Is 'Gringo' A Slur?

[The Straight Story]

Is 'Gringo' A Slur?

It's the g-word.

Some rank it up there with the n-word.

"Gringo."

Although employed with mirth in a recent Las Vegas Sun story about attempts to lure Hispanics to this month's Vegas Grand Prix, one reader said the word was racist and possibly warranted a lawsuit.

Hitting the in-box just as Don Imus was being shoved away from the microphone, the strong feelings made for thought.

The term, after at least two centuries of use and incarnations on many shores, seems to have become a fighting word, at least for some "white, LEGAL, American citizens," to quote another reader's e-mail.

Experts said the anger was symptomatic of a shift occurring in parts of the United States, where members of the white majority have begun to feel they may soon be a minority and therefore deserve the same consideration about bigotry afforded minorities.

The source of the problem: immigration.

http://www.kypost.com/content/middleblue1/story.aspx?content_id=4fa83efe-8ba0-41e5-83dd-015c1ab1346e

[NV Whino]

1. Doesn't bother me generally speaking.

But almost any word can be a slur. It must be considered in context.

[babylonsister]

2. Not to me. nt

[Deja Q]

3. Technically, any word that is used to describe a group of people in a derogatory manner is a slur.

I don't give a caca as to which language coined the term either.

[cherokeeprogressive]

42. BINGO.

Any word that is used to describe a group of people in a DEROGATORY manner is a SLUR

Why in the fuck do we have to debate something that should be obvious to any REASONABLE person, no matter what their affiliation might be?

[BurtWorm]

62. Hey! That rhymes!

:woohoo:

[Roon]

80. What if the group was happy?

And I said,"You are all very happy people!"

[old mark]

50. Actually, it is, but it doesn't seem to matter to

most gringos, at least not around here, but I'm in Pennsylvania.
Let me call my Tex-Mex brother in law in Galviston this afternoon and ask him.
(Shit! I hope Tex-Mex isn't a slur!)

mark

[MNBrewer]

4. isn't it like

Yanqui, or Yankee. Kinda depends on how it's said.

[JuniperLea]

5. I never thought it was...

However, I recently commented that I speak Gringo Spanish... and my Latina friend laughed and said I'd just called myself a bad word.

:shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

12. A gringo is an American, regardless of race

The term comes from the color of the uniforms of the US Army occupying Mexico city during the Mexican American war.

The residents of the city would shout to the occupying army: Green Go! Green Go!

Derogatory? Yes.

Racist? no.

[JuniperLea]

13. Well, then it's bigoted too...

Anti-American bigotry...

I never knew! haha! I never took offense either... oh well.

[Xipe Totec]

16. Yes, there's a lot of resentment in that word nt

[JuniperLea]

22. Funny thing is...

My Latina pal and I didn't know the origins... she only knew it was rather insulting.

I'm really sick of all the resentment the American government has caused... we have no room to talk about how any country treats others. Seriously. We suck, and have sucked for a long time.

I'm really sick of this feeling that I impose on myself... this feeling that I need to apologize for what was done to others, that I would have never, ever sanctioned myself.

What a twisted world. Ugh...

[Sal Minella]

25. I thought it came from the Mexican troops hearing the U.S. troops singing"Green Grow the Lilacs...."

I read that somewhere so I assumed it's true. /sarcasm

[Xipe Totec]

29. Interesting

My source is "Mexico Through the Centuries" Eight Edition, Volume 4, Chapter XX, pages 678-707; 1847, The occupation of Mexico City.

What's your source?

[Sal Minella]

81. An interview heard on Minnesota Public Radio back in the mists of time.

The book this author wrote was obviously not the book you quote from.

After reading through this thread, I realize the song he mentioned may have been "Green Grow the Rushes Oh" or "Green Grows the Laurel" but I distinctly remember it being a song that began with "Green grows....."

And it slowly, dimly occurs to me that "Green Grow the Lilacs" is from a poem by Walt Whitman commemorating Lincoln's death and is not a song at all.

Edit post Google: It's a song (1931) and a play, and I believe Whitman's poem was "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed...."

As Twain said, I have a wonderful memory, I can remember thousands of things that never happened.

[Xipe Totec]

101. Turns out we're both wrong about the origin

And I'm glad that, once again, I learned something I didn't know right here on DU.

Even if it means I had my ass handed to me in a platter...


No, the book I referenced mentions the event, but not the cause. In fact documents a dark and bloody guerrilla war by the Mexicans against the US occupation forces.

