# Gringo



## Silvia

Hi all,

I know that "gringo" is considered a disparaging word in the USA.

I'd like to get an opinion from Spanish speaking people, since where I live it's considered a nice/funny word


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## araceli

Hola:
En Argentina le decíamos gringo a los tanos (italianos).
Fui a Brasil y a mí también me gritaron "gringa!"
Gringo significa extranjero, en forma coloquial.
Esta página te va a explicar mejor: www.rae.es
Diccionario Larousse:........La palabra gringo apareció como deformación de GRIEGO, apelativo  que se daba a los que hablaban en una lengua extranjera.
En general tiene un sentido peyorativo.
Chau


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## Silvia

Thank you Araceli,

did you get offended when they called you gringa? Is that a bad word to you?


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## Tormenta

Gringo means "extranjero" (Foreigner ), at least in Argentina it does.

In Buenos Aires we have/had 3 million Italians (born in Italy); we used to call them " Gringos" (extranjeros).
I would like to know what Mexicans say about this word.

Tormenta

PD. I have been called " gringa"  in several Latin American countries


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## Artrella

Tormenta said:
			
		

> Gringo means "extranjero" (Foreigner ), at least in Argentina it does.
> 
> In Buenos Aires we have/had 3 million Italians (born in Italy); we used to call them " Gringos" (extranjeros).
> I would like to know what Mexicans say about this word.
> 
> Tormenta
> 
> PD. I have been called " gringa"  in several Latin American countries




Tormenta, are you sure we call Italians "gringos"?  I think we call them "tanos"
Cariños, Nilda.  
My kids have been called "gringos" in Venezuela and in México because they are blond!!! Whereas I was called "amiga" because I'm not blond!!!!!!


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## Tormenta

Artrella said:
			
		

> Tormenta, are you sure we call Italians "gringos"?  I think we call them "tanos"
> Cariños, Nilda.
> My kids have been called "gringos" in Venezuela and in México because they are blond!!! Whereas I was called "amiga" because I'm not blond!!!!!!




Oh, I am sure.  Italians were called Gringos and Tanos.  Incluso hay un poema " All'i vienen los Gringos"  , refiri'endose a los barcos de Italianos.

I was called " Gringa" in M'exico, now, that hurts 


Tormenta


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## araceli

silviap said:
			
		

> Thank you Araceli,
> 
> did you get offended when they called you gringa? Is that a bad word to you?


Hello:
I didn't get offended at that: I thought that was funny.
They said "Gringos!!!" to the whole family.
And we all laughted!
No, it is not a bad word to me at all.
How can I explain that???
Sometimes it sounds me in a little affectionate form, it depends....
Bye     (From gringa to gringa...   )

P/S: Please correct my mistakes, thanks.


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## Dale Dolores

Yeah, I don't think it's offensive. It just depends on the tone of voice.  Often times "gringos" are just anyone who is blonde as mentioned earlier. In Spain, they use the word "guiri".  They don't use gringo too often.  I'm not sure of the origin of this word. It is not offensive, but said with "cariño".  

joylolade


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## belén

The story I heard was that the Mexicans were trying to kick out the American soldiers that dressed in green, telling them:
Green, go = gringo


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## Tormenta

gringo, ga.
	(Etim. disc.).
	1. adj. coloq. Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española. U. t. c. s.
	2. adj. coloq. Dicho de una lengua: extranjera. U. t. c. s. m.
	3. adj. Am. Mer., Cuba, El Salv., Hond. y Nic. estadounidense. Apl. a pers., u. t. c. s.
	4. adj. Ur. inglés (ǁ natural de Inglaterra). U. t. c. s.
	5. adj. Ur. ruso (ǁ natural de Rusia). U. t. c. s.
	6. m. y f. Bol., Hond., Nic. y Perú. Persona rubia y de tez blanca.
	7. m. coloq. [U*]Lenguaje ininteligible.[*/U]
DRAE

Ahora me acuerdo que cuando alguien dice algo que carece de sentido o estructura gramatical, se dice, de manera coloquial:  “No me hables en gringo”  

Tormenta


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## weird

En España, de forma despectiva se llama YANKEE a los norteamericanos.
(lo siento)


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## Silvia

Belen, your story sounds likely. That would explain how come Americans get offended by it.

On the other hand, I find it amazing that for Italians and all Spanish speaking people it's something nice or rather funny


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## cristóbal

I've never been offended by being called "gringo"... maybe that's because I am one, technically speaking.  But just remembering the mention above that the word was offensive in the US... I'd have to disagree.  Without getting into considerations of political correctness, bigotry and racism in the USA, "gringo" is usually not as negative as it might be perceived--at least that has been my experience.  Of course, it could easily be used as an insult, but I think that in general it is a colloquial way of referring to people who don't speak Spanish--or who aren't of whatever particular Spanish speaking country.  
There are few insults directed towards Americans that we take seriously.


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## Silvia

Thank you Cristóbal and anyone who answered this thread.

By the way, would I be a tana?! That's funny, because in Italian that means lair, den... not to mention something worse... the end of a bad word (you can imagine what it is), I just hope Italian ladies do not hear you saying that!


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## Tormenta

silviap said:
			
		

> Thank you Cristóbal and anyone who answered this thread.
> 
> By the way, would I be a tana?! That's funny, because in Italian that means lair, den... not to mention something worse... the end of a bad word (you can imagine what it is), I just hope Italian ladies do not hear you saying that!




Yes, of course you are a " tana"  , but from Italiana , it has nothing to do with the ending of the other word, the one which starts with a " p"     

Italiana= Tana
Italiano=Tano


Tormenta


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## Edwin

Artrella said:
			
		

> T
> My kids have been called "gringos" in Venezuela and in México because they are blond!!!



In Costa Rica I was told that gringo/a is a friendly word for, well, gringos/as. The men in Costa Rica especially like gringas. 

Also while there I heard a joke. (Quizás muy viejo?) The butt of the joke was an Argentinian (perhaps because the head of the school where I was from Argentina).  The scene takes place in Mexico where the Argentinian becomes exasperated with his Mexican waiter because they constantly disagree on the names of things. Finally in anger el Argentino le dijo, ''?Como se llama X@*?&*% en Mexico?" El mexicano le contestó, "No nos llaman, nos mandan de Argentina.   Like many jokes you can change the names of the countries without destroying the joke.


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## Lems

belen said:
			
		

> The story I heard was that the Mexicans were trying to kick out the American soldiers that dressed in green, telling them:
> Green, go = gringo



Besides this story I've heard another one that is the Mexicans referred to Americans this way because they'd come from *green ground * (*gringo*) grass covered land.  

Si non é vero... 

Lems

________________________
Gracias por sus correcciones.
I appreciate any correction.


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## funnydeal

Esta discusión fue interesante

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2602


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## funnydeal

*I found another root of the word "gringo", i will copy what I found, but not the link because it is of another forum. if someone is interested in the link, please send me a private message.*

I received an email from a friend, a colonel of the US Air Force that now is working at the US Embassy at Mexico City. 

When I explained him when he was living in my house about the meaning of the word GRINGO he confessed me that for him the word gringo sounded like ofensive but now that he is living in Mexico he told me that now he calls Gringos to everybody in the embassy 

For many of you that don't know Mexico or has never been here think that the name Gringo is offensive but when you has been in Mexico or know the reasons you understand that the name Gringo is absolutely descriptive and that we only use this name to describe people from the US because your real name is long and complicated to say.

You use to call yourself Americans, but for us Americans are all the people from Argentina to Alaska, when you say North Americans, for us North Americans are all the people from Mexico to Alaska too.

Your nationality in Spanish is long and complicated it is "Estadounidenses" and this is the short name because your nationality in Spanish by the name of your country is "Estadounidensesnorteamericanos" name that is crazy to use.

*The origin of the word Gringo was in 1836 when the troops of the US started to invade Mexico in the north and people tells that an emissary was sent from Arizona to Chihuahua in a message to a general "Green goes to Chihuahua", that a commander Green (last name) was going to attack Chihuahua, when the troops saw that they approached said "ahi vienen los Gringos (Green goes)" (here comes the Gringos) because the troops thought that Gringos was the name of the nationality of the people that came from the north.*

When you know the culture, you know that we use to refer to people of different places in a shorter form, for instance I was born in Mexico City and we are called "chilangos" and this is not an offensive way to call us, just descriptive or the people from Veracruz are called "jarochos" and this is the name they use to describe themselves in songs and in normal conversations and every region have their names.

The only meaning of the word Gringo in an ofensive way is when it precedes with the word "pinche" that in fact is not a bad word, if you look at the dictionary it means "the helper of the chef at the kitchen" but if this adjective is placed before this descriptive words like Gringo or chilango, it convert this descriptive word in an offensive word.

The name Gringo is used in a cotidian word in all the Spanish speaking countries because the real name of your nationality is long and hard to say and Gringo is easy and short, you will hear maybe in the news or in some newspapers that is used the word Gringo and of course it is not in an offensive form if not the government didn't allow the TV stations to use this word in the news or newspapers, so if you see or hear the word gringo and not "pinche gringo" you don't have to worry because really this is not an offensive name.

All the "Estadounidenses" communities that lives in Mexico calls theirself Gringos because they know the real significate, so if some ask you if you are Gringo you can say proudly yes!


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Juan Manuel


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## dvquo

Well, now what a *young* Mexican can say about the subject
In Mexico gringo is the common way to call the people from US. Any person that seems to come from the US is called "gringo."   I asked my mom and she says gringo it's an offensive word, but I disagree. At least for my generation, it's not offensive. Also another way to call them is "güerito" (blonde)   This is not offensive according to my mom. I agree with that.
Yes, gringo is for foreigners. Mexico had a lot of problem with the US before the XX century; that's why any foreigner that comes from the US is called gringo. Foreigners from other countries were not important for the common Mexican. Until the XX the other important foreigners for the Mexicans are the Chinese. That reminds me of a book of José Emilio Pacheco "Las Batallas en el Desierto" It's about the Mexico of the 40's and 50's from the sight of a boy. In the school they botheres a boy saying "Chino chino japones: come caca y no me des." (Pacheco, 1981) It's very interesting how Pacheco portraits the life of Mexico during those years. 

Pacheco, E. (1981) "Las Batallas en el Desierto" México, DF: Ediciones Era. pp. 15. ISBN 968-411-052-9


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## Tormenta

Edwin said:
			
		

> In Costa Rica I was told that gringo/a is a friendly word for, well, gringos/as. The men in Costa Rica especially like gringas.
> 
> Also while there I heard a joke. (Quizás muy viejo?) The butt of the joke was an Argentinian (perhaps because the head of the school where I was from Argentina).  The scene takes place in Mexico where the Argentinian becomes exasperated with his Mexican waiter because they constantly disagree on the names of things. Finally in anger el Argentino le dijo, ''?Como se llama X@*?&*% en Mexico?" *El mexicano le contestó, "No nos llaman, nos mandan **de Argentina.*   Like many jokes you can change the names of the countries without destroying the joke.




   

Tormenta


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## Mirtha Robledo

6. m. y f. Bol., Hond., Nic. y Perú. Persona rubia y de tez blanca.
Precisamente, aca en Perú a los que son de tez blanca y que hablan un idioma extranjero les llaman gringos.
Y con mucho mayor énfasis en las provincias.


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## cristóbal

Mirtha Robledo said:
			
		

> 6. m. y f. Bol., Hond., Nic. y Perú. Persona rubia y de tez blanca.
> Precisamente, aca en Perú a los que son de tez blanca y que hablan un idioma extranjero les llaman gringos.
> Y con mucho mayor énfasis en las provincias.




Como "chino" que me parece que es la palabra universal en español para cualquier tipo de persona que tiene apariencia asiática... a menos que tienen cámaras y caminan juntos en grupos enormes--entonces, son japoneses.


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## ABSURDO

I always thought that "gringo" refers to an USA native in Mexico.
In Spain, nobody says gringo to each other.


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## Tomasoria

Someone told the true origin of that GRINGO expression...It was the mexicans who called the american soldiers gringos because of their green uniforms...GREEEEEN GO ¡¡ they shouted at them. But the truth is that I've never seen any american soldier wearing in green, but in blue (remember the 7th cavalry), but, no doubt, the origins of this word is in Mexico...ANY MEXICAN ABLE TO SORT THIS OUT???

   In Spain, Gringos are clearly Americans, foreigners in general are GUIRIS (specially if they're blondes, german-saxon look), Italians can be Spaghettis or just simply Buitres (that one for italians guys spending their holidays in spanish resorts). Latiamericans are called Sudacas in a very pejorative way and Muslims in general are called Moros (too pejorative as well).

    Saludos


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## mjscott

LISTEN FOREROS. You cannot go around saying what is and what is not offensive to a certain culture, unless you belong to that culture! Can I say, "Well we used to call Mexicans 'wetbacks' in my town--but, oh, they didn't mind! They even called each other 'wetbacks' when they talked among themselves in our presence! We meant it in the most endearing way, and meant no offense by it!"

If the person you are offended is offended by something, then you have committed an offense--whether you meant to or not. The gracious thing to do is to drop the issue. No one is asking for an apology, but don't assume you're not offending someone when you jest about their nationality and assume that their experiences are the same as yours. If ONE person says that it's offensive, then take note of it and don't use the term around that one person. If MORE THAN ONE PERSON says that it's offensive, maybe you should re-think the position from which you come with the word. Is it worth offending a people to enjoy the luxury of using that word? Somehow in this forum I thought better of most.

