Talk:Gringo

Etymology

The word Gringo means "the green coat",I am positively sure Mexicans, Costa Ricans and Latin Americans would never use a variant of griego 'Greek' which means SLAVE as a slur to describe the Man from U.S.A. and/or an insult. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.203.7.251 (talk) 10:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Show us some proper sources to support your assertion ! -- Beardo (talk) 20:17, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

This has been studied by several sources and there's little evidence for the green coat theory (some information indicates that it predates the Mexico-USA conflict). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.183.13.9 (talk) 15:38, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Extension of the word

Gringo is not used "principally in latin america", Gringo is used ONLY in latin america. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.16.155.213 (talk) 01:14, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Except say, in the United States where it is used by immigrant communities far, far more than it is said in their native countries? Sure then, I guess that's kinda right. Or not even remotely. I've also heard the odd Spaniard use it, but they tend not to because they know it's considered a racial slur in some parts of the world. And if they didn't speak Spanish themselves, and there wasn't a culture of idealizing the culture of those from Spain, that the word would be applied to them based on physical appearance alone. I can say, for certain, that the feeling is not shared by Spaniards, as very few Latin Americans actually have much Spanish ancestry, and are considered "Native Americans" largely in Spain, having abandoned their native cultures and languages, and adopted the identity and culture of Spaniards wholesale.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.101.204.248 (talk) 04:58, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Apologetics

I've noticed that this article contains a fair amount of apologetics. While I certainly understand why such material is in here, as it should be as a sort of disclaimer, I find it way over the top. Sourced and academic yes, but I can actually find about 40 times the sources to prove otherwise, especially if the criterion where how it is "used" rather than how it "originated" or is used in countries where it is rarely said. In Mexico (and by extension, and even more so, the immigrant community in the States, at the very least) it is indeed considered a racial slur and it's a rare day when it isn't used in some critical context. While this applies to, like I said, the United States more so than Mexico, it is the reality, and should be reflected as such. A person reading this article would assume that the usage demonstrated in this article is accurate, and it's some sort of "cultural misunderstanding" that it's used to refer to people pejoratively rather than how than how it "should" be used. Comments? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.101.204.248 (talk) 04:58, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

If you have "40 times the sources to prove otherwise," then do it. Regards.--MarshalN20 | ^Talk 17:30, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

I think it's pejorative in a "silly American tourist" sense. Its use mostly stems from the fact that the official word to call someone from the United States in Spanish is "estadounidense", which is a pretty long word. Languages tend to evolve to use shorter words for common words, and the USA being the most notable neighbor to Mexico (and one of the most important countries in the world), means people talk a lot about it. It is highly discouraged to use the word "Americano" for people born in the USA, due to its lack of precision: in Latin America, the concept of America has remained its original meaning, and there's only one American continent, comprised of North America and South America. It's been discussed elsewhere, but calling the USA "America" is offensive to a lot of people in Latin America. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.183.13.9 (talk) 15:51, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

The word itself is not pejorative. The term Gringo is applied to any non-native Spanish speaker, regardless of their nationality. The term is also used to refer to someone depending on their looks (generally if they are white-skinned and with blond hair); it's not unusual for an Ibero-American to be called a "gringo" even if that person speaks fluent Spanish with no foreign accent.

In any case, the misconception that Americans have about the word "gringo" is probably notable enough for this to be pointed out in the article.--MarshalN20 ^Talk 17:23, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

The word IS a pejorative. It's used in a derisive manner, it is NOT a term of respect by any means and those who use it know it. You can cite until you're blue in the face about it's historical context etc. But anyone who's been called this word knows that the user means it as a slander as a put-down and as a term of complete disrespect. An article like this just bolsters its legitimacy in the eyes of the people who use the word. In addition the word has evolved from its original origins in meaning and IS primarily used against whites by Latin-Americans and so carries heavy racial overtones. Go ahead, deny it. But anyone who is a "gringo" knows otherwise.

"Brazil and Portugal" section

This has a long section about racial descriptions that seems to have nothing to do with the term "gringo". -- Beardo (talk) 04:30, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

The reason we have the Brazilian slangs fro very fair-skinned people is because some users would insist that "gringo"in Brazil was only used for white foreigners or very white Brazilians. I had to correct this article numerous times because of that. Check the archive of old discussions in this article. This is obviously not true, because the indicated slangs are the most commonly used to indicate someone very fair skinned. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.4.62.71 (talk) 07:05, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

"In some places[which?] the term may be used to refer to any foreigner who does not speak Spanish (or, in Brazil, Portuguese) as a native language." -- This doesn't seem to add any information. Any term may be used for any purpose by people who don't know how to use it. 201.37.191.252 (talk) 16:16, 4 August 2013 (UTC)

this section looks like it was taken from Uncyclopedia. Ceiscoran (talk) 15:48, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

I made several changes, adding the sources. I almost erased the whole light-skinned thing, but 189.4.62.71 has a good point, we need this to stop people from adding any connection of gringo to skin colour in Brazil. I added a source in which Cameroon immigrants played and won a Cup named "Copa Gringos" in Brazil, it is a good example of the term being used to black people. I also removed a part in which was stated the term was not used to other Latin Americans. That was ridiculous, the people who wrote it were certainly not Brazilians and probably never searched for that, they just assumed Brazil would use the term the same way most Hispanics do. I added several different source examples of the term being used to refer to Latin Americans in sport and tourism, and I could add one thousand more if it were necessary. Actually, if you hear the term gringo in Brazil, it is more likely to refer to a Latin American than another Region's person, as most foreigners in Brazil came from Latin America. 179.186.169.237 (talk) 22:06, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

"Gringo" means "White with European origin"

In Mexico, all White people are called Gringos. All Europeans are called Gringos. French, Germans, Italians, Portugueses, Spaniards are called Gringos. Gringos is a racial term for White peoples with European origin. Arabs aren't called Gringos--Monsieur Fou (talk) 15:20, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

It may have this meaning in Mexico, but in Brazil it is used to refer to any foreigner. Jgsodre (talk) 19:37, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm from Mexico, and that is totally false, furthermore, why does rely on someone who gives an example as bad as calling "White peoples" to Spaniards???... "Gringo" is only used for Americans here, only working-class people calls "Gringos" to foreign Whites because do not know that there are more countries, wanting to call "Americans" believing "they are". Lymaniffy (talk) 03:50, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

at first i was shocked that gringo= white people interpretation was not mentioned at all, but then again wikipedia completely fails with anything regarding race — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.97.235.29 (talk) 17:41, 16 March 2015 (UTC)