Any American soldier straying too far from base was a dead man. It reads very much like the story unfolding in Iraq right now.

What is amazing, and the Mexican historians recognize, is General Scott's response to the provocations. He never once retaliated blindly against the population as a whole, which would have been a catastrophic mistake. Very capable and intelligent general.

[cherokeeprogressive]

43. Stupid me: I thought GREEN was VERDE. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

47. Yes who would have imagined that mexicans would know a single word of English

like green :eyes:

[Art_from_Ark]

46. Actually, their uniforms were blue

http://www.hcnews.com/depot/Veteran/MexicanWarVeterans.htm

Nice try, though

[jmowreader]

57. I heard it a different way...

During the Mexican-American War, the two sides would build campfires at night. The Americans would gather and sing songs, and one of their favorites was "Green Grows the Laurel." The Mexican army thought they were singing "Green Goes the Laurel," and started calling their enemies "Green Goes." Shortened, later, to "gringos."

As long as we're talking about origins of racist slurs, how about "Gook" for "Asian"? The Korean word for foreigner is "Miguk." Which sounds like "me gook." When the American soldiers started coming ashore at Pusan during the Korean War, the locals would refer to them as miguk because the Americans were...the Americans assumed they were saying "me gook"--I'm a gook--didn't realize the AMERICANS were the miguk, and figured, "okay, if you say so..."

Back to the original question: it's racist, but not usually offensive because the targeted population doesn't see it as offensive. We really never had an all-purpose racial slur targeted against whites like we have for blacks, Hispanics or Native Americans. If you want to piss off a white guy you need to use sexually-themed obscenities.

[Xipe Totec]

100. It turns out I may be wrong about the reason,

though the place where the term became firmly associated with Americans was the Mexican-American War.

As several have pointed out, the US Army uniforms were blue not green. Therefore, the color green could not have been the source of the term.

There is an etymological analysis that traces the term back to Spain, 70 years earlier, as a corruption of the word Griego or Greek, as in "That's Greek to me".

When I say the term gringo is not racist, I mean it in the strictest possible definition of the word racist; meaning it has nothing to do with skin color, and everything to do with nationality.


It is derogatory, in my opinion but not, strictly speaking, racist because white Europeans who are not Americans are not gringos.

No, gringo is a term reserved for Mexico's closest northern neighbors, regardless of race, sex, creed, or ethnic origin.

[Spouting Horn]

58. I live in South Florida and

I have never ever heard anyone called a gringo who wasn't a white American.

"el Gringo": white American

"el Negro": Black American

[Xipe Totec]

104. I lived in Mexico and know otherwise

If you're in Florida, you know about Cuban culture.

[ieoeja]

90. Since it didn't make any sense they'd be hollering ENGLISH insults at the troops...

I decided to investigate instead of just assuming that didn't make any sense. The actual etymology of the word is an alteration of griego Greek, stranger, from Latin Graecus Greek.

So the Latin for Greek becomes synonymous for stranger but is taken by the Greeks who would not, of course, be strangers to themselves, yet somehow ends up as a Mexican slur against Americans as strangers.

I think I'll just stick to flipping people off.

[Xipe Totec]

103. 70% of communication is non-verbal

I kid, I kid.... :rofl:

[Antinius]

6. gringo is kind of like "haole"

as a former resident of Hawaii, haole can be equally as offensive as the "n" word when placed in certain contexts.

Usually, when it is preceded by a word that starts in "f" :)

[didact]

67. Mahalo!

[High Plains]

7. Claro que no, gabachos.

[Xipe Totec]

9. Gringo is not racist, gabacho is nt

[Terry in Austin]

68. Gavacho

No, vato -- es un muestra de amistad, como "homes" o "dude."

[Throd]

82. Only when preceeded by "pinche", otherwise it is neutral

[roody]

31. Creo que la palabra es gavacho.

[Vickers]

8. It doesn't bug me.

FTR, I'm a honky.

:P

[ieoeja]

91. Honky is the derogatory term used by Singapore for folks form Hong Kong.

Don't know if that is any relationship to the American "honky" or not. But just thought I'd mention it.