Looking back over the posts in this thread, and seeing that Cuchuflete is the only other estadounidensamericano answering--and he lives way to heck and gone --probably closer to Europe than to me in Washington State--I am a bit offended.

When I first joined the forum, I was asked in private messages why I didn't state my country. Why? Because I wanted to see the true colors of those on the forum. Of late, I have exposed myself probably too much. It's time to hide again. Each time I declare the red, white, and blue--I can't go explaining myself that worldly-wise people--maybe not the nation as a whole, and certainly not our actions--but PEOPLE--people who live in small towns and big cities, people on farms and in tenament houses--people with any worldly sense about them whatsoever are silently wishing to keep communication with the world on an academic level. We personally feel we have to walk a narrower line because of the commissions of those in power. We have to speak softer because of the boisterous Americans who have come before us into your lives and made the world think that Americans are all loudmouth drunkards who throw around money and make the rest of the world think that they should serve American desires.

I am no less proud to be a citizen of the United States of America, but I'm not going to dangle it in your face if it offends you. I will stay silent. When you dangle in front of me that you will *not* say that you are American because--oh, boy--I don't want to be called one of those!--what do you mean by that? Are we now like the kid in the school yard that is not very well-liked, so someone starts a rumor that he has cooties? When Yankee Go Home is very large and red, does anyone care to read the small print after it?

I read through this thread to perhaps shed some light on Plate Tectonics as a possible answer to your continental question. In retrospect, I think I'll hibernate and hope for a more compassionate and sensitive world when I wake up.


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## Artrella

You are right MJSCOTT!! Once you've told me about this... now I understand your reasons!!!  I'm sorry this happens... it seems that people need sometimes to let off steam and they just do it...without thinking about the other's feelings....   

Saludos my friend!!!


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## cuchuflete

Thanks MJ...

Personally, I don't mind a bit if someone says something I find offensive...it's a good reason to start a very pointed conversation.

Further, to prove how politically incorrect I am proud to be, I don't mind offending, under specific conditions. Here's an example:

When I was about 19 years old, I found myself in Europe for the first time.
I got tired of listening to certain Europeans, I'll not name their countries of origin to protect the guilty, rattle on about how Americans were such a young country, devoid of real "culture". I asked them why they were so busy copying American fashion...Levi's at that time, watching American movies and TV shows, and showing how 'cool' they were by dropping American words into their sentences. When they backtracked and said that 
'culture' was not about that, but fine art and music...I had no trouble asking if they could point to any European symphony orchestra better than those in Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago or NY. I also accepted, sadly, criticisms of most Americans for being mono-lingual. I was concerned, but not offended, by that fact. 

Today the dumb label throwing and name calling continues. Yes, dumb, stupid, ignorant. There are people who blame every evil in the world on an American conspiracy. The governments of my country do some rotten things at times, and the consequences are felt in other countries. There is nothing wrong with a non-American pointing that out and decrying it. So long as they have their facts straight. Sometimes they do. Sometimes that just like to blame their own nations' faults on someone else.

Please don't hibernate.  Stay and argue the facts!  

If I come across a bigot in the forums, who insults other people based on their nationality, language, religion, etc... I would not hesitate for a second to challenge the bigot, and tell them that their behaviour is that of an idiot. Might that offend them? Sure. And if they take their offended feelings with them on the way out the door, that's better yet. 

There are loads of highly intelligent, open-minded individuals in these forums. I believe they are the majority, and I enjoy learning from them.

And there are a few narrow-minded fools also. Take them on, show with facts and strong ideas how ridiculous some of their assertions are. If you keep posting things with real substance, the superficial bigots and morons get tired and drift away. They only seem to be at ease when no work is required to find agreement.

Abrazos,
Cuchu

and...just in case I have offended anyone...this message is written as a forero and not as a mod. So feel free to respond with whatever facts you may have to support a contrary position. 






			
				mjscott said:
			
		

> LISTEN FOREROS. You cannot go around saying what is and what is not offensive to a certain culture, unless you belong to that culture! Can I say, "Well we used to call Mexicans 'wetbacks' in my town--but, oh, they didn't mind! They even called each other 'wetbacks' when they talked among themselves in our presence! We meant it in the most endearing way, and meant no offense by it!"
> 
> If the person you are offended is offended by something, then you have committed an offense--whether you meant to or not. The gracious thing to do is to drop the issue. No one is asking for an apology, but don't assume you're not offending someone when you jest about their nationality and assume that their experiences are the same as yours. If ONE person says that it's offensive, then take note of it and don't use the term around that one person. If MORE THAN ONE PERSON says that it's offensive, maybe you should re-think the position from which you come with the word. Is it worth offending a people to enjoy the luxury of using that word? Somehow in this forum I thought better of most.
> 
> Looking back over the posts in this thread, and seeing that Cuchuflete is the only other estadounidensamericano answering--and he lives way to heck and gone --probably closer to Europe than to me in Washington State--I am a bit offended.
> 
> When I first joined the forum, I was asked in private messages why I didn't state my country. Why? Because I wanted to see the true colors of those on the forum. Of late, I have exposed myself probably too much. It's time to hide again. Each time I declare the red, white, and blue--I can't go explaining myself that worldly-wise people--maybe not the nation as a whole, and certainly not our actions--but PEOPLE--people who live in small towns and big cities, people on farms and in tenament houses--people with any worldly sense about them whatsoever are silently wishing to keep communication with the world on an academic level. We personally feel we have to walk a narrower line because of the commissions of those in power. We have to speak softer because of the boisterous Americans who have come before us into your lives and made the world think that Americans are all loudmouth drunkards who throw around money and make the rest of the world think that they should serve American desires.
> 
> I am no less proud to be a citizen of the United States of America, but I'm not going to dangle it in your face if it offends you. I will stay silent. When you dangle in front of me that you will *not* say that you are American because--oh, boy--I don't want to be called one of those!--what do you mean by that? Are we now like the kid in the school yard that is not very well-liked, so someone starts a rumor that he has cooties? When Yankee Go Home is very large and red, does anyone care to read the small print after it?
> 
> I read through this thread to perhaps shed some light on Plate Tectonics as a possible answer to your continental question. In retrospect, I think I'll hibernate and hope for a more compassionate and sensitive world when I wake up.


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## Outsider

mjscott said:
			
		

> LISTEN FOREROS. You cannot go around saying what is and what is not offensive to a certain culture, unless you belong to that culture! Can I say, "Well we used to call Mexicans 'wetbacks' in my town--but, oh, they didn't mind! They even called each other 'wetbacks' when they talked among themselves in our presence! We meant it in the most endearing way, and meant no offense by it!"
> 
> If the person you are offended is offended by something, then you have committed an offense--whether you meant to or not. The gracious thing to do is to drop the issue. No one is asking for an apology, but don't assume you're not offending someone when you jest about their nationality and assume that their experiences are the same as yours. If ONE person says that it's offensive, then take note of it and don't use the term around that one person. If MORE THAN ONE PERSON says that it's offensive, maybe you should re-think the position from which you come with the word. Is it worth offending a people to enjoy the luxury of using that word? Somehow in this forum I thought better of most.
> 
> Looking back over the posts in this thread, and seeing that Cuchuflete is the only other estadounidensamericano answering--and he lives way to heck and gone --probably closer to Europe than to me in Washington State--I am a bit offended.


Well, I reread the thread, and:

1) Actually, three native speakers of English have replied to it: joylolade, cristóbal and Edwin. Cuchuflete had not replied to this thread at all prior to your post--were you thinking of a different thread?   

2) All three of them said they were *not offended* by being called "gringos".

3) Apparently, you haven't noticed that Latin Americans also call _other Latin Americans_ "gringos". Some of the posts were about how they felt when *they* were called "gringos" in other Latin American countries.

If you truly want to learn about people's "true colours", don't you think it would be a good idea to read what they write?


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## beatrizg

I haven't read all this thread. It will take a while to do it, so I'll leave it for later. 

I just wanted to tell you all that, at least in Colombia, 'gringo" is not an offensive word. 
It's just an alternative to "estadunidense", which we find long a difficult to say.


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## Phryne

mjscott, I think Outsider is right. I don't believe this thread became so extended because all non-Americans wanted to insult your people. As a matter of fact, many claimed to have been called  "gringos" once in a while even though they are not Americans. 

1. When my brother was a kid, he went to Peru with my aunt, and he was often called "gringo" because of his fare skin and blond hair. Thus, LatinAmericans can be called "gringos" as well.
2. In Argentina, where I am from, "gringos" are Italians, and for this reason, I can't fully associate the word with Americans! I might call you people "yanquis", as long I don't offend you, of course, but I would never, ever, address you as "gringo". It seems wrong to me, mainly because I live in your land, so the gringo (=foreigner) would actually be me!!!! 
3. I live in NYC, and I have been in many conversations where my American friends referred to themselves as "the only gringo in town/party/etc". I feel Americans like to use that word to avoid the "colored issue", which is a far more delicate subject.

However, after pointing out how meaningless the word can be, if it still bothers you, I will for ever drop it.


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## Phryne

Artrella said:
			
		

> Tormenta, are you sure we call Italians "gringos"?  I think we call them "tanos"
> Cariños, Nilda.
> My kids have been called "gringos" in Venezuela and in México because they are blond!!! Whereas I was called "amiga" because I'm not blond!!!!!!



De chica yo creía que "gringo" era sinónimo de "tano". En serio no lo habías oído nunca???


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## suzzzenn

Hola, 

When I lived in Honduras, people casually referred to me as a gringa, and I never felt it was done snidely or with negative overtones, nor did my husband, who was Honduran. He was very sensitive to slights, and I am sure would have said something if he felt people were referring to me in an insulting way. For example, we would go up to a little tiny village near my husband's farm and when I walked to the store, all the children would get excited and run out and call thier parents, mommi, mommi, la gringa viene!! la gringa viene!!! They were very sweet and giggled uncontrollably when I spoke to them in English. No one told the children, "Don't call her gringa, that is rude". Once when we ran into one of my husband's old friends, he said.."AYY Muncho, I heard you married I gringa! Is this her? mucho gusto. Are you a gringa now or a catracha?" and everybody laughed. No offence given and none taken. 

I was intersted in what phryne said about American using the term gringo to avoid the term White. I think that does happen and I find that troubling. Americans do indeed have trouble talking about race openly. Someone would hesitate before saying, "I was the only White person at the party". I have been noticing a lot lately that when White, non-Spanish speaking, Americans use Spanish terms, they are often using them in a mocking way or in a way that has negative overtones.


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## beatrizg

suzzzenn said:
			
		

> Hola,
> 
> When I lived in Honduras, people casually referred to me as a gringa, and I never felt it was done snidely or with negative overtones, nor did my husband, who was Honduran. He was very sensitive to slights, and I am sure would have said something if he felt people were referring to me in an insulting way. For example, we would go up to a little tiny village near my husband's farm and when I walked to the store, all the children would get excited and run out and call thier parents, mommi, mommi, la gringa viene!! la gringa viene!!! They were very sweet and giggled uncontrollably when I spoke to them in English. No one told the children, "Don't call her gringa, that is rude". Once when we ran into one of my husband's old friends, he said.."AYY Muncho, I heard you married I gringa! Is this her? mucho gusto. Are you a gringa now or a catracha?" and everybody laughed. No offence given and none taken.
> 
> I was intersted in what phryne said about American using the term gringo to avoid the term White. I think that does happen and I find that troubling. Americans do indeed have trouble talking about race openly. Someone would hesitate before saying, "I was the only White person at the party". I have been noticing a lot lately that when White, non-Spanish speaking, Americans use Spanish terms, they are often using them in a mocking way or in a way that has negative overtones.


 
Hola suzzzenn!
Thank you for telling us of your experience. 

I found your post very ineteresting and your point of view very kind and mature. 

This is more or less what I meant when I said "gringo" is not said in an offensive way in Colombia. 


Of course in certain contexts the word could have a negative meaning, but that happens with most of the words. If someone is in a communist party meeting and uses the word "gringo" it would most probably (or for sure) have a negative meaning, but if it's used in a everyday situation the meaning would be neutral.


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## Phryne

suzzzenn said:
			
		

> Hola,
> 
> I was intersted in what phryne said about American using the term gringo to avoid the term White. I think that does happen and I find that troubling. Americans do indeed have trouble talking about race openly. Someone would hesitate before saying, "I was the only White person at the party". I have been noticing a lot lately that when White, non-Spanish speaking, Americans use Spanish terms, they are often using them in a mocking way or in a way that has negative overtones.



Yeah, we can be talking for hours about racial problems in America! 

Saludos!


----------



## Lutino

Some months ago I talked to a Mexican friend and I asked him about this topic, as many others have said he answered that this word comes from Green go home! referring to the green clothes they wore.


----------



## Phryne

Lutino said:
			
		

> Some months ago I talked to a Mexican friend and I asked him about this topic, as many others have said he answered that this word comes from Green go home! referring to the green clothes they wore.



_Is it really_? A lot of people have told me with great certainty that Spaniards have a "lisp" because of some King who had a speech impediment and nobody dared to contradict him. I find this explanation absurd and I don't care how many people believe this! 
Some people may not know why they use certain words or expressions and for what I read in this forum about non-existant green uniforms, I find the "green go" expression hard to believe. But that's just me.... 

