent term in English (like "frog" or "roast beef", for instance).


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## Gabrielaa

LangueLover said:


> Thankyou for your suggestions Gabriellaa. The passage I am translating talks about Victoria Ocampo saying (jokingly) that her father did not like the idea of her marrying a 'gallego' 'Franchute or 'gringo' ?
> 
> Jajaja...its rather confusing!


 
That's very Argentinian!!! Her father did not like the idea of her marrying a Spaniard, a French or an American...


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## lapachis8

Hi,
The derogative word for Spaniard in Mexico is gachupín.
You are confused, because each Spanish speaking country in Latin America has a different relationship with Spain, in terms of history and how they relate to Spain.
I don´t know in other Spanish speaking countries, but in Mexico, people tell jokes on gallegos (but not Catalan or Basque or any other Spanish province), the same way Brits do with the Irish, the French with the Belgians or Brazilians with Portuguese. 
In Cuba, Spaniards are mainly called gallego /a, as well.
cheers


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## LangueLover

Segun un diccionario...

Francute=French man= (a 'froggy')
gringo=American="Yankie"

Muchas Gracias!!


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## Whisky con ron

Gabrielaa said:


> In Argentina, we call Spaniards "gallegos" in an almost loving way (most people here descends from Spanish people).


 
Nice try but I am going to have to disagree.... "Gallegos" is used in a derogative way to refer to Spanish people. Sooo many Gallegos-not-being-too-clever jokes to pretend it's all a bit of love.. 




Gabrielaa said:


> But as far as I know, this modism is used only in our country.


Again, sorry, no. It's quite common accross LA.


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## parknmart

The word that is very insulting/derogatory is ''spic'' which is used for everyone that speaks Spanish or just sounds like it. I imagine every culture has some resentment against another. C'est la vie. 

British people view ''Yank'' as an insult but most Americans wouldn't consider it one because there is a baseball team by that name in the USA.


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## Whisky con ron

Spic! Todos los días se aprende algo nuevo, gracias parknmart. 

Encontré este artículo sobre el origen de la palabra y todo, si están interesados

http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/spic.htm


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## lapachis8

parknmart said:


> The word that is very insulting/derogatory is ''spic'' which is used for everyone that speaks Spanish or just sounds like it.
> 
> 
> Some Spanish friends lived in L.A. They were white and blond and were never called spic. Spic is applied not to Spanish speaking people in general (white, blond Spaniards included) but to immigrants from Latin America who are not white nor blond.
> In the U.S. people from Spain curiously enough, are not considered Hispanic or Latin, they are Spaniards.
> cheers


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## Manuel G. Rey

'Gallego' was also used in Cuba to refer to all Spanish people. The reason is that most Spanish emigration had this origin. 
From the Britannica:
"_Spanish  *peninsular* , plural  *peninsulares* , also called  *gachupín* , or  *chapetón* _ any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th century who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called _gachupines_ (“those with spurs”) and in South America, _chapetones_ (“tenderfeet”)."
Actually, I don't agree with 'tenderfeet' as translation for 'chapetones'. 
'Chapetones' is likely to refer to the fact that Spanish people had the cheeks flushed with pink 'chapas' contrasting with the natives, which had 'leather' skin (piel cetrina).
Even in the Spanish Canary Islands, Spanish people from the Península are called 'godos'.


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## alexacohen

Hola:
"Gallego" is used as a derogative word (the real meaning being person born in Galicia) because something like the Irish famine happened in Galicia a long time ago.
Of course most people from Galicia chose to emigrate rather than to die, and of course the people forced to emigrate were the ones who had nothing at all: no education, no skills, no intelligence, no culture, and who usually could not read or write. 
So the word "gallego" ended up meaning stupid person. 
Of course many gallegos who emigrated were neither ignorant nor illiterate, but the sad truth is that a lot of them were so.
Alexa


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## Guido K

I would say "100% manolo" or simply "manolo/s". Hehe

Gringo: 1. Méx. American
          2. Arg. Blonde and white person wherever they are
          3. Bra. Foreigner no matter if white, black or dark


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## Kialaya

Well, I will add the equivalents in Spain just so that we share more information and learn from each other. In Spain we also call a french person "franchute", and "yankie" for americans. But the really common word for referring to anybody from outside, specially in the Mediterranean coasts were we have a lot of tourists is "guiri". We use this word to refer to anybody that seems clearly a tourist or a person that has come to live here and come from other countries. most commonly used for brits (people from Britain).  It is mostly derogative but not neccessarily. Depends on the way you say it and the adjectives you add after it.  