[Rick Myers]

10. Never bothered me, in all my travels...

[msedano]

11. not used in polite company

"gringo" has degrees of slurriness, from a mild in-group imprecation to a hateful expletive exactly equal to "nigger" or "greaser".

i was sitting with a mexican businessman one day when he took a phone call. he was begging off meeting with the caller, the press of business included he was meeting with a gringo. then he looked at my pissed off brown face and realized his faux pas of major dimensions. some of my grandparents came here after the 1910 Mexico revolution, but my parents are US born as am I.

i see simpatico anglos "admit" their gringoness when attempting to gain social reciprocity and welcome into a chicano / mexican circle. i hate this. there are a shitload of self-hating mexicans and unitedstatesians-of-mexican-descent on the minuteman anti-immigrant bandwagon. identification and identity are complicated beasts.

immigration is not a source of the problem. the problem is endemic in traditional euro-unitedstates culture. "the only good indian is a dead indian" expresses the essence of this attitude.

mvs

[TexasProgresive]

It's all in how it's spoken and how it's heard

But I'd rather be called gringo any day then Anglo. Now that's an insult to me every which way you slice it. I. AM. NOT. ENGLISH! I. AM. NOT. ANGLO(fucking)SAXON!!!!!!

[msedano]

30. anglo-sangrón, nt

[annabanana]

14. The insult is in the POWER, people. If you are in the group

generally understood to have "the power" on your side.. It doesn't really matter what someone else calls you. (You can get your Dad to FIRE his ass tomorrow, you know?)

The intensity of the insult is in the degree of powerlessness in the greater society.

The less defense you have, the more powerful the word is.

Is there anyone here who doesn't get that?

[jonnyblitz]

28. oh cool so, according to your theory , I should be able to call

heterosexuals here at DU "breeders" again without getting my posts deleted! :bounce:

[annabanana]

51. well

I probably wouldn't delete them. I'm not particularly insulted by it.. But I reserve the right to ask you what your folks did to you. . . .

[jonnyblitz]

63. lol. good response. I don't plan to use the word, btw, in spite of

your theory.

[raccoon]

55. Great post. nt

[Phillycat]

78. That's right. This is exactly why gringo, honky, and whitey generally

don't bother white people in the slightest. The groups using them against whites have no power in the equation.

[sammythecat]

84. That makes perfect sense.

I learned a valuable little lesson here. Thanks.

[Runcible Spoon]

86. thank you for "getting it"...I think I need to make a macro for threads like this!

I wish more people would take an anthropology, sociology, whatever 100 class and save us some time and effort...

[noamnety]

88. Thank you.

I am shocked at how many people haven't figured this out. It seems pretty basic to me - like how a Katrina survivor mocking Bush is not equivalent to Bush mocking a Katrina survivor.

[Liberal In Texas]

15. Just because you don't find something insulting, doesn't mean it wasn't meant as an insult.

Yes...gringo is a "slur".

[ElsewheresDaughter]

17. Si

just same as calling someone a spic, wap, or gook

[Greyskye]

18. In my experience, yes.

That said, my experience was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for two years - 1974 and '75, I believe. It might have been a year earlier. At the time I was in school, in the 7th and 8th grades, 'Gringo' was absolutely used as a slur against non-Hispanic Caucasians.

Whether that usage continued beyond school is beyond my experience.

And all of that said, I never really felt that insulted by it. I never knew if it meant anything other than "damn white person", which is what I gathered it meant in the context that I always heard it used. :) It never had the connotations to me that the 'n-word' always had.

This thread made me do a quick search for the origins of "Gringo". What I find here http://ask.yahoo.com/20000821.html is very credible to me:

"The most likely source of 'gringo' is the Spanish word 'gringo' itself, which means 'foreigner' or 'unintelligible gibberish.' The root of 'gringo,' in turn, is thought to have been 'griego,' Spanish for 'Greek,' often applied as slang to any foreigner."

As far as I'm concerned, it's no n-word.

[classof56]

26. I lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico for a couple of years in the early 1950s

where I quickly learned (transplanted Washington Stater that I was) that the correct term for those of Spanish descent was--Spanish-American. To call them "Mexicans" was a terrible insult and might bring one major grief. We (the gringos, another word I quickly leanred) were outnumbered but never actively discriminated against. I was 12-13 at the time and truly a stranger in a strange land. I learned much--including that those Spanish-American guys were very handsome! We left after a couple of years, but the one thing that stuck with me was that to call someone "Mexican" was a definite no-no. Didn't hear the terms "Hispanic" or even "Latino" till many years later, but I recall that while we lived there, we were known as "Gringos" and never considered it any kind of demeaning designation.