Furthermore, how do you explain the same usage in other Spanish speaking countries?


----------



## Outsider

Lutino said:
			
		

> Some months ago I talked to a Mexican friend and I asked him about this topic, as many others have said he answered that this word comes from Green go home! referring to the green clothes they wore.


That does not explain why "gringo" is sometimes also used to speak of non-Americans, and even of foreigners who do not speak English.


----------



## supercrom

Acá se les denominan gringos a las personas de tez blanca que no hablan castellano, por ejemplo los turistas son "gringos". Generalmente a aquellos que provienen de los Estados Unidos... 
_Hay muchos gringos en la Plaza Mayor._

También es gringo una persona (hombre o mujer, gringa) que tiene cabellera rubia (natural o artificial, si es lo segundo es sarcástico) y, opcionalmente, ojos claros.

Ahora también, por extensión, se les puede decir así a aquellas personas de piel clara en lugares de Sudamérica en que no son comunes (e.g. Tormenta was called "gringa" in México).



*+ info:*[...] “Gringo” le llamaban al propietario de “Arenales”; gigantesco europeo de violentos ademanes, anchas espaldas, cuello de novillo, cabeza maciza, en donde el cabello crecía recto y puntiagudo como un penacho en el límite de la frente, y ojos miopísimos, cuya mirada inquisitiva y rencorosa disimulaba el haz de reflejos de sus gruesos lentes. [...]

en: *Taita Dios nos señala el camino*

​
*CROM*


----------



## mjscott

Outsider-

You're right, in that I was switching from this forum to the following one:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=21002&page=1&pp=10

Hope I didn't bite anyone's fingers off while while being handled.


----------



## lauranazario

Seeing the turn this particular discussion has taken, I have moved this thread to the Culture forum.

Debido al giro que ha tomado la conversación en este hilo, lo transfiero al foro de Cultura.
LN


----------



## spalping

I've heard that it comes from a line of a song that was popular back in the day, somthing like: "green grows the grass in ______ in the spring"  Sence every anglaphone was singing it, the mexicans stated calling them "green grows" with a spanish accent.  Hence gringo.  
    I understand it's evolved to mean any forigner.


----------



## Artrella

etimología de la palabra "gringo" 



*gringo  
1849, from Mex.Sp. gringo, contemptuous word for "foreigner," from Sp. gringo "foreign, unintelligible talk, gibberish," perhaps ult. from griego "Greek." The "Diccionario Castellano" (1787) says gringo was used in Malaga for "anyone who spoke Spanish badly," and in Madrid for "the Irish." * 

  source 

*Word History*: In Latin America the word gringo is an offensive term for a foreigner, particularly an American or English person. But the word existed in Spanish before this particular sense came into being. In fact, gringo may be an alteration of the word griego, the Spanish development of Latin Graecus, “Greek.” Griego first meant “Greek, Grecian,” as an adjective and “Greek, Greek language,” as a noun.   

Complete text is available at:
source


----------



## cuchuflete

Artrella:

This was provided to you by Belén a few hours ago.  Please note the underlined passage.  These rules apply to all foreros. The post above has been edited to bring it into compliance with the rules posted in the forums, a copy of which was provided to you earlier today as a reminder. Please comply with them in all future posts.

Thank you.

Cuchu



> Artrella, I edited your post, Please remember the new WR rules on legal material. Thanks for your cooperation.
> 
> Quote:
> 14. No web pages or copyrighted or plagiarized content may be inserted into WordReference posts. Minor fair use excerpts from dictionaries such as a definition/translation or two is permitted. Other quotes of less than one paragraph (4 sentences) are permitted as well. All other forms of inserted content from press releases, newsletters, web pages, or any other copyrighted content placed into messages will be removed without exception. A link to the content is acceptable and appropriate.


----------



## Lutino

Phryne I don't know the importance of the lisp of a few areas in Spain with the word gringo. Gringo is from Mexico, Spain is in Europe


----------



## Outsider

Artrella said:
			
		

> etimología de la palabra "gringo"


That link is very interesting. I encourage everyone else to read it. 



			
				Artrella said:
			
		

> *gringo
> 1849, from Mex.Sp. gringo, contemptuous word for "foreigner," from Sp. gringo "foreign, unintelligible talk, gibberish," perhaps ult. from griego "Greek." The "Diccionario Castellano" (1787) says gringo was used in Malaga for "anyone who spoke Spanish badly," and in Madrid for "the Irish." *
> 
> source
> 
> *Word History*: In Latin America the word gringo is an offensive term for a foreigner, particularly an American or English person. But the word existed in Spanish before this particular sense came into being. In fact, gringo may be an alteration of the word griego, the Spanish development of Latin Graecus, “Greek.” Griego first meant “Greek, Grecian,” as an adjective and “Greek, Greek language,” as a noun.
> 
> Complete text is available at:
> source


It's curious how sources written in English _assume_ that the word is derrogatory, when we've had several testimonies here that it isn't necessarily so.


----------



## ceirun

I think the derogatoriness of any word is to do with the _recipient's_ perception of its intended meaning.
I know there were many terms used here (in the UK) not so long ago that would now be seen as, at best, mildy offensive.
Is this change due to some kind of political correctness overkill, or perhaps just a progression in people's attitudes?
As far as I know, black people have *never* liked to be called, for example, "golly"... yet in the past, many white people may have regarded this as an almost affectionate _(sic)_ expression.
If a word is perceived by the group which it describes as derogatory or offensive, could this be for a reason?
With regards to 'gringo', I've personally never been in an environment where that word is used, so can't really comment specifically about it.


----------



## Outsider

ceirun said:
			
		

> I think the derogatoriness of any word is to do with the _recipient's_ perception of its intended meaning.


But we've had testimonies in this very thread of English native speakers and Americans who were called "gringo" and did not feel offended. In fact, they seem to be the majority. Why don't _their_ perceptions count?


----------



## ceirun

Hi. I didn't intend to infer that their perceptions didn't count. In fact, the sentence quoted above would assume that their opinions were just as valid as those who were offended.
Ultimately, I think any word can be taken almost any way, depending on an endless number of factors.
I suppose a dumb example could be: "You are an *outsider*!  " versus "You are an *outsider*! ".


----------



## Outsider

Yes, but some words are _usually_ employed as derogatory. That's when they earn a warning in dictionaries. 
The question is that I'm not so sure that this particular word, "gringo", is typically derogatory. It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when in fact it isn't.


----------



## cuchuflete

Outsider said:
			
		

> Yes, but some words are _usually_ employed as derogatory. That's when they earn a warning in dictionaries.
> The question is that I'm not so sure that this particular word, "gringo", is typically derogatory. It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when in fact it isn't.



You make an excellent point.  I've been called 'gringo' with obvious affection, by Mexican friends.  I've also heard it used as an insult.  And most commonly, I've heard it used in a mildly desparaging way to describe people who were different from the speaker.  Based on that variety, I surely cannot advocate eliminating the term from anyone's active or passive vocabulary.

Insult and offense may be in the mind of the speaker, or just in the over-sensitive response of the listener.  If we were to censor use of every ambiguous or multi-faceted word in our languages, those would be poorer, despite our noble intentions.

Cuchu


----------



## Artrella

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Artrella:
> 
> This was provided to you by Belén a few hours ago.  Please note the underlined passage.  These rules apply to all foreros. The post above has been edited to bring it into compliance with the rules posted in the forums, a copy of which was provided to you earlier today as a reminder. Please comply with them in all future posts.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Cuchu




Sorry!! I didn't realize it was more than the size allowed to post here.


----------



## ceirun

Outsider said:
			
		

> It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when *in fact* it isn't.


At least not in your opinion, anyway.
Maybe the lexicographers of that dictionary had a bad experience on a day trip to Monterrey or something... who knows.
Incidentally, in the WRD it says: gringo,-a _adj LAm fam *pey*_ foreign


----------



## Outsider

ceirun said:
			
		

> At least not in your opinion, anyway.


I am not Latin American and I've never been to Latin America, so my opinion doesn't matter. 
However, in this thread, several Latin Americans, and several people who have travelled to Latin America, said they don't think the word is (predominantly) derogatory, and I've read the same in other message boards, too. That's my point.


----------



## ceirun

Outsider said:
			
		

> However, in this thread, several Latin Americans, and several people who have travelled to Latin America, said they don't think the word is (predominantly) derogatory, and I've read the same in other message boards, too. That's my point.


I have also read the same, as well as various dictionary entries that state otherwise.
I don't think that either of those things would lead me to say that something is a definite fact, though.
Personally, I think "gringo" is quite a funny-sounding word. If I was an American (*someone from the USA), I imagine that I'd much rather be called that than certain other possible insults/endearing terms/descriptive words.
However, it's not for me or anyone else to tell other people how they should interpret a certain word directed specifically at them. That was my point.


----------



## Outsider

ceirun said:
			
		

> However, it's not for me or anyone else to *tell other people how they should interpret* a certain word directed specifically at them.


I don't think anyone here has been telling anyone else how to interpret the word "gringo", other than in the sense that individual experiences can give clues for such interpretation.


----------



## ceirun

Outsider said:
			
		

> I don't think anyone here has been telling anyone else how to interpret the word "gringo"


Nobody said there was.
Although you did say: _"It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when *in fact* it isn't"._
Most (English) dictionaries don't agree, but maybe their writers had different individual experiences to yours and mine.
My guess is that your assumption about that word is probably right, anyway.


----------



## Outsider

ceirun said:
			
		

> Outsider said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think anyone here has been telling anyone else how to interpret the word "gringo"
> 
> 
> 
> Nobody said there was.
> Although you did say: _"It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when *in fact* it isn't"._
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. My "in fact" was hypothetical, too.


----------



## ceirun

Oops, sorry. 
I'm actually hoping to visit America (the continent(s)) next year, and the truth is that I'm already quite looking forward to being called a gringo, for the first time. 
Hasta luego.


----------



## Phryne

Lutino said:
			
		

> Phryne I don't know the importance of the lisp of a few areas in Spain with the word gringo. Gringo is from Mexico, Spain is in Europe


 
It is a parallel to explain how wrong people can be about beliefs or words that they use everyday. Asking a native may give you the right answer, but not always. Firstly, the _Green go_ theory does not explain the usage in other countries than Mexico. Remember, it is a Spanish word, not a Mexican word. Secondly, it doesn't explain why Mexicans and other Latinamericans also call gringos to non-Americans, even other Latinamericans. 

That's what I tried to convey.


----------



## Phryne

ceirun said:
			
		

> Nobody said there was.
> Although you did say: _"It seems possible that some foreigners assumed it was typically derogatory, when *in fact* it isn't"._
> Most (English) dictionaries don't agree, but maybe their writers had different individual experiences to yours and mine.
> My guess is that your assumption about that word is probably right, anyway.


 
Maybe the connotation is negative in English, but not in Spanish.  


*gringo**, ga**.*(Etim. disc.).*1.* adj. coloq. Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española. U. t. c. s.*2.* adj. coloq. Dicho de una lengua: *extranjera.* U. t. c. s. m.*3.* adj._ Am. Mer._,_ Cuba_,_ El Salv._,_ Hond._ y_ Nic._ *estadounidense.* Apl. a pers., u. t. c. s.*4.* adj._ Ur._ *inglés* (ǁ natural de Inglaterra). U. t. c. s.*5.* adj._ Ur._ *ruso* (ǁ natural de Rusia). U. t. c. s.*6.* m. y f._ Bol._,_ Hond._,_ Nic._ y_ Perú._ Persona rubia y de tez blanca.*7.* m. coloq. Lenguaje ininteligible.


_ Source: Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados_


----------



## te gato

Hey All;

I seem to remember asking this question when I first joined..oh so long ago...I was called a 'Gringa' when I was in Mexico...and not by my friends...

I remember being told...It depends on the tone of voice the person was using..as to if it was an insult or not...

Now it must NOT have been a good thing because a brawl almost broke out between my friends and the guy using the term and his friends...

Personally..at first I didn't care if I was called a 'gringa'..but after the brawl incident..now I do..I find myself thinking..are they insulting me..or is this just out of fun...
So to remedy that..when I am called a 'gringa'..I say ' I'm sorry..my name is not gringa..it is Karen..pleased to meet you.'...

te gato


----------



## cuchuflete

Moral of the story...If someone calls me gringa, I shall waste no time in informing them that my name is Karen.  IF, however, they should call me gringo, I'll assess the intent based on the location, nationality of the speaker, their tone of voice, other context, and whether or not they are armed.  Should things appear positive, I'll reply courteously.

If I feel the word was used in an insulting manner, I'll try to engage the speaker in a
civil dialogue, or walk away, depending on whether or not I think he or she is likely to kick the daylights out of me.

Common sense is wonderful.  It will leave me no time to feel offended.

ciao,
Cuchu


----------



## Bambino

ceirun said:
			
		

> Oops, sorry.
> I'm actually hoping to visit America (the continent(s)) next year, and the truth is that I'm already quite looking forward to being called a gringo, for the first time.
> Hasta luego.


 
I'm with you ceirun, although I think Jingo or even Ringo have nice rings to them as well.


