Is "gringo" a derogatory term?: A FAQ file.
Pablo A.
1 What does "gringo" exactly mean?
For many people, including most Mexicans, a gringo is an English
speaking person of American nationality.
In Chile most people think a gringo is anyone who speaks a
germanic language as a mother tongue. Some people think that
speaking any foreign European language qualifies someone as
gringo (Portuguese and Catalan not included).
Some other people require that the person be of fair skin.
However once I read "un gringo negro" meaning a black
American.
Here I quote (on translation) Diccionario Anaya
<http://www.anaya.es>, a reputed dictionary made in Spain.
gringo, -a
1. (noun) A foreigner, specially an English-speaking one.
(adjective) Foreign, specially related to English speakers.
2. (adjective and noun) American (i.e. from the United States
of America).
3. (adjective and noun) Not understandable (said of languages).
However, "gringolandia" refers to the United States. For some
people gringolandia also includes Canada (except for Quebec).
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2 Isn't "gringo" a pejorative word?
My Mexican friends tell me that gringo is pejorative.
The Larousse dictionary says it is pejorative. So it
must be pejorative.
The short answer is: No it isn't.
This subject is very emotional, so I can't rely on my sole
opinion, because you wont't believe me. First I'll quote from
soc.culture.chile/CHILE-L participants, and then from reputed
Chilean sources.
Jose' Iribarne wrote:
Let me first explain that, in Chile, the expression
"gringo" or "gringa" is not pejorative. It refers
broadly to anybody who looks caucasian and/or who speaks an
anglo-saxon-germanic-slavic dialect.
Ann Van Doren wrote:
No apologies necessary for this "gringa." I enjoy
your postings immensely; you make me feel less like an
intruder in your newsgroup. Just for the record, some
U.S. Americans equate being called a "gringo" to
calling a hispanic a "spic" or a black a "Nigger."
My feelings were hurt when we were called gringoes
while visiting Chile until it was explained to me that
this wasn't necessarily a negative connotation. But
this word always seems to be included whenever there
IS an ethnic slur! e.g. "M-F Yankee gringo...."
Steven B. Thompson wrote:
I have to admit that I always felt being called a
"gringo" was a racist name as well. Perhaps we have
watched to many U.S. American western movies where
the "bandido" from Mexico always called the
"hero" a "gringo" :-)
However, I have since been educated by a few people in
this group. So much so, that if someone were to call
me a gringo in an ethnic slur, as you said above, then
I'd most likely just grin and say "muchas gracias,
amigo" :-)
Steve T.
A *Southern* U.S. American gringo.... ;-)
Andy Daitsman wrote:
Now wait a minute, guys. Let's not make the mistake
of thinking that Latin America is homogeneous.
If you go to Mexico, "gringo" can be a pretty
serious insult. That is, unless it's a pet name given
to you by a group of close friends... It also applies
exclusively to North Americans. So if you're walking
down the street in Mexico and somebody unleashes a
torrent of Spanish at you that you don't understand
but you do manage to pick up "gringo," have no
doubt: that person is seriously offended by your
presence in their country.
If you go to South America, "gringo" is a completely
different word. It is applied to any European,
regardless of native language: basically it means
"white foreigner" [speaking a different language].
Perhaps in part because the US hasn't stolen any
territory from South American countries, the extreme
level of animosity often contained within the Mexican
"gringo" is also absent. Mexico's complex love-hate
relationship with the US is not reproduced south of
the Darien.
Now, quotations from printed media. If the word "gringo" were
offensive, the following quotations wouldn't be found on serious
Chilean media.
Revista Siglo XXI, September 8, 1994, page 12. "Protocolos de
Transferencia", by Alexander Scheck.
En una soleada man~ana hace ya muchos an~os, en la U de
Columbia (EEUU), el Prof Frank DaCruz da a conocer al
mundo el famoso protocolo bautizado como Kermit.
Este protocolo gringo esta' orientado a la transmision
de datos o paquetes de 7 u 8 data bit.
Revista Paula, September 1994, page 54. "Sabrosuras del chef
set" by Ximena Torres Cautivo.
Le ayudaba su conocimiento del ingles y su proverbial
facilidad para todos los idiomas, amen del ambiente
informal que fascinaba a los gringos.
Revista Zona de Contacto, September 9, 1994, page 7.
"Anarquia en el Ciberespacio (y sin escandalo)", by Alfredo
Sepulveda.
Muchas veces se ha dado el caso de que el FBI llega a
una casa en los suburbios de una ciudad gringa para
llevarse preso a un quincean~ero flaco y de lentes, con
el pelo desordenado, que se ha metido en el computador
central de alguna organizacion importante
Revista del Domingo en Viaje, September 11, 1994. "Lo que el
martini se llevo'", by Patricio Ban~ados.
Ray: [era un] gringo cincuenton de quien fui
interprete en Chile y quien me invito' a pasar unos
dias con su familia en Estados Unidos.
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3 You must be wrong. I know gringo is derogatory
I had a long e-mail interchange with a person who wouldn't
believe arguments such as those exposed in the preceding
question.
> the words gringo and gringa are derogatory names for North
> American anglos.
Not true. I have quoted you lots of material taken from
respected Chilean sources: Revista Paula, Revista Siglo XXI,
Revista Zona de Contacto, Revista del Domingo. If you don't
believe me, you can go to a University library and ask for a
Chilean newspaper and read any colloquial source about North
America.
> the words are never used in face to face conversations
> between, lets say, Mexicans and Americans. I also know that
> the word does not have the negative meaning in Chile that it
> has in Mexico.
Chileans do use that word in face to face conversation.
> What I am saying is that the words gringo and gringa are
> *heard* by gringos and gringas as insults.
That may be true. Then you can be educated, as Ann Van Doren
was (see previous question), on what a Chileans actually mean
when we say "gringo" or "gringa".
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Este mensaje se distribuyo a traves de CHI...@modlang.swt.edu
am...@chile.edu
In article <96Sep24.151...@guardia.sonda.cl>, pa...@hortun.CL
says...
I remember a few years ago, the golie of the chilean soccer national
team (Adolfo Neff) was known as "gringo" Neff.
He was from Lota, a southern city in Chile. Everybody, including
the media, called him "gringo" in a very friendly way; he was liked by
the people. He just happened to be blonde.