Also I woudl like to add that here the jokes we make are about a little town called "Lepe" in the province of Huelva. I have no idea why but that would be our equivalent of the "dumb gallegos" jokes.


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## Manuel G. Rey

I must deeply disagree with Alexacohen.
‘Gallego’ is used not only as a derogative word. It is also used, as Gabrielaa says, in an almost loving way, and the reason is that most people there descends from Spanish people, that is from ‘gallegos’. 
My eldest daughter was born in Havana, Cuba, and the doctor announced to my wife and to myself ‘Aquí tenemos a esta bonita galleguita’ (‘…this nice little ‘Gallega’). 
But even when ‘Gallego’ is used as a derogative word, it has had never the meaning of ‘stupid’. The Spanish immigrants during the 19th or early 20th centuries, coming from Galicia or from any other part of Spain, were in many cases uneducated and illiterate, but not stupid. They were farmers, or carpenters or sailors or bricklayers, or had or got very fast other skills, and they had intelligence enough to thrive, and to contribute to the prosperity of their adoption country. 
Being so that a substantial part of the Spain American population is of Spanish origin, and in many countries the Spanish are known as ‘Gallegos’ (notwithstanding they were from Orense or from Granada), to give ‘Gallego’ the meaning of ‘stupid’ would be as declaring ‘My stupid father or mother…’  Could you imagine?


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## Paul Clancy

Hi
In Ireland we affectionately refer to Spaniards as "Spicks" or "Degos" ... this is not meant in any racist way ... 
in much the same way as the Irish are called "Paddy", "Mick" or "Spud" in other countries ... and we do not take offence.


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## Mariwel

Where does the word "Degos" come from?


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## Tarja

My opinion towards it is that the most accurate translation would be "gallegos". I come from Spain but I know all that stuff about those people who had to emigrate to Argentina and other Latin American countries, and I think Alexacohen has written the right answer. If you translate that as "guiris", "manolos" or that kind of thing, the translation will lose quite a lot of nuances.

Since Spanish is not only spoken in Spain, I think there'll be much people who will understand perfectly the meaning by using the word "gallegos", although in Spain we don't use it in a derogative way.


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## Paul Clancy

Hi,
I don't know for sure where DEGOS comes from but I think it comes from "Diego" so instead of DIEGOS .... we say DEGOS .. and why DIEGO? I don't know ... DEGOS is used for male and female Spaniards in Ireland but it is not used in a racist way ... its an affectionate term for the Spaniards as a group of people.  For example you might hear someone say ... "the summer has definately arrived there were loads of Degos/Spicks in town/on the bus" ... because lots of Spanish students come to Ireland in the summer to learn English


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## Mariwel

Gracias, Paul Clancy por sacarme otra vez de dudas. La verdad es que yo estuve en Irlanda y los irlandeses me trataron muy bien, sin pizca de xenofobia
Un saludo


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## Manuel G. Rey

Mariwel said:


> Where does the word "Degos" come from?


 
Perhaps from 'Dagos' a derogatory term used to refer to people of Italian, Spanish or Portguese origin. It comes from the first name 'Diego'. 

From the list of ethnic slurs  , in Wikipedia:

spic, spick, spik, spig, _or_ spigotty  (U.S, U.K) *a.* a person of Hispanic descent. Use of the word is often perceived as extremely offensive if used by a person other than that of Latino descent in any context. [origin uncertain. first recorded use in 1915. Theories include (1) from "no spik English" (2) from _spig,_ in turn from _spiggoty,_ which could be from _spaghetti_ as it originally was used to refer to Italians as well when coined in 1910. Common belief is that it is an abbreviation of "Hispanic", although this is probably an anachronism] *b.* the Spanish language.


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## cenriquet

No soy filólogo ni historiador, por lo que aprovechando la autoridad que me da mi falta de conocimientos me atrevo a aventurar la siguiente hipótesis:
"Diego" es, hoy en día, un nombre poco común; no así en el siglo XVI. ¿El origen de _Degos_ podría estar en los náufragos españoles que arribaron a las costas irlandesas tras el desastre de la Armada Invencible? Aunque la hipótesis, no sea muy científica, no me negaréis que sí que tiene un halo de romanticismo.