----------



## te gato

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Moral of the story...If someone calls me gringa, I shall waste no time in informing them that my name is Karen. IF, however, they should call me gringo, I'll assess the intent based on the location, nationality of the speaker, their tone of voice, other context, and whether or not they are armed. Should things appear positive, I'll reply courteously.
> 
> If I feel the word was used in an insulting manner, I'll try to engage the speaker in a
> civil dialogue, or walk away, depending on whether or not I think he or she is likely to kick the daylights out of me.
> 
> Common sense is wonderful. It will leave me no time to feel offended.
> 
> ciao,
> Cuchu


Hey Cuchu;
KIA

If when they are calling me 'gringa'..ahumm..for the ones that can see...and 'gringo'..for the ones that can not....
You forgot one other thing..how drunk they are..if plenty..I offer them another drink..and slip out the back door...
If just a little drunk..I offer them two drinks.. and slip out the back door.. 

te gato


----------



## jmx

I have a particular loathing for this word 'gringo', so I'll explain this :

As Absurdo and Weird have already said, the word 'gringo' is not used in Spain, with any meaning. Anyway, we do know the word, because it was often used in american westerns (western movies), at least in the spanish translations. That was the way mexican characters called the american characters.

Some time ago, I saw Whit Stillman's film "Barcelona". In this otherwise excellent movie, american characters once and again assumed that they were called 'gringos' by people in Barcelona (where I happen to live). And then I read here that Cristobal, an american living in Madrid, says he has been called 'gringo' too. What's the explanation for this contradiction ? I mean, spaniards not using the word, and even so americans hearing the word in Spain.

My guess is that any american that steps on spanish (or latin-american) ground says to locals something like "Hey, I'm a nice person, you can call me gringo if you want". And people call them 'gringo' just to please them. So, if this was true, americans themselves would be promoting the use of the word. I don't think it is so far-fetched a theory.

The reason for my loathing for the word is that it conveys a feeling of americans-think-Spain-is-a-province-of-Mexico, a very widespread cliché here.


----------



## Outsider

jmartins said:
			
		

> I have a particular loathing for this word 'gringo', so I'll explain this :
> 
> As Absurdo and Weird have already said, the word 'gringo' is not used in Spain, with any meaning. Anyway, we do know the word, because it was often used in american westerns (western movies), at least in the spanish translations.


If Spaniards know the word, then how can you be so sure that some of them don't use it occasionally?


----------



## jmx

Outsider said:
			
		

> If Spaniards know the word, then how can you be so sure that some of them don't use it occasionally?


Because I have never heard it out of the mouth of a spaniard. You may be thinking of people who mimic whatever they hear on TV, movies, etc., but remember that in these films, the word was used by people who weren't the main characters, but rather marginal people, and therefore it's difficult for me to imagine anyone imitating them.


----------



## duder

I personally prefer not to be called a gringo because to me it can evoke (though not always) a certain stereotype of a turista with a heavy "gringo" accent, bad grammar, etc. that I feel can be unfair to those of us who aren't like that. I feel like beneath the term there is a subtle connotation that doesn't exist, for example, in the term latino/a that we use here in the US. 

Having said that, I don't think that I am offended by it, but I do see why some people might be.

As far as the chino/china term to refer to asian people - I met a Japanese girl while in Bolivia who told people that if they wanted to call her "chinita", then she would call them "peruanos"   .


----------



## Outsider

What's the Spanish word for "Peruvian"?


----------



## cristóbal

Outsider said:
			
		

> What's the Spanish word for "Peruvian"?



Peruano...  why do you ask?


----------



## Outsider

Sorry. It was a misunderstanding. Thanks for replying.


----------



## Rasa

En España la palabra gringo no se utiliza mucho, pero su significado es "mexicano", es decir, una persona de Méjico. Y que yo sepa no se utiliza despectivamente.En el pueblo en el que vivo hay un pub que se llama gringo.


----------



## Artrella

A quiénes se les dice "gringos" en Argentina...

_Paisanos de ojos celestes y piel como la nieve 
Polacos, ucranianos y alemanes, *los gringos * de Liebig y Apóstoles_

(Provincia de Misiones, al noreste de Argentina)


----------



## supercrom

duder said:
			
		

> As far as the chino/china term to refer to asian people - I met a Japanese girl while in Bolivia who told people that if they wanted to call her "chinita", then she would call them "peruanos"  .


 
*¿?*​ 
You're right when you say we usually call foreigners or people (descendants) who come from Asian countries are often called "chinos", especially from Japan, Korea and, of course, China because they have almond-shaped eyes... but "peruano", is that insulting for you?

*CROM*


----------



## Outsider

I didn't get it at first, either: she was talking to people from Bolivia.


----------



## duder

Outsider said:
			
		

> I didn't get it at first, either: she was talking to people from Bolivia.



Yes, that was the point...she was from Japan but they were calling her (essentially) Chinese, so she threatened to call them Peruvian despite the fact that they were Bolivian.

This was not to say that "peruano" was supposed to be an insult at all, just a way to get people to see things from her perspective.


----------



## supercrom

duder said:
			
		

> Yes, that was the point...she was from Japan but they were calling her (essentially) Chinese, so she threatened to call them Peruvian despite the fact that they were Bolivian.
> 
> This was not to say that "peruano" was supposed to be an insult at all, just a way to get people to see things from her perspective.


 OK
I get the idea... I know what you meant now, thanks a lot for enlightening us.

And now, let's go back to the GRINGO issue...

Actually, *Gringo* is not an insult, it's just a way we South Americans call people from North America (USA and Canada) and Europe because they usually look quite different or speak a different language.

*CROM*


----------



## J_CR

Al menos en Costa Rica "gringo" se usa exclusivamente para
referirse a los estadounidenses. A veces sucede que un
turista que no lo es pero encaja en el estereotipo de los 
estadounidenses: altos, rubios y de ojos azules y si no se
conoce la lengua que habla ni su verdadera nacionalidad, 
podria ser llamado "gringo" pero seria una equivocacion. En
otras palabras si uno sabe que es un ingles o aleman aunque
cumple con el estereotipo no lo llamaria "gringo". Y a la
inversa, si una persona que no cumple el estereotipo pero que
se sepa es estadounidense es llamado gringo ya sea de origen
oriental o africano o de donde sea incluso hispano.


----------



## swingbolder

When I visited Ecuador I was called "la gringa negra." I'm black American.

I personally didn't like being called a "gringa." Whenever I heard it, it seemed to me that the term was usually being used in a stereotypical way, as a way of "other-izing" people. But perhaps that is just my own baggage.


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

I'm amazed (actually, enchanted) by the continual resurrection of threads on this forum - this seems to be the 3rd resurrection of this particular one.

Anyway, since it's been revived, I'll throw in my 2 cents' worth about the origin of the term "gringo".  It's probably no more or less accurate than any others posted here.

There's a song called "Green Grow the Rushes, Oh" which apparently was much sung by the American troops in the 1800's.

"I'll sing you one, oh!
Green grow the rushes, oh!
What is your one, oh?
One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so.

I'll sing you two, oh!
Green grow the rushes, oh!
What is your two, oh?.........."

It goes all the way up to twelve, and just like the 12 Days of Christmas, you have to sing all the verses in descending order with each new number.

The Mexicans were so overdosed on the song that the troops became "green-grows" and then "gringos".  

Last year some people on this thread seemed to take offense at not being called by their nationality.  I'd like to point out that in the more isolated areas of Latin America, including where I lived in Bolivia and Mexico, many people had never seen a world map.  Many had never been even as far as the nearest city.  In their world, there was their village, their department, and their country.  Even in urban areas, there are still many people with little or no formal education living in the villas miserias.  Beyond their borders are neighbouring countries and then Gringolandia, a vast world with such cities as Estados Unidos, Canada, Inglaterra, etc.   

From this perspective, the use of the generic "gringo" makes much more sense.  I decided long ago that I was splitting hairs by insisting on using my nationality, because to my audience it was as ridiculous as an American insisting that he wasn't an American, he was a New Yorker.

signed,
a resident of Gringolandia


----------



## perrodelmal

Rasa said:
			
		

> En España la palabra gringo no se utiliza mucho, pero *su significado es "mexicano", es decir, una persona de Méjico.* Y que yo sepa no se utiliza despectivamente.En el pueblo en el que vivo hay un pub que se llama gringo.


¿En serio? Nunca había escuchado algo parecido, ¿en otras partes de España sucede lo mismo?


----------



## Dr. Quizá

perrodelmal said:
			
		

> ¿En serio? Nunca había escuchado algo parecido, ¿en otras partes de España sucede lo mismo?



I've never heard that before  

We don't use "gringo" in Spain. I guess most of people understand it as "from the US" in mexican slang, though. We have an european equivalent: "guiri".


----------



## Papalote

Hola,

Well, here goes my 2 cents.

Having studied anthropology in an American university in Mexico, you can imagine that the origins of gringo were discussed many times. The problem arises when we look for only one solution. In this case there are at least two reasons for gringo being applied, in Mexico, in a disparaging way to USA citizens.

It seems, and I say it seems because I have forgotten the source for this definition, that gringo is a term brought by the Spaniards, into Mexico, meaning foreigner. I would not be surprised if it is the _guiri _mentioned in other posts, which started being mispronounced until it became gringo, but that´s my theory, so please, don´t quote me .

The second reason is, as Chaska mentioned, the song with the words _green grows the grass_. In this case, it seems that the song was sung by American soldiers during their invasion of Mexico in the 19th century. The similarity of sounds, green grows-gringos, made it very easy to adapt a term meaning _foreigner_ to an invading enemy. Thus, the pejorative connotation given to an otherwise general term. Needless to say, before the American invasion, the term _gringo_ was applied to all foreigners.

Just one more comment. Regarding Chaska´s comment on remote countryside inhabitants. When I was doing my field work in remote areas of Mexico, from the Yucatan peninsula to the States of Hidalgo and Michoacan, the term gringo was applied to all of us students who looked like gringos (tall, blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned,) spoke like gringos (English) and dressed like gringos (jeans, sandals and Mexican guayaberas or, if a woman, Mexican blouses). If they heard you speak another language besides English, we were automatically asked where we came from, and I never heard the term gringo applied to them. My own belief is that, because the projects we worked on were done under the auspices of the universidad americana, we were all tagged as gringos, the tendency of human beings to put all similar things under the same lable, perhaps? and I never heard of pejorative inflexion when they called us, ¨oye, gringuita (more often than not, oye güerita), ven aqui un momentito.´ In my experience, once both groups got to know each other, all politically-based biases were totally forgotten and we were liked or disliked because of our own personalities and individual behaviour. 

Hope this helps, thanks for letting me ramble on and on... 

Papalote


----------



## gorbatzjov

Papalote said:
			
		

> Hola,
> 
> Well, here goes my 2 cents.
> 
> Having studied anthropology in an American university in Mexico, you can imagine that the origins of gringo were discussed many times. The problem arises when we look for only one solution. In this case there are at least two reasons for gringo being applied, in Mexico, in a disparaging way to USA citizens.
> 
> It seems, and I say it seems because I have forgotten the source for this definition, that gringo is a term brought by the Spaniards, into Mexico, meaning foreigner. I would not be surprised if it is the _guiri _mentioned in other posts, which started being mispronounced until it became gringo, but that´s my theory, so please, don´t quote me .
> 
> The second reason is, as Chaska mentioned, the song with the words _green grows the grass_. In this case, it seems that the song was sung by American soldiers during their invasion of Mexico in the 19th century. The similarity of sounds, green grows-gringos, made it very easy to adapt a term meaning _foreigner_ to an invading enemy. Thus, the pejorative connotation given to an otherwise general term. Needless to say, before the American invasion, the term _gringo_ was applied to all foreigners.
> 
> Just one more comment. Regarding Chaska´s comment on remote countryside inhabitants. When I was doing my field work in remote areas of Mexico, from the Yucatan peninsula to the States of Hidalgo and Michoacan, the term gringo was applied to all of us students who looked like gringos (tall, blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned,) spoke like gringos (English) and dressed like gringos (jeans, sandals and Mexican guayaberas or, if a woman, Mexican blouses). If they heard you speak another language besides English, we were automatically asked where we came from, and I never heard the term gringo applied to them. My own belief is that, because the projects we worked on were done under the auspices of the universidad americana, we were all tagged as gringos, the tendency of human beings to put all similar things under the same lable, perhaps? and I never heard of pejorative inflexion when they called us, ¨oye, gringuita (more often than not, oye güerita), ven aqui un momentito.´ In my experience, once both groups got to know each other, all politically-based biases were totally forgotten and we were liked or disliked because of our own personalities and individual behaviour.
> 
> Hope this helps, thanks for letting me ramble on and on...
> 
> Papalote



Doesn't "gringo" simply come from the phrase "green go". American soldiers during the US-Mexican war had green uniforms so the Mexicans yelled at them: green go (away). At least that's what my Mexican hostfamily told me...


----------



## Outsider

No, that's just folk etymology. See the link in this post.


----------



## Mirtha Robledo

Gringo en Perú se usa para señalar a una persona extranjera de piel clara.


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## Daniel el Travieso

Why do LatinAmerican people call Americans as "Gringoes". What's the origin of this word? Does anybody know why? Please, tell me.


----------



## 50something

Daniel, dale una lectura al siguiente vínculo, te va a gustar.

http://etimologias.dechile.net/?gringo


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## Tadeo

Originally or grammatically it comes from the word _griego(greek)_; wich people in Europe(Mostly in old Spain) used to desing foreign people.