Some memories live on and my brief time in the "other Las Vegas" are among them--just hope my recollections are correct!

Tired Old Cynic

[Warpy]

19. Context is everything

meaning depending on the speaker and the circumstance, it is either a synonym for foreigner or one of the biggest slurs on the planet.

I usually just laugh it off because that's usually the way it's been used around me.

[KG]

20. this gringo isn't offended.

[slackmaster]

21. Yes, definitely a slur but it doesn't bother me

About as offensive as cracker.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. As soon as gringos become an oppressed class, it will be a slur.

Until then it's just a mildly annoying term of derision.

[intheflow]

107. It's a mildly annoying term to caucasians.

But in certain contexts the people speak the word in derision. So it's both a slur and a not-slur. It depends on your world view.

[Recursion]

24. Green grow the rushes-o, what is your one-o?

I've heard that song (sung by Irish laborers on the Transcontinental Railroad) is where that term came from. Anybody know?

[Iggo]

59. Now I can't stop thinking of...

...Tom Bombadil-lo.

Thanks a lot!

[Recursion]

60. I love Tom

It's one of my favorite parts of the books. But I have to say I think ultimately Jackson was right not to include him in the movie (though he gave some of his role to Treebeard). It's a beautiful literary moment, but I don't think it would work on camera.

[rwheeler31]

27. I thought it just meant northerner.

[T Monk]

32. are you slurring Ringo's name

[roody]

33. No problem from this gringa.

All those cool gadgets in SkyMall magazine are called gringadas.

[undeterred]

34. How about "Yankee"?

:shrug:

[Kire]

45. So that's why everybody else in the country hates my favorite baseball team.

Ya think?

[Thothmes]

48. In Virginia, its a derogatory term.

Normally hypenated with the word "damned".

[annabanana]

52. And yet I wear the label with pride...

Yankee Doodle Dandy Massachusetts Liberal that I am...

[Kire]

108. Really?

What does a typical conversation sound like when someone says "damned yankee" in a derogatory way?

Sounds kind of goofy to me.

[Runcible Spoon]

87. not in Buenos Aires..."Yanqui"...or as my fiance says "Americanese"

not negative at all unless said with a negative inflection by those who don't like Americans...

[EFerrari]

35. The poor white majority wants the same consideration afforded minorities?

Where have I heard this before?

lol

[RagingInMiami]

36. Now what if that gringo were in some place like Miami where he wouldn't be the majority?

[EFerrari]

37. Is Miami really like that, Raging? Not in numbers so much

but in the vibe?

[RagingInMiami]

38. The word gringo is commonly used to describe a gringo down here

But usually it's not meant in a derogatory manner. And usually the gringos call themselves gringo when talking to Hispanics.

Of course there are always exceptions and it could be used in a derogatory manner and some gringos might be offended by it.

As someone whose mother is Colombian and father was born in Virginia, I usually tell people my dad was a gringo.

And I tell people I'm half gringo but full American.

And I refer to my dad as a gringo in the following essay I wrote about him.

http://www.magiccitymania.com/2008/04/28/cuba-castro-colombia-and-my-caucasian-dad/

[Cleita]

39. It wasn't a slur word as much as it was a slang word back forty years ago.

I lived in South America then. Actually, it was worse to be called yanqui because that definitely defined you as an undesirable American or even Canadian. Gringo actually covered anyone who looked northern European or who spoke English regardless of their nationality. Today I don't know.

[MonkeyFunk]

40. Only among hypersensitive white people

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Yes, but not in the US... is that coming to the states?

Funny

Now gabacho IS a slur... commonly used in border areas

But historically the term apparently originated in the Mexican American War, and meant white US troops, some of whom wore green uniforms, green go home... gringo

There are other words, that are far more insulting, but don't even make it to the radar, such as Haole.

[Thothmes]

49. Thought the Spanish word for green was verde, Also

American soldiers wore dark blue or Grey uniforms during the Mexican War. The first green uniforms in the U.S. Army didn't appear until 1862.

[nadinbrzezinski]

92. They wore SOME green uniforms, since they ran

out of blue and gray material for the troops

And this is a play on words

Green GO

Gringo

[Thothmes]

102. Lets see, 5000 men in blue uniforms and the mexicans

make fun of the 40 or so in green uniforms?

[annabanana]

53. I always thought it was from the fact that

the anglo-US troops used to sing

"Green Grow (gringo) the rushes oh". .

as they marched.