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## alexacohen

Hola Manuel:
"Gallego" can be used as a derogative word. And the same can be said of "Yankee". Or "Jew".
And they can be used simply to describe where a person comes from. My mother's family is from Galicia, and my great aunt Amanda was one of those who emigrated to Argentina (fleeing from her sadistic husband, but that's another question). So when I explained about the galician emigrants to Argentina, I knew what I was talking about. 
And I definitely was not insulting my own ancestors. I was just stating a fact.
Oh, and the derogative word for those who emigrated from Latin America to Spain is "sudaca". 
Alexa


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## Manuel G. Rey

Las respuestas se están alejando progresivamente de la pregunta inicial. He aprendido mucho de este hilo; entre otras cosas que queda claro que 'gallego' puede tener un uso peyorativo o un uso apreciativo. 
Contestaré directamente a alexacohen en un terreno en que seguro tenemos más puntos de coincidencia que de diferencia.
A más ver.
Manuel


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## Manuel G. Rey

cenriquet said:


> No soy filólogo ni historiador, por lo que aprovechando la autoridad que me da mi falta de conocimientos me atrevo a aventurar la siguiente hipótesis:
> "Diego" es, hoy en día, un nombre poco común; no así en el siglo XVI. ¿El origen de _Degos_ podría estar en los náufragos españoles que arribaron a las costas irlandesas tras el desastre de la Armada Invencible? Aunque la hipótesis, no sea muy científica, no me negaréis que sí que tiene un halo de romanticismo.


 
Por lo que sé, a los naufragos de la Invencible (?) no les daban tiempo de decir el nombre.


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## alexacohen

Hola:


> Por lo que sé, a los naufragos de la Invencible (?) no les daban tiempo de decir el nombre


Many may have survived. According to the Irish godmother of my daughters (she is from Co. Galway) there is a legend about the origin of the dark eyed dark haired Irish people: they are the result of the Irish women coupling with the Spanish sailors who arrived there after the "Invincible Army" was defeated.
Legends tend to have some bit of truth. I said "bit". 
I wonder where this thread is leading us...
Alexa


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## Datagear

For many people, 'Spaniard' is degorative enough. Maybe it's just because it ends just like 'retard'. I usually read just 'Spanish' or 'Spanish people'.  





Gabrielaa said:


> In Argentina, we call Spaniards &quot;gallegos&quot; in an almost loving way (most people here descends from Spanish people). But as far as I know, this modism is used only in our country, and we're concious that Galicia is just a Spanish province....



Autonomous community. Not province. Spain has over 50 provinces, divided into autonomies. Galicia has 4 provinces.   So please, don't say that Galicia is 'just a Spanish province'.


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## rm321

Datagear said:


> For many people, 'Spaniard' is degorative enough. Maybe it's just because it ends just like 'retard'. I usually read just 'Spanish' or 'Spanish people'.
> 
> Autonomous community. Not province. Spain has over 50 provinces, divided into autonomies. Galicia has 4 provinces.   So please, don't say that Galicia is 'just a Spanish province'.



Firstly, in English 'Spaniard' has no derogatory conotations whatsoever, what you say about it having the same ending as 'retard' is completely irrelevant. And I don't know why you're jumping on the guy for saying province instead of Autonomous Community, it's just a matter of nomenclature really, all he/she was trying to say was they were aware that 'gallego' refers to an area of Spain.

Back to the point, I agree that 'Dago' would be the word you're looking for, it's pretty outdated in GB now and uncommonly used but there aren't really any other derogatory terms for Spaniards (though this term applies to Portuguese and Italians too). And yes, I'm sure it's a bastardisation of the name Diego.


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## Manuel G. Rey

rm321 said:


> And I don't know why you're jumping on the guy for saying province instead of Autonomous Community, it's just a matter of nomenclature really, all he/she was trying to say was they were aware that 'gallego' refers to an area of Spain.



Yeah, it is a matter of nomenclature, like saying England instead of Unitad Kingdom.


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## galesa

Italian  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dego
Spanish http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spick


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## Datagear

rm321 said:


> [...]And I don't know why you're jumping on the guy for saying province instead of Autonomous Community, it's just a matter of nomenclature really, all he/she was trying to say was they were aware that 'gallego' refers to an area of Spain.[...]


  It is NOT a matter of nomenclature. Provinces and Autonomous Communities are VERY different things.  And 'gallego' does not refer to people of an area of Spain, but people that live in a country that happens to be part of Spain too.  You don't say that Ireland is just a 'province' of England, do you?   

And still, even if you have never head 'Spaniard' as derogative, I SURE did, one too many times, by the way.


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