 But there are some funny histories of why mexicans calll americans Gringos:

1. During the battle of El Álamo between Mexican and American troops, the US troops were wearing green uniforms, so mexicans used to yell at them saying:
Green Go Away!!!( pronounced Grin-Go). So the word remained like that and they began to call americans Gringos.

2. During the same war there was an american batallion named the Green Batallion, so their commanding officer used to order them to fight by saying:
Green go!!! (grin-go)

These are just common stories from mexican folklore, I think they're are interesting and there might be many more. But the word has a grammatical root.


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## pejeman

Daniel el Travieso said:


> Why do LatinAmerican people call Americans as "Gringoes". What's the origin of this word? Does anybody know why? Please, tell me.


 
It seems that during one of the many invasions of Mexico by the USA, the so called "Punitive Expedition" that the US launched against Pancho Villa, in 1917, after he raided the town of Columbus, Nuevo México, the US troops used to sing a song with "Green goes..." or something like that: or due to the colour of their uniforms, the people in Chihuahua shouted them "Greens go home" From there, gringo was easily coined.

By the way, Pershing who led the invasion, would never catch Villa, and had to leave for Europe, when the USA entered WWI. ¡Qué viva Pancho Villa!

Saludos


----------



## elprincipeoigres

Daniel el Travieso said:


> Why do LatinAmerican people call Americans as "Gringoes". What's the origin of this word? Does anybody know why? Please, tell me.


 
Te lo contesto en español, dos posibles origenes.
1) Mexico, un escuadron de tropas norteamericanas iban hacia el norte de mexico, vestidos de verde, el lider del batallon los llamaba Green Goes, por lo cual los mexicanos entendieron, gringo.

2) Argentina, cuando los ingleses intentaron ocupar argentina, estos vieron que una tropa irlandesa se acercaba al puerto de Buenos Aires, tambien ellos pronunciaban las palabras green goes, de ahi el famoso dicho.

Si alguien lo puede corroborar, agradecidos ambos!


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## Tadeo

Actually Francisco "Pancho" Villa, a hero of the Mexican Revolution War used this word to refer to americans with anger but at same time making fun of them because they couldn't arrest him.

During the Mexican Revolution, The US Army soldiers chasing Villa wore green uniforms; so Villa's soldiers called them Gringos too.

Personally I think this word is a little despective don't you think???


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## Tadeo

That is a good story too Pejeman, I think that the song that American soldiers used to sing was "Green Grow the Lilacs"


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## Tadeo

My opinion: the term_ Gringo_ was used like that since the American Invasion in 1836 but Pancho Villa's soldiers made it common.


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## Reina140

Personally I think this word is a little despective don't you think???

I find it very offensive and I don't appreciate being called Gringo by ANYONE especially because it actually means "foreign" and I get very offended when someone calls me FOREIGN in my homeland.


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## pejeman

Tadeo said:


> That is a good story too Pejeman, I think that the song that American soldiers used to sing was "Green Grow the Lilacs"


 
Si, esa debe de ser la canción.

Saludos


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## 50something

In Bolivia we call "gringos" the people that look ethnically different from the "average" bolivian, particularly born on the andes region or descendants, regardless where they live. To us a gringo can be mainly tall, blonde, light eyes visiting Bolivia.

I don't think it can be despective over here. I heard "sudaca" could be despective in Spain, but whenever I am approach as such, personally I don't feel insulted at all, so I wonder, am I translating "sudaca" wrongly?


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## Mirlo

I think we have this discussion before, first of all a lot of people do not know the history and they just used the term "gringo" in an inocent way.
Second, like I said before I'm from Panama but everyone in my town assumes I'm Mexican just for "the looks" so is an inocent mistake. Using nicknames is a commun practice in "Latinamerica". In my country we have the "Canal"  and sometimes we refer to the people from the US as gringos, 
not as an insult but as a "nickname"
Hope this help some people understand.
Thank you!


----------



## Reina140

Classifying a race with a specific "nickname" is almost like racism . . . Considered very politically incorrect in the US . . . .  nickname or no nickname, imagine I move to mexico and call all the mexicans foreigners . . . but with a "nickname"   . . . I think they would be offended, I've never heard the word in person used innocently . . . it's always been in a racist manner.


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## Mauritius

Yeah, I can understand you, Reina140, and I know it's despective, but it shouldn't prevent us from discussing its etymology. (You know, talking about language is not the same as using it.)
Anyway, I also had a friend in Spain from Puerto Rico to whom I said this word quite innocently and he responded "Hey, me estás ofendiendo!" - Then I realised its despective sense. But he also understood that I had no bad intentions.
OK, so much about personal experiences - this is about etymology, after all.


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## Mirlo

All I was trying to explain without succes is that "A lot of us don't think the word "gringo" means foreign at all".
and with all respect then educated about pollitically correct your own to not to be calling "beaners" to the respecful Mexicans in this country.


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## andym

Point well made pejeman.

Reina - why is 'Gringo' any more disrespectful than say 'Yankee'?


----------



## Hiro Sasaki

He encontrado en un diario en el Peru.

(" Una gringa " ha llegado a nuestro pueblo. ) No vi nada insultante 
en esa palabra "gringa".  En la novela de " El Mundo es ajeno y ancho" por
Alegria Ciro, un frances se llama "gringo" por los indigenas. 

Hiro Sasaki


----------



## Reina140

andym said:


> Point well made pejeman.
> 
> Reina - why is 'Gringo' any more disrespectful than say 'Yankee'?


 
First of all, yankee doesn't have to do with race and it's not another race of people classifying us with a name that they can say to offend us while pretending that it's just a "nickname"





Hiro Sasaki said:


> He encontrado en un diario en el Peru.
> 
> (" Una gringa " ha llegado a nuestro pueblo. ) No vi nada insultante
> en esa palabra "gringa". En la novela de " El Mundo es ajeno y ancho" por
> Alegria Ciro, un frances se llama "gringo" por los indigenas.
> 
> Hiro Sasaki


Of course you don't find it offensive, no one calls you that.





Outsider said:


> There was another thread in the forum about this much misunderstood word: Gringo.


Misunderstood is one thing . . . but in the end what counts is how the word is used.


----------



## pejeman

Hiro Sasaki said:


> He encontrado en un diario en el Peru.
> 
> (" Una gringa " ha llegado a nuestro pueblo. ) No vi nada insultante
> en esa palabra "gringa". En la novela de " El Mundo es ajeno y ancho" por
> Alegria Ciro, un frances se llama "gringo" por los indigenas.
> 
> Hiro Sasaki


 
En México, a los gringos también les decimos gabachos, pero esto parece ser que primero se aplicó a los franceses, que también nos invadieron. En todo caso, ambos eran principalmente caraspálidas.

Saludos


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## Outsider

Reina140 said:


> Misunderstood is one thing . . . but in the end what counts is how the word is used.


When you go to a foreign country where everyone speaks a different language, it's easy to misinterpret intent, as well as meaning.


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## Reina140

Outsider said:


> When you go to a foreign country where everyone speaks a different language, it's easy to misinterpret intent, as well as meaning.


 
Yes but I'm speaking about what I am called in my OWN country and I don't have blond hair or blue eyes, I'm very short with dark curly hair and dark eyes with olive skin . . . so that doesn't apply here.


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## transparente

I am a "gringa" when I travel in my own country! A foreigner, someone from another place. Nothing wrong with that.


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## Outsider

Reina140 said:


> Yes but I'm speaking about what I am called in my OWN country and I don't have blond hair or blue eyes, I'm very short with dark curly hair and dark eyes with olive skin . . . so that doesn't apply here.


You mean you've been called gringa in the US? By English speakers?


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## Reina140

Outsider said:


> You mean you've been called gringa in the US?


 

YES . . . By mexicans and mostly puerto ricans that live here . . .  it's used as a racist word . . . like the N word for white people (used in that sense) . . .  HENCE WHY I GET SO OFFENDED BY IT!!!!


----------



## Outsider

I've added another question to my previous post. Could you answer it, please?


----------



## Lagartija

As for Gringo, I don't necessarily find it offensive.  In fact, I often joke when offered something really picante: No, Gracias....soy una gringa! 
But when one of the administrators of our Méxican partner institution said something to the effect of: "We don't need the gringos....we can do this ourselves" I did find it very offensive.  Because it certainly sounded very disrespectful to me and the spirit of our partnership. 
Whether Gringo is disrespectful depends upon the manner in which it is used.  My good friend calls his daughter "our little gringa" because she was born in the US and not in México while he was on assignment there.
I recognize that people in México use nicknames that we would NEVER dream of using....  Gordito comes to mind as one example.  So for me, it depends on who is using it and how they mean it.


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## Moritzchen

En este foro: http://www.network54.com/Forum/1098...Con+respecto+al+origen+de+al+palabra+'gringo'
explican que la palabra ya existía en el siglo XVIII. Y Reina, no es un término ofensivo ni despectivo, pero allá tú.


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## Jayani Isha

I wonder why you fight so much about the word gringo ...... In Chile we use it to call to "any" foreigner, white skinned, even we call gringo chileans that are fair.

Thouhg I understand you Reina, if you want to feel offended, you will feel offended even if people calls you "Reina".  It's nothing to do with the term, it has to do with the "sense".  Therefore, "gringo" is not the problem in you discussion, is just the sense.

Cheers


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

Moderator Note:

I have merged this thread with the older thread on the same topic.

Please stick to the topic on hand, being the origin of the term and whether or not it is considered disparaging, and refrain from further personal attacks.


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## Gato_Gordo

> You may not think it's offensive, but it is used to offend WHITE PEOPLE at least in the US it is.
> 
> So if it means blond and white . . . then why call all of the US blond and white? And if there are mexicans with white skin and blond hair . . . why are they not called Gringo?


Hi Reina, I'm sorry to hear that you stll feel offended, but please let me clarify some things:

Condoleeza Rice is not blond or white and she is still a gringa because she is from USA, in Mexico we call blonde/white people *Güeros*, no matter whether they are mexican, french or russian.

Some blond mexican people gets to be called gringos because they are thought to be from USA, not because they are blonds.

The word Gringo comes frrom the necessity to give a name to the people from USA (we can't call them americans) the official word is Estadounidense, but, as you see, is cumbersome to say the least.

Gringo is a legitime word that *sometimes* is used in a derogatory way, but is very different to a word like greaser, wetback or beaner, which is derogatory from the conception.

^_^


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## Moritzchen

Dear Chasca, you deleted one of my posts because you considered it was "chat", the next one I tried to post never made it to the thread after you merged the old one with the new one. I wonder why. So once again I would like to state the term "gringo" is not offensive, it is used to indicate foreigners, and that includes the African-American soldiers also called "gringos" during the Mexican-American war. And in response to Reina´s statement:
_You may not think it's offensive, but it is used to offend WHITE PEOPLE at least in the US it is._ I am a white American living in the US who understands the meaning of the word.


----------



## cuchuflete

Those who read the earlier posts in this thread will find still more confirmation that the word gringo has a variety of meanings, depending on the place where it is used, the context, and the intention of the speaker or writer.  It *may* be offensive or inoffensive.  Any person who attempts to declare it to be absolutely one or the other is trying to push an agenda that goes well beyond language.

Please do not repeat the same things over and over again.  It really doesn't make the arguments any more persuasive.


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## ireney

I officially declare that as a Greek and since "gringo" seems to come from "Greek" ("griego") I,
a) find it offensive to be used for Americans p#1)
b) find it offensive to be used offensively for anyone under any circumstances even if not consistently p#2)
c) find it offensive to be used for anyone who is a blond-white person as they are too light-skinned compared to the average Greek p # 3 ) 

I can find other reasons to be offended too! 
i.e. I find it offensive that any kind of bickering can be called cultural discussion p#4)


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## Tsoman

I like the word Gringo, as long as it is said in a friendly context (besides, the context is all that matters)


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## heidita

Reina140 said:


> Classifying a race with a specific "nickname" is almost like racism . .


 
That's really a lot to say. Here in Spain I can think of a handful of names for myself: guiri, chan. Germans are called : square-heads, Americans :yankies.



> I've never heard the word in person used innocently . . .


Words are* always* innocent, it is all  in the "ear" of the beholder.

I never get offended when I am called friendly or not, a square-head. I  might answer back, depending of the tone, but offended? Why should I ? 

There is a very intelligent saying here: 

_No ofende quien quiere sino quien puede._

The offender is not the one who _wants_ to offend but who _can_ offend. And you only _can_ offend somebody if this person takes words as an offence..


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## Layzie

When I visited my parents' country, and to immigrants from over there, I am called/considered a gringo, simply because I was born in the USA.


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## Achira

I think "gringo" has lost its original meaning.  For us "gringo" doesn´t have any negative connotation, it´s simply a shorter word for North American (and sometimes for a blond European ;-)  According to the Real Academia Española "gringo" means: “Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española; persona rubia y de tez blanca”.


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## Mirlo

I agree, like I say before it's like a really innocent "nickname", but in my country or when I had used it we don't mean anything offensive by it.
In Panamá we use the same word that "weird" use if it's meant with a mean connotation, (wich it's not right) but anyways, I hope you know It's not a mean word for us.


----------



## caravaggio

Que extraño, en Perú "gringo" es tan usado  nunca pense que alguien pudiera sentirse ofendido por eso....pero supongo que es de acuerdo a la entonación...


