Gringo

For the reggaeton artist, see Gringo (artist).

An American woman reads the Gringo Gazette in Cabo San Lucas.

A Restaurant named Gringo's in Stafford, Texas

Gringo (feminine, gringa) is a term in the Spanish and Portuguese languages used in some countries of Latin America to refer to foreigners from different cultures, particularly English-speakers, and especially from the United States, although it can also refer to people from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, including in some cases other countries of Latin America itself.

Some disagreement exists among English speakers regarding whether gringo is a derogatory term. The American Heritage Dictionary and other English dictionaries classify the term as "offensive slang", "usually disparaging" or "often disparaging". The term gringo does lend itself to derogatory, paternalistic or endearing connotations sometimes, depending on the context and the intent of the user. However, many native speakers who use it do not do so pejoratively, as is also the case with some English speakers. The enunciation of the word can often give away whether it was meant in a derogatory manner or not. There is furthermore some variation in the connotation of this word from country to country within Latin America, and between Latin America and the Anglosphere.

Much like many otherwise derogatory terms, the term has also been embraced. Drummer Randy Ebright has dubbed himself El Gringo Loco, "The Crazy Gringo".

Meaning

• The Anglosphere: Hispanic migrants to the USA occasionally use the term as a more derogatory synonym of Anglo.
• Mexico, Central America, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, South America: In these areas the word may mean specifically a citizen of the United States.
• In Central America, the word is not pejorative, merely used to refer to a person from North America. In the Caribbean (especially in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua) the term refers to U.S. citizens . In the Dominican Republic it also means a non-free range store bought chicken (pollo gringo). In Puerto Rico, the term refers to American Citizens in the U.S. mainland.
• In South America, the word is not pejorative. In some countries it may be used to refer to any foreigner who does not speak Spanish, but in other countries it is used just or especially to refer to U.S. citizens; it may also be used to describe a blond or brunette white native person with soft facial features and light colored eyes. For instance, it is a popular nickname.
  • In Uruguay, it can be used specifically for English, African, European, and Russian people.
  • In Peru the word gringo is used all over the country among white and non white population. It is used to refer white Europeans, USA citizens and also blond local people. It is not pejorative although creole.
  • In Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua gringo is also used to refer to blonde white local people, not only to U.S citizens. It is not pejorative.
• In Brazil the word gringo can be used to refer to foreigners from any country, not only the United States, though the likelihood of being described as a gringo increases the closer one's physical appearance is to that of a stereotypical northern European.

Etymology

According to the Catalan etymologist Joan Coromines, gringo is derived from griego (Spanish for "Greek"), the archetypal term for an unintelligible language (a usage found also in the Shakespearean "it was Greek to me" and its derivative "It's all Greek to me"). From referring simply to language, it was extended to people speaking foreign tongues and to their physical features - similar to the development of the ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (bárbaros), "barbarian". Still, scholars are not in agreement about the correct origin of this word.

Folk Etymologies

There are many popular but unsupported etymologies for this word, many of which relate it to the United States Army in some way or another.

Mexican-American War

A recurring etymology of gringo states that it originated during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Gringo comes from "green coat" and was used in reference to the American soldiers and the green color of their uniforms (U.S. Army uniforms of the time were blue). Yet another story, from Mexico, holds that Mexicans with knowledge of the English language used to write "greens go home" on street walls referring to the color of the uniforms of the invading army; subsequently, it became a common habitual action for the rest of the population to yell "green go" whenever U.S. soldiers passed by.

These explanations are unlikely, since the U.S. Army did not use green uniforms until the 1940's, but rather blue ones, and after that brown (early 20th century including World War I).

Another assertion maintains that one of two songs – either "Green Grow the Lilacs" or "O Green Grow the Rushes" – was popular at the time and that Mexicans heard the invading U.S. troops singing "Green grow..." and contracted this into gringo.

However, there is ample evidence that the use of the word predates the Mexican-American War.

Green uniforms during other armed conflicts

Another version of the story, heard in Brazil, refers to the United States Army base near Natal, Brazil during World War II. The American soldiers, wearing green uniforms, supposedly would be commanded "green, go!" by their sergeants during training.

The "green go" etymology can also be heard in Panama, where it is said that during the time when the U.S. Army occupied the Canal Zone, people would chant it alongside "Yankee go home!" when partaking in street protests.

"Green coat" stories can also be heard in most other Latin American countries, with numerous variations. Some stories have the term originating as recently as the Vietnam war. Other stories attribute the term to other conflicts, all of which occurred too late in history to account for the earliest usages of the word.

Other derivations from the word "green"

In the Dominican Republic it is said that the term was a mispronunciation of the words "green gold", referring to the green color of USA currency, as well as the corruption of the exclamation: "green go!", said to have voiced local opposition within the volatile context of both U.S. military interventions to the Island. Another interpretation makes a generalized character judgment of Americans: "they see 'green' (money) and they 'go' (after it)".

Yet another version, also heard in Brazil, claims that when the British were building the railroads in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they would instruct the locals on how traffic lights worked: red, stop; green, go. The British were thereafter known as gringo.

Other uses

In the context of Mexican cuisine, a gringa is a flour tortilla taco of spiced pork (carne al pastor) with cheese (mostly Manchego, Chihuahua or Oaxaca cheese). The combination is heated on the comal until piping hot and then served with a choice of salsa.

In the 1950s, the 50 Mexican peso bill was called ojo de gringa ("gringa's eye") because it was blue.

Gringolandia

The word Gringolandia is often used as a mock replacement for United States of America. A possible motive for resorting to the word is that the United States lacks a one-word name other than the ambiguous "America." For people living in the American Continent but outside the US, it is confusing and impractical to call the US America (besides the political significance of such an action). And so Gringolandia serves that purpose, albeit in an humorous fashion.

Quotations

• "Goodbye, if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico – ah, that is euthanasia!" – Ambrose Bierce (last words of his final written communication, a letter to his niece, Lora, in December 1913.)

See also

• Anglo
• Farang
• Gaijin
• Goy
• Gweilo
• Old Gringo
• Pocho
• Use of the word American
• Yankee