[texasleo]

44. sure

[Beausoleil]

54. This reference suggests that the word was around long before the War with Mexico

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."

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gringo&searchmode=none

Guess that makes me a gringo. I'm part Irish and speak Spanish badly.

The word doesn't bother me. I live in South Texas.

[trotsky]

56. Doesn't bother me, but then neither do "honky" or "cracker".

:shrug:

[Phillycat]

77. The reason it doesn't bother white people is that Hispanics can't really hurt us.

[shanti]

61. like "guerra"?

isn't that a slur too?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

72. War? Huh? n/t

[shanti]

95. oops

added an extra "r". it should be "guera" (white girl).

[lunatica]

96. guera means blonde girl

Morena means dark haired girl or dark girl. The masculine versions apply to men. Usually people will soften it even more by adding 'ita' at the end, like guerita or morenita.

It's definitely not a slur.

[shanti]

97. yes, blonde

(which i am). however, the way it was said to me was definitely not complimentary!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

98. Now I've always wondered if it's huera or guera. When I hear people say

it a lot of times you don't hear the "g" sound.

[lunatica]

99. pronounced huera, spelled guera (with two little dots over the u) n/t

[shanti]

105. from what i've heard

it's pronounced "we-da".

[Dreamer Tatum]

64. Of course it's a slur

It's just a socially acceptable one, is all.

[yurbud]

65. I like most of the slurs against whites better than being called white--they have more character

Anglo, gringo, gaijin, infidel, gentile...

cracker, not so much, but it's still not offensive to me.

[yardwork]

66. It's apples and oranges. The "n" word was used by an oppressive society

as part of a systematic, legal system that enslaved, murdered, tortured, raped, disenfranchised, and generally intimidated and abused African Americans. That's why the "n" word is deeply offensive.

"Gringo," the other hand, is an insulting term used by people who were conquered by the United States in the 19th century during a land grab. You may find it personally insulting to be called "gringo," but the reference does no harm to anyone and is not related to any harm done to "gringos." It was the gringos who harmed the Mexicans.

If you want to get all upset about being called a name by people who have nothing, go ahead. :eyes:

[fishwax]

74. yeah, the idea that the two words are on par is completely absurd

[yardwork]

83. Just more of that "up is down" and "night is day" crap from Rethuglicans.

[Terry in Austin]

69. You could also ask

the same question about "Aussie" or "Canuck" or "Brit," for example. When is it a nickname, when is it a slur?

[zanne]

70. More faux outrage?

Racists always seem to use that excuse when their racism becomes apparent. It's also a Bush administration tactic. When somebody accuses them of something, they try to turn it around and accuse their accusers of the same offense. It goes something like this;

"I'm not a racist--you're a racist"!

[Duke Newcombe]

76. Crazy idea, kids...let's call people what they wanna be called.

That applies to EVERYONE.

Crazy, but it just might work.

Duke

[zanne]

79. That really is a good idea...

Let's hope it takes.

[sammythecat]

89. That might be too much like the Golden Rule

You're asking for degrees of thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesy that, for too many of us, rises to the level of heroic. Just too damned hard for most, and impossible for some.

[High Plains]

71. What about Euro-gringos?

I've asked various Mexicans, and the majority say only Americans can be gringos, but I kind of like the sound of Euro-gringo.

Maybe I can create un neologismo?

[Occam Bandage]

73. I don't particularly care.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

75. Only a gringo would ask such a question.

:evilgrin: I kid. I kid.

[noonwitch]

85. I don't think it is, and I don't think Honky or cracker is, either

Honky is funny.

[pitohui]

93. is gaijin a slur?

it depends on context but, sure, gringo, gaijin, and other like terms beyond a doubt have some derogatory connotations

wouldn't say it's worthy of a lawsuit, i'd say it was just plain bad manners (exception, humor between friends who understand each other)

[lunatica]

94. I'm a Gringa who grew up and lived in Mexico for 25 years

When I was a child it was considered a slur if it's said in anger. But when I was a teenager it changed to simply mean a Norteamericana. It's been decades since I've heard it said in anger, at least to Americans. It's lost whatever sting it may have once had.

And it never took on the hatred that American invectives have. In my experience there might be resentment towards Americans but very little was ever shown to me. Perhaps because I wasn't arrogantly ignorant of their customs, their country or their language.

[mulsh]

106. pinche gabacho is a slut, gringo is just a noun

and yes, they're both slurs. most recipients don't understand them anyway so they're not very effective slurs.