----------



## Elibennet

Tormenta said:


> Yes, of course you are a " tana"  , but from Italiana , it has nothing to do with the ending of the other word, the one which starts with a " p"
> 
> Italiana= Tana
> Italiano=Tano
> 
> 
> Tormenta



As far as I know, TANO/A comes from NAPOLITANO/A.
Also, here in Argentina all Spaniards are informally called _gallego_s and jews are _rusos_


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## Mirtha Robledo

Achira said:


> I think "gringo" has lost its original meaning.  For us "gringo" doesn´t have any negative connotation, it´s simply a shorter word for North American (and sometimes for a blond European ;-)  According to the Real Academia Española "gringo" means: “Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española; persona rubia y de tez blanca”.



En Perú tiene el mismo significado y no es ofensivo.  Solamente es una forma de identificar a las personas con las características mencionadas.


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## Bonjules

The origin of the word Gringo was in 1836 when the troops of the US started to invade Mexico in the north and people tells that an emissary was sent from Arizona to Chihuahua in a message to a general "Green goes to Chihuahua", that a commander Green (last name) was going to attack Chihuahua, when the troops saw that they approached said "ahi vienen los Gringos (Green goes)" (here comes the Gringos) because the troops thought that Gringos was the name of the nationality of the people that came from the north.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Juan Manuel
[/quote]
No, no, supposedly the troops had a favorite song the always sang:
'Green grows the clover'
People remembered the first part.


----------



## Darío Anselmo

I can't believe it.  Again that statement? Until when are people going to remain to repeat over and over that old tale of the song "Green goes..."? For the 1000th time in this thread, IT'S NOTHING BUT A FOLK TALE with no solid bases.
-The American soldiers' uniform was not even green at that time;
- The word is vastly used, beyond Mexico.
So, the often preferred explanation of the invasion war and so forth is just worthless, of no use at all.


----------



## Chipolata

Hoping I'm not repeating, nor offending, nor off the topic...

As a blond French-Canadien living in Mexico, I get a little upset when someone calls me "gringa" AND talk to me in English. Not because of the word: I use it myself when I want to talk about the people living in the Non-Mexican-United-States-of-North-American (!). I get upset because just because I'm blond, people think I'm from "Gringolandia" and I can't speak Spanish. After 4 years living in Mexico, people still remind me almost everyday that I'm a foreigner. 
The way I see it, maybe it was an offending word when people started to use it but it's not anymore. It's just a specific nationality (in Mexico City)!!!


----------



## Mirlo

Chipolata said:


> Hoping I'm not repeating, nor offending, nor off the topic...
> 
> As a blond French-Canadien living in Mexico, I get a little upset when someone calls me "gringa" AND talk to me in English. Not because of the word: I use it myself when I want to talk about the people living in the Non-Mexican-United-States-of-North-American (!). I get upset because just because I'm blond, people think I'm from "Gringolandia" and I can't speak Spanish. After 4 years living in Mexico, people still remind me almost everyday that I'm a foreigner.
> The way I see it, maybe it was an offending word when people started to use it but it's not anymore. It's just a specific nationality (in Mexico City)!!!


I'm sorry but, I don't think they mean it that way, They are just saying "Hi, blonde girl" you can even be a "blonde Mexican" an that's what they are going to say, people have been writting about this forever in this forum.
saludos,


----------



## Chipolata

Mirlo said:


> I'm sorry but, I don't think they mean it that way, They are just saying "Hi, blonde girl" you can even be a "blonde Mexican" an that's what they are going to say, people have been writting about this forever in this forum.
> saludos,


 
A veces también me llaman "Güerita", que es otra cosa. La gente en la calle puede ser tan molesta a veces!


----------



## serg79_

Mirlo said:


> I'm sorry but, I don't think they mean it that way, They are just saying "Hi, blonde girl" you can even be a "blonde Mexican" an that's what they are going to say, people have been writting about this forever in this forum.
> saludos,


So blonde Mexican girls get called "gringa", too? (even if they knew she was Mexican?)


----------



## Chipolata

serg79_ said:


> So blonde Mexican girls get called "gringa", too? (even if they knew she was Mexican?)


 
If she's seen on the street, before she begins to talk, yes, they'll call her "gringa". If she's known as a blond mexican girl, she'll be called "güera", which means "blond girl".


----------



## serg79_

Chipolata said:


> If she's seen on the street, before she begins to talk, yes, they'll call her "gringa". If she's known as a blond mexican girl, she'll be called "güera", which means "blond girl".


So if you're blond it's automatically assumed that you are from the United States? Interesting.
What if you are Canadian or Northern European (and blonde), would you also get called "gringo/a" if they knew where you were from?
Also, I wonder if non-white United Statesians get called "gringo/as" in Mexico?


----------



## Chipolata

serg79_ said:


> What if you are Canadian or Northern European (and blonde), would you also get called "gringo/a" if they knew where you were from?
> Also, I wonder if non-white United Statesians get called "gringo/as" in Mexico?


 
Knowing I'm Canadian, nobody calls me "gringa", because in Mexico it would be wrong. 
If you're from United States you'll be called "gringo", whatever your "color" is.


----------



## serg79_

Okay, thanks. So I guess that people get called "gringo/as" on the street if they are blond because most blond, foreign-looking people in Mexico are usually from the United States.


----------



## Chipolata

That's correct.


----------



## djchak

Gringo/Gringa is usually considered a mild insult with negative connotations....unless it's being done in a fun/joking way.

Or a self mocking way, as in "I'm the only gringo at the party".

Outside of the US though, it's fair game, as the context has changed and saying that you are a foreigner/not native is factual, not an insult per se.


----------



## Mirlo

djchak said:


> Gringo/Gringa is usually considered a mild insult with negative connotations....unless it's being done in a fun/joking way.
> 
> Or a self mocking way, as in "I'm the only gringo at the party".
> 
> Outside of the US though, it's fair game, as the context has changed and saying that you are a foreigner/not native is factual, not an insult per se.


 

No, that's what we are trying to clarify as you read the whole thing It doesn't have to do at all with insulting someone not even in a mild way.
for most of the "latinamerican" community. In my country we have another word if we want to mean it with a negative connotation which I'm not even going to say. Maybe if a person has been in a negative situation and the word had been used, of course it can be taken that way, but I assure you for most of us is just a simple "nickname".


----------



## Tochi

In Costa Rica gringo is not a disparaging term and it's used to refer exclusively to US people. Gringos must not feel offended by it no matter the way that somebody could use the term. Many countries has a nickname to call its citizens, canucks, charruas, ticos, aussies, panas, chapines, paisas, cariocas, etc. and anyway it's not a good idea to get angry by that, rather, if you want to look sympathetic introduce yourself as gringo/a.


----------



## Darío Anselmo

Hiro Sasaki said:


> Ha habido 156 posteos.
> 
> Alguien se refiri_ó_ a la palabra "yanqui" ?
> 
> _En los a__ñ__os 60 y los a__ñ__os, muchos jóvenes en Hispanoam__é__rica _
> _dec__í__an “ Imperialista yanqu__í__ “. “Gringo “ es una palabra muy cultural._
> _Creo que no dec__í__an “ imperialistas gringos “. _
> 
> _Saludos _
> 
> _Hiro Sasaki _


 
¿"Gringo", Una palabra cultural? ¡Para nada!
Todo lo contrario: "yanqui" es más culta que "gringo".
La prueba de eso la aporta el mismo compañero forero. El contexto de las manifestaciones y las protestas estudiantiles tiende a adoptar un discurso más formal y cuidadoso que cuando los jóvenes están charlando casualmente entre sí. En este último caso, NADIE emplearía la palabra "yanqui", tenlo por seguro.


----------



## Alicky

Darío Anselmo said:


> ¿"Gringo", Una palabra cultural? ¡Para nada!
> Todo lo contrario: "yanqui" es más culta que "gringo".
> La prueba de eso la aporta el mismo compañero forero. El contexto de las manifestaciones y las protestas estudiantiles tiende a adoptar un discurso más formal y cuidadoso que cuando los jóvenes están charlando casualmente entre sí. En este último caso, NADIE emplearía la palabra "yanqui", tenlo por seguro.


 
Yo creo lo contrario.
Coincido con vos en que gringo no es una palabra que pertenezca a un registro culto. Pero a mi la palabra yanqui me resulta bastante informal. Es la palabra que esperaría que surja en una charla casual. Es màs, en una protesta, se tienden usar términos directos que todo el mundo entienda, términos coloquiales; y para mí, nada más coloquial que yanqui.


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## jazyk

Brazilians call any foreigner gringo, irrespective of nationality, race and language. I heard a friend of mine refer to a group of Angolans who study in his university as gringos, even though they are black and speak Portuguese.


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## BehindtheDoor

> The origin of the word Gringo was in 1836 when the troops of the US started to invade Mexico in the north and people tells that an emissary was sent from Arizona to Chihuahua in a message to a general "Green goes to Chihuahua", that a commander Green (last name) was going to attack Chihuahua, when the troops saw that they approached said "ahi vienen los Gringos (Green goes)" (here comes the Gringos) because the troops thought that Gringos was the name of the nationality of the people that came from the north.


That story is just a myth. The word "gringo" is far older in the Spanish-speaking Americas and is proved to be a deformation of "griego" (Greek), i.e., the name who received someone who talked in a ininteligible language in the 16th century. Just remember that famous "Is Greek to me" in one of Shakespeare's wrotes.

Actually, during the War of Texan Independence and the Mexican-American War the US soldiers weared blue uniforms, not green.


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## Darío Anselmo

Alicky said:


> Yo creo lo contrario.
> Coincido con vos en que gringo no es una palabra que pertenezca a un registro culto. Pero a mi la palabra yanqui me resulta bastante informal. Es la palabra que esperaría que surja en una charla casual. Es màs, en una protesta, se tienden usar términos directos que todo el mundo entienda, términos coloquiales; y para mí, nada más coloquial que yanqui.


 
Tus percepciones son correctas, Alicky. Es sólo que estamos ante una diferencia dialectal, entre tu dialecto y el mío. Pero a nuestro modo, los dos tenemos la razón.
¡Muchas gracias!


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## brittynic

When I was in Spain I was told by some Spanish friends how calling someone a gringo was a big insult, and it didn't mean that they were foreign more like they were a loser or something like that. When I said aren't I a gringo my Spanish friends were shocked saying "NO!" oh and about Mexican use of the word I think its typically used as a joke. My friends who are Mexican call their American friends gringo or güero all the time to be funny. Actually they even call one Mexican boy who is particularly pale skinned güero. From what I´ve witnessed gringo is bad in Spain funny in Mexico....natives agreement?


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## cuchuflete

Brittynic,  If you were to read the other 154 posts that came before yours, you would have answers to your questions.


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## Alicky

Darío Anselmo said:


> Tus percepciones son correctas, Alicky. Es sólo que estamos ante una diferencia dialectal, entre tu dialecto y el mío. Pero a nuestro modo, los dos tenemos la razón.
> ¡Muchas gracias!


 
En eso tenés razón. La norma en un lugar es distinta a la norma en otro. Es por eso que definir si una palabra con tanta historia detrás es verdaderamente un término despectivo o no es bastante difícil a mi entender. Para un grupo lo es, para otro no.
Saludos y gracias por tu respuesta.


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## invisibleu

brittynic said:


> When I was in Spain I was told by some Spanish friends how calling someone a gringo was a big insult, and it didn't mean that they were foreign more like they were a loser or something like that. When I said aren't I a gringo my Spanish friends were shocked saying "NO!" oh and about Mexican use of the word I think its typically used as a joke. My friends who are Mexican call their American friends gringo or güero all the time to be funny. Actually they even call one Mexican boy who is particularly pale skinned güero. From what I´ve witnessed gringo is bad in Spain funny in Mexico....natives agreement?


"Gringo" isn't really used in Spain. For foreign tourists (usually from Northern Europe and so usually _güeros_) they have another word: guiri.


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## aparejador

I think the Spaniards have been picking up on it, as of late: and I get the impression, from its usage here, that they think it is more derogatory than it really is... to which I say,
"Please, please don't call me, 'gringo!'  Whatever you do Mr. Spaniard, don't throw me in that brier patch, and call me, 'gringo.'"


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## Thomsen

If we are in the USA and I am talking to a speaker, which one of us is a gringo?


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## Lombard Beige

A propósito de “gringo” en la región rioplatense, cuando mi padre vivía en Buenos Aires, allá por los años veinte del siglo pasado, “gringo” se refería a los italianos del Norte. De hecho existe, me parece con este sentido la “pampa gringa”. A los italianos del Sur, se les llamaban “tanos” de “napoli-tanos” y a los genoveses “bachichas”. Todo esto no por cuestiones raciales, etc., sino porque hasta 1860, el estado italiano no existía, así que cada uno era identificado por su región. 


 A los españoles “de a pie” se les llamaban “gallegos” y muchos lo eran (incluso parientes de mi esposa, que es de A (La) Coruña).


 Chau a todos (que viene del véneto “sciao” (italiano “schiavo”) = “Su servidor” como el austríaco “Servus”)


 P.S. Should I provide an English translation?


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## JackieCane

brittynic said:


> When I was in Spain I was told by some Spanish friends how calling someone a gringo was a big insult, and it didn't mean that they were foreign more like they were a loser or something like that. When I said aren't I a gringo my Spanish friends were shocked saying "NO!" oh and about Mexican use of the word I think its typically used as a joke. My friends who are Mexican call their American friends gringo or güero all the time to be funny. Actually they even call one Mexican boy who is particularly pale skinned güero. From what I´ve witnessed gringo is bad in Spain funny in Mexico....natives agreement?


 
In Spain you're not "gringa" because we don't use that word. You'll be a "guiri". It has the same meaning of tourist, because normally we recive tourists from UK, Germany, Sweden... in general are blonde with very pale skin that turns red after two hours of Mediterranean sun. But we don't use it as an insult, it's just a nickname!


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## Lombard Beige

On the basis of my personal experience, as a multilingual European working with, among others, Mexicans in the US, I noticed some similarity between the Mexican use of “gringo” and the US use of “Hispanic”.


 “Gringo”, for a Mexican is above all a US person regardless of race and even language, right?


 “Hispanic” for a US person is a person of Hispanic affiliations from the American continent regardless of race and language, right?



regards


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## Alxmrphi

Hola, no hablo español muy bien:

I was wondering what "Gringo(s)" meant, Chavez always seems to call Bush and his administration "Gringo(s)" but I don't know what it means, can anyone help me?

Gracias.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Hi,

A gringo is someone who doesn't speak Spanish (generally for those who speak English), most of the times used for people from the United States.

Regards,


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## outkast

We've been here


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## todasana

Gringo is a way to call U.S. citizens. But I'm quite sure thart he wants to mean "not nice".


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## Filomeno's brother

The word 'gringo' has several meanings, which are related. But Chávez
means 'foreign' and particularly 'American' in a colloquial tone.


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## fsabroso

Hi:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=325103

Regards.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

The word gringo is not an insult nor an offense, even when sometimes it is used as one. I think that Chavez wants to make the point that the U.S. citizens are "the others", people too different from latinamericans.


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## outkast

It's been covered in previous threads. We have provided a link. Please let's put this one to sleep.
And besides Chávez called him "el presidente imperial" today.


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## Filomeno's brother

Sorry, I replace "in a pejorative tone" with "in a colloquial tone".


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## Alxmrphi

Ok thanks all, maybe my search isn't working, it didn't show when I searched for gringo, but I did try to look!

Thanks.


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## Rover-Rick

spalping said:


> I've heard that it comes from a line of a song that was popular back in the day, somthing like: "green grows the grass in ______ in the spring" Sence every anglaphone was singing it, the mexicans stated calling them "green grows" with a spanish accent. Hence gringo.
> I understand it's evolved to mean any forigner.


 
When i asked my grandfather (who was a Mexican Revolution Vet) as a kid about the origin of the word "gringo" (which i am), he told me also about the song. But it was not a song "popular" among travelling Americans (there weren't that many back then), it was a marching song that was sung by General Pershing's troops as they marched towards Mexico City back in the 1840's. The scouts that were sent out to report on their activity and advance weren't sure what to call them, and when trying to describe what they were singing, the only thing they could remember or make sense of was the "green grows" part of the refrain or chorus. Thus: Gringos!

At the time it seemed plausible to me but, although i know Mexico is rather influential in Latin America, this origin certainly could'nt account for the term being used as far away as Argentina (for Italian immigrants) in roughly the same time period. It also doesn't seem plausible that the Spaniards would have picked up from the Mexicans for referring to foreigners. So it makes much more sense to me the explanation offered in one of the postings that it derives from the word Griego in ancient times in Spain for non-Spanish speaking foreigners such as the Irish. At least this would explain why it is a common term throughout Spanish-speaking countries.

As a gringo who grew up in Mexico City though, i can attest to the accuracy of Juan Manuel's post in regard to the use of the word. It is NOT an insulting word! As Juan Manuel clearly points out, the Mexican people have an affinity for giving everyone nicknames. Especially themselves. It is almost impossible to find a Mexican who doesn't have some nickname from when they were a kid. Gringo is simply a shorthanded way of saying "American" as we in the U.S. use it. El coche gringo is an American car, la musica gringa is American music. What is offensive about that? It's simply a qualifier that it's from north of the border. That's all.

Many countries in Latin America give themselves nicknames and they are meant in an amicable, term of endearment almost. The Nicaraguans call themselves Nicas, the Puerto Ricans: Boricuas, Costa Ricans: Ticos, some other Central American country Guanacos, etc. These are not pjeroative words but simply sentimental nicknames that these people might use to refer to themselves or others, especially when one is not in one's native country. So no one need take offense by being referred to as a gringo or gringa. Of course if someone calls you a #$@*^*!! gringo, then you either did something to piss them off, or they're just an asshole! There's at least one in every town in the world!


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## Tu2Bene

I think it really depends on context.  In Mexico it usually just means someone is from the US.  Here in the US I have definitely heard it used derogatorily.  For example when a (white) person does something presumptive or rude people might say "que gringo!"  There is a lot of tension between estado unidenses and latinos here now because of the discrimination against the latinos and I think that has led to the word taking on a more negative tone. Personally, I don't like the word.


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## MarkInLA

What does the actual word mean? It sounds like 'green' and green can mean 'a novice'or new. Like :'she is green to this kind of work'. But I know this is not it. Is it therefore slang? Was Ringo a gringo when the Beatles arrived in New York ?
!Solo uno chiste.! I know I'M a gringo with Spanish.  But what is it from?


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## Filomeno's brother

Veamos qué dice la RAE al respecto...

*gringo**, ga**.

(Etim. disc.).


1. adj. coloq. Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española. U. t. c. s.

2. adj. coloq. Dicho de una lengua: extranjera. U. t. c. s. m.

3. adj. Am. Mer., Cuba, El Salv., Hond. y Nic. estadounidense. Apl. a pers., u. t. c. s.

4. adj. Ur. inglés (‖ natural de Inglaterra). U. t. c. s.

5. adj. Ur. ruso (‖ natural de Rusia). U. t. c. s.

6. m. y f. Bol., Hond., Nic. y Perú. Persona rubia y de tez blanca.

7. m. coloq. Lenguaje ininteligible.
* 
¡Saludos!


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## MarkInLA

Filomeno's Brother, traducir para mi , por favor,todos explicaciones antedicho en Ingles si tu sera,Senior..Yo saber mi puntuacion y gramatica es mui bajo en esto tiempo. Excusimente por esto ahora .. hasta la vista..muchos gracias a ustedes y a todos .Mark


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## aurilla

Aquí explica el origen, que proviene de "green grow": www.voltairenet.org/article120522.html

La letra de la canción "Green Grow the Rushes, Oh": www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/jet/lyrics/rushes.html

*Rush* (Juncus): water-side or marsh plants, generally with long round leaves.

*rush* = *juncos*: panta de la familia de las juncáceas, de tallos rectos, lisos y flexibles que se cría en parajes húmedos.


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## marién

esa palabra no es una ofensa, solo se les dice asi a los nativos (from USA of course), incluso cuando ellos sepan hablar español, eso no importa


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## aurilla

marien, la palabra "gringo" se originó como una ofensa y lo es dependiendo de quién lo diga y bajo qué circunstancias.


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## marién

gracias, respeto tu profesion  y a una persona que  hable  estando  siempre informada, sin embargo, esta palabra no se censura en ningun medio, y cualquier palabra podría ser una ofensa siempre que se busque hacerlo


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## Paraguayan

aurilla said:


> marien, la palabra "gringo" se originó como una ofensa y lo es dependiendo de quién lo diga y bajo qué circunstancias.


 
yo concuerdo con marien, por lo menos acá en Paraguay veo que tiene el mismo significado que en mexico : gringo=estadounidense...

pero no se puede generalizar.. yo creo que filomeno´s brother dió las definiciones completas...

y eso porque yo veo mucho por la tele el programa peruano "Laura en América", y ahí le dicen gringos a los mismos peruanos pero que son muy blancos, algunos tienen pecas y ojos azules inclusive...


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## Entwine

Here an explanation I found out:
While the earliest English-language usage is from the 1840s, the earliest use of _*gringo*_ in Spanish is far older than the Mexican-American War or Bolivar's 1819 liberation campaign. According to Rawson, it appears in the Diccionario Castellano in 1787. That dictionary says that it was used in Malaga to refer to anyone who spoke Spanish badly, and in Madrid in reference to the Irish. _*Gringo*_ probably comes from the Spanish _griego_, or Greek. So it is akin to the phrase _it's Greek to me_ (or in Spanish _hablar en griego_) and the *word* _barbarian_.Hay muchas leyendas que "explican" este término. 
there is also some urban legends, but they're certainly not truth.
 Que los estadounidenses cantaban una canción tradicional "Green grow the grasses, oh!" y por oír tanto las palabras "Green grow", los mexicanos les decían "gringos".
 There is another, they wore green coats  so, they referred themselves as the " green coats" and so it turned into "gringo" because it sounded like that for Mexicans. but remember they 're just jokes. the first explanation may be true.


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## aurilla

I've also heard the reference to the "green coats". The Mexicans, wanting them out, supposedly would shout out to the soldiers "green, go!", which eventually became "gringo".


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## Entwine

I forgot I've also heard what aurilla said. at least here in Chile it' s always a reference to make jokes about it.


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## LaReinita

Gringo is an offensive term to describe Americans, but more inclusive than that . . White Americans.  There are many threads regarding this subject.  All quite rude yet enlightening.  This thread may have to move to Cultural Discussions because it is quite hurtful to find out that Americans are hated everywhere, but even more so, white americans are hated most.  Anyone and everyone can respond, but I've read hundreds of responses from all over the world and this is the consensus.


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## Paraguayan

LaReinita said:


> Gringo is an offensive term to describe Americans, but more inclusive than that . . White Americans. There are many threads regarding this subject. All quite rude yet enlightening. This thread may have to move to Cultural Discussions because it is quite hurtful to find out that Americans are hated everywhere, but even more so, white americans are hated most. Anyone and everyone can respond, but I've read hundreds of responses from all over the world and this is the consensus.


 
Applying to some regions... not everywhere around Latin America... 

but maybe it may have to move to cultural discussions


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## fenixpollo

Aurilla, the myths about the green rushes and the green coats are totally false and have been discounted many times in this thread, and have been refuted most notably by the dictionary entry for "gringo" in the RAE.

Moderator note: this thread has been to Cultural Discussions and has returned, and has been merged to other threads with the exact same question.  Before asking a question in the forum please do a forum search _first_.


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## Mirlo

This are offensive terms: *nigger, spic, kike, faggot, chink, dyke* 

Que quede claro que: 

Gringo no forma parte de ellos en ninguna instancia. 
¡No se cuantas veces se tiene que repetir esto!
Como dijo 'Paraguayan' "gringo" es una palabra inofensiva en la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos.
Ahora si una persona está enojada y la usa despectivamente, eso no es culpa de nadie.


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## Harmattan

Anyway, in Spain gringo is not used. If we use it, it's usually in a pseudo Mexican-related context; that is: Because we think (right or wrong) it's usually the way Mexican people referr to the US citizens.

In Spain we use mainly "Americanos" for US people (the derogative, assertive, appreciative or whatever meaning is added by context and tone).


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## iluvmusic

When I was in Ecuador I was called a gringo all the time, but not always in a derogative way. When my friends were trying to catch my attention, they'd almost always call out, "hey gringo". It was also used very affectionately by the children.  it can also be used in a derogative fashion, walking in the streets you'd here poeple yelling "hey, look at that gringo" or "hey gringo", but its not the word gringo that makes it derogative, it's the tone of voice and how it's being used. I personally wasn't offended by it at all, and all of the Canadians in our own group referred to ourselves as gringos.


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## Mexicalense

Tormenta said:


> Gringo means "extranjero" (Foreigner ), at least in Argentina it does.
> 
> In Buenos Aires we have/had 3 million Italians (born in Italy); we used to call them " Gringos" (extranjeros).
> I would like to know what Mexicans say about this word.
> 
> Tormenta
> 
> PD. I have been called " gringa" in several Latin American countries


Here in Mexico we only call GRINGOS to people from the U.S. EXCLUSIVELY.


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## Mirlo

Mexicalense said:


> Here in Mexico we only call GRINGOS to people from the U.S. ONLY.


 
Yes, but someone from Ireland can look like an american unless they talk, don't you think?


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## Mexicalense

Mirlo said:


> Yes, but someone from Ireland can look like an american unless they talk, don't you think?


 
As well as someone from England,Scottland,Canada,South Africa,Australia,New Zealand,etc,etc,etc... as long as the locals see and hear them speaking English. They are NOT able to distinguish the difference in the accent, don't you think?? The fact is that we Mexicans only and exclusively call "Gringos" to people from the U.S.A. being white or black, Brunettes or blondes. And if the tourists coming to Mexico are from any other non English speaking european country and look just like "americans" they will be called "gringos" as well, since most of the tourists visiting Mexico are coming from the U.S.A.

I can also note that as a matter of fact what we call in Spanish "gentilicio" (name of the inhabitants of a country) for people from the U.S.A.would be incorrect,I mean they call themselves "Americans" but in fact it is a very ambiguous "gentilicio"(nationality) for them,even though the official name of the country is "United States of America" So what do we call them then? Americanos? NorteAmericanos? Estadounidenses? I think NON of them would be proper! why not? well the official name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" therefore we're also Estadounidenses,Americanos and norteamericanos. Why, you may ask? Well that's due to the fact of our country's official name. Americanos because Mexico is in the American continent and norteamericanos as well because Mexico is geographically part of north america.

So, for the previous reasons is easier to just call them "Gringos" just don't take it in the peyorative. Don't you think?


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## Mirlo

Mexicalense said:


> As well as someone from England,Scottland,Canada,South Africa,Australia,New Zealand,etc,etc,etc... as long as the locals see and hear them speaking English. They are NOT able to distinguish the difference in the accent, don't you think?? The fact is that we Mexicans only and exclusively call "Gringos" to people from the U.S.A. being white or black, Brunettes or blondes. And if the tourists coming to Mexico are from any other non English speaking european country and look just like "americans" they will be called "gringos" as well, since most of the tourists visiting Mexico are coming from the U.S.A.
> 
> I can also note that as a matter of fact what we call in Spanish "gentilicio" (name of the inhabitants of a country) for people from the U.S.A.would be incorrect,I mean they call themselves "Americans" but in fact it is a very ambiguous "gentilicio"(nationality) for them,even though the official name of the country is "United States of America" So what do we call them then? Americanos? NorteAmericanos? Estadounidenses? I think NON of them would be proper! why not? well the official name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" therefore we're also Estadounidenses,Americanos and norteamericanos. Why, you may ask? Well that's due to the fact of our country's official name. Americanos because Mexico is in the American continent and norteamericanos as well because Mexico is geographically part of north america.
> 
> So, for the previous reasons is easier to just call them "Gringos" just don't take it in the peyorative. Don't you think?


 
Yes, I understand all that. That is exactly was I was trying to say. You can not know the difference sometimes, so really the truth is that any person with blonde hair or really fair skin or if they speak with an accent gets to be call "gringo". We do it in Panama also.


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## Moritzchen

American blacks are also gringos.


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## Mexicalense

Moritzchen said:


> American blacks are also gringos.


  Naturally,of course! To differentiate we can say "un gringo negro" a black "american" (male) "una gringa negra" a black (female) "american". We don't discriminate colors.


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## Mirlo

Moritzchen said:


> American blacks are also gringos.


Yes you are right!! But I have a lot of friends that are from Jamaica and unless they talk I do not know If they are Americans or "Jamaicanos". But What I meant is that we do not only use "gringos" for people born in the USA.

Saludos,


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## Ivela

Queridos amigos:

Leer los comentarios acerca del significado de la palabra _gringo_ ha sido un completo maratón -199 al momento de yo escribir el mío y visto por más de 10,000 ocasiones (evidencia de que lo gringo siempre genera interés yganancia) 
Estoy muy de acuerdo con los que han opinado que hoy día, se utiliza para referirse a un *extranjero, especialmete de habla inglesa* y que no tiene un significado despectivo. Claro está que lo "bueno" de un calificativo dependerá mucho del tono la intención y el contexto en el que el hablante se exprese (que comenten los expertos sobre el tema).
Finalmente diré que en Venezuela también se utiliza el término _musiú_ como un equivalente a gringo para aquellos extranjeros que no son de habla inglesa.

Que pasen buen día


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## Mexicalense

Mirlo said:


> Yes you are right!! But I have a lot of friends that are from Jamaica and unless they talk I do not know If they are Americans or "Jamaicanos". But What I meant is that we do not only use "gringos" for people born in the USA.
> 
> Saludos,


   You say "WE" call....   Where are you from?  who's "We" ? let us know.


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## galiano2002

In Panama, we call "gringo" to people from USA. It's not a bad word. They are friends.


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## piraña utria

Hi:
 
I know this is an old thread, but recently in Colombia has been published an article about this topic including in its lines  a consistent theory about the origin of “gringo”, arguing this is the same way as the ancient Spaniard used to name (before 18th Century ) the foreigners who tried to speak Spanish:
 
This is a literal piece of its text:
 
“_Pues resulta que, para mayor sorpresa, la palabra gringo está registrada en el Diccionario castellano de las voces de ciencia y artes, 1786, más de medio siglo antes de que estallara la mencionada guerra_ (he’s been refering to the USA – Mexico War from 1845 until 1847). _Este diccionario dice que se llama gringo al extranjero que tiene dificultad para hablar en castellano, y explica que es una deformación de la palabra griego, en frases como “habla en griego”, que decían los latinos para referirse a quien habla enredado_” (Ávila, Fernando Gringo. En ámbito jurídico, Bogotá, Editorial Legis, No. 257, semana del 8 al 21 de septiembre de 2008).
 
Regards,


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## Ivela

piraña utria:

Thank you for that very interesting input.

Ivela


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## SepulchralMucus

Edwin said:


> In Costa Rica I was told that gringo/a is a friendly word for, well, gringos/as. The men in Costa Rica especially like gringas.
> 
> Also while there I heard a joke. (Quizás muy viejo?) The butt of the joke was an Argentinian (perhaps because the head of the school where I was from Argentina). The scene takes place in Mexico where the Argentinian becomes exasperated with his Mexican waiter because they constantly disagree on the names of things. Finally in anger el Argentino le dijo, ''?Como se llama X@*?&*% en Mexico?" El mexicano le contestó, "No nos llaman, nos mandan de Argentina. Like many jokes you can change the names of the countries without destroying the joke.


 
jaja vos crees que gringo significa algo de friendly en costa rica? quien te hizo pensar asi? en costa rica gringo significa gringo. It doesn't have any type of implication. (if there's an implication it's usually negative - viejo verdes(con plata verdad), mujeres faciles..) ademas los ticos don't especially like gringas. ellos saben que ustedes estan en costa rica por un ratito nada mas asi que quieren aprovecharse de ustedes. jaja

Gringo = norteamericanos (americans, canadians) en costa rica


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## anzisrb1986

Bueno, como muchos ya han dicho el termino gringo, en la mayor parte, no es peyorativo y solo quiere decir "extranjero", "estadounidense", o sea indica a una persona de EEUU y/o Canada. 

PERO Pero, para que los que viven en el "Mundo Hispano", en EEUU este termino "gringo" es super fuerte, negativo, racista, peyorativo, malo, etc.  Basicamente, se refiere a una persona blanca y tiene un significado BIEN RACISTA bien racista que se compara a la palabra "n*****" en ingles....pues el ingles estaodunidense.  Asi que no se debe imitirlo al estar en EEUU y si se lo dice a otro "no-hispanohablante" que se va a ofenderleMUCHISIMO muchísimo. 

Lo que hay es que "gringo", por lo menos aca en EEUU, se trata de una persona blanca y no tiene mucho que ver con el idioma, el ingles, sino que se basa en la raza.  Dado que se percibe este garabato, o sea mala palabra, "gringo" como un ataque verbal porque casi siempre se la utiliza asi en EEUU.  No obstante, se sabe que en los demas paises el uso no es asi y realmente no tiene ninguna conotacion racista; no obstante, hay que estar conosciente de las diferencias entre estos dos mundos, el "gringo" y el hispano.  

Moderator Notes:  
1.   Last paragraph was deleted in its entirety.  See reasons below.:
2.  Also:  Words marked in red lack proper ortografía.  Sometimes Moderators correct occasional errors in a post, for the benefit of other "foreros", but there is too much in this post for us to deal with.  For those reading this post, please be aware of this.
3.  Words in all caps have been re-typed, as per our WR Rules.


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## JB

As a gringo myself, I disagree with the previous post.  I have used the term for decades both in the U.S. and Mexico, towards myself and others, and the response depends much on the context, tone of voice, and with whom you are speaking.  It is, perhaps, wise to be judicious in its use, but it is by no means automatically "super fuerte", etc., as anzi... believes, at least based on my personal experience.


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## Mirlo

anzisrb1986 said:


> Bueno, como muchos ya han dicho el termino gringo, en la mayor parte, no es peyorativo y solo quiere decir "extranjero", "estadounidense", o sea indica a una persona de EEUU y/o Canada.
> 
> PERO Pero, para que los que viven en el "Mundo Hispano", en EEUU este termino "gringo" es super fuerte, negativo, racista, peyorativo, malo, etc. Basicamente, se refiere a una persona blanca y tiene un significado BIEN RACISTA bien racista que se compara a la palabra "n*****" en ingles....pues el ingles estaodunidense. Asi que no se debe imitirlo al estar en EEUU y si se lo dice a otro "no-hispanohablante" que se va a ofenderleMUCHISIMO muchísimo.
> 
> Lo que hay es que "gringo", por lo menos aca en EEUU, se trata de una persona blanca y no tiene mucho que ver con el idioma, el ingles, sino que se basa en la raza. Dado que se percibe este garabato, o sea mala palabra, "gringo" como un ataque verbal porque casi siempre se la utiliza asi en EEUU. No obstante, se sabe que en los demas paises el uso no es asi y realmente no tiene ninguna conotacion racista; no obstante, hay que estar conosciente de las diferencias entre estos dos mundos, el "gringo" y el hispano.
> 
> Moderator Notes:
> 1. Last paragraph was deleted in its entirety. See reasons below.:
> 2. Also: Words marked in red lack proper ortografía. Sometimes Moderators correct occasional errors in a post, for the benefit of other "foreros", but there is too much in this post for us to deal with. For those reading this post, please be aware of this.
> 3. Words in all caps have been re-typed, as per our WR Rules.




Siento mucho que pienses eso, dejame decirte primero que el termino gringo se empezó a usar para la mayoría de las personas en el país de origen y no solo es para personas estadounidesnses o canadienses, la persona puede ser de Africa y tener tez blanca y se le sigue llmando gringo "de cariño" no como insulto o en forma negativa, racista, peyorativa o mala. *Lo que tu piensas sería como decir que el termino "latino" es un insulto para los hispanos.* Como ya tratamos de explicar antes si te molesta lo siento pero nuestra conciencia esta limpia porque para nosotros no es un insulto (no fuímos criados para estar usando terminos de insulto tan facilmente) NO lo usaríamos si fuera un insulto en una base diaria... 
Espero que esto te ayude a comprender..
Saludos,


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## anzisrb1986

Primero te agredezco la respuesta.  Pues mira, si...ya se que el termino gringo, en los paises hispanos/latinos, por lo menos no es peyorativo ni negativo.  Solo decia que en los Estados Unidos de America ES RACISTA, PEYORATIVO, FEO, NEGATIVO, MALO, etc.  Entiendo bien la diferencia en cuanto a esta palabra en los distintos mundos.  

Tambien, solo les intentaba informar a los demas hispanohablantes que no se debe decir ni utilizar ni emitir esta palabra "gringo" si se esta en EEUU.  No lo recomiendo ni jota.  No digo que *siempre*, lleva tan mal sentido pero *pero la mayoria de veces* y donde yo vivo en Ohio y en muchos demas estados se ve la palabra mala.   Asi que les aviso que no la digan.  
Igualmente, en ciertos estados se usa la palabra con un significado racista porque en estos estados existe mucha tension racial y diariamente se pelean los "hispanos" a los "gringos" y vice versa.  Y este grave problema parece igual que la tension entre la gente blanca y la gente negra y asi.   

Pues con tal que siga viviendo en "Gringolandia" como "gringo" en un mundo en donde se basa todo en la raza y el color de piel supongo que siempre me parecera fea y mala la palabra "gringo".  Por fin, solo yo se hablar de un punto de vista "gringo" y a menos que uno se ponga en los zapatos mios y ande como "gringo" en los EEUU que nunca se podra sentir como es ser llamado "gringo."


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## Mirlo

anzisrb1986 said:


> Primero te agredezco la respuesta. Pues mira, si...ya se que el termino gringo, en los paises hispanos/latinos, por lo menos no es peyorativo ni negativo. Solo decia que en los Estados Unidos de America ES RACISTA, PEYORATIVO, FEO, NEGATIVO, MALO, etc. Entiendo bien la diferencia en cuanto a esta palabra en los distintos mundos.
> 
> Tambien, solo les intentaba informar a los demas hispanohablantes que no se debe decir ni utilizar ni emitir esta palabra "gringo" si se esta en EEUU. No lo recomiendo ni jota. No digo que *siempre*, lleva tan mal sentido pero *pero la mayoria de veces* y donde yo vivo en Ohio y en muchos demas estados se ve la palabra mala. Asi que les aviso que no la digan.
> Igualmente, en ciertos estados se usa la palabra con un significado racista porque en estos estados existe mucha tension racial y diariamente se pelean los "hispanos" a los "gringos" y vice versa. Y este grave problema parece igual que la tension entre la gente blanca y la gente negra y asi.
> 
> Pues con tal que siga viviendo en "Gringolandia" como "gringo" en un mundo en donde se basa todo en la raza y el color de piel supongo que siempre me parecera fea y mala la palabra "gringo". Por fin, solo yo se hablar de un punto de vista "gringo" y a menos que uno se ponga en los zapatos mios y ande como "gringo" en los EEUU que nunca se podra sentir como es ser llamado "gringo."


 
Bueno según lo que entiendo:
No es la palabra lo que crea la tensión o racismo _es la gente que la usa y la manera que la usan._
Tu puedes cojer cualquier palabra y por inofensiva que sea si la usas cuando estás enojado/a con alguien y dependiendo en el tono esa misma palabra inocente se puede conventir en un insulto. Siento mucho que por tus lados haya llegado a ese extremo. 
Mi consejo: No lo tomes de una manera personal. El uso nunca va a cambiar porque para la mayoría de nosotros: es inofensivo.


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## Chaska Ñawi

This is an old, old thread, which no longer falls within the parameters of this forum .... and the topic has been so thoroughly raked over and picked through that the time has come to close it anyway.

Thank you for your understanding.


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