Why Do Americans Get Called Gringo By Hispanics?

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Gringo On Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo
The Origin Of Gringo: www.vocabulary.com/articles/w...
Gringo In Brazil: streetsmartbrazil.com/word-gr...
Is The Word Gringo Offensive?: www.npr.org/sections/publiced...
Who Exactly Is A Gringo?: www.npr.org/sections/codeswit...
Pocho: www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/o...
Chicano: www.history.com/news/chicano-...
Music Credits: Rattlesnake Railed by Brett Van Donsel
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[@NameExplain]

Suffice to say, as a British person who has only ever been to America a handful of times I don't have much personal experience with this word, but I'd love to hear if you have! How do you feel about it? Would you be offended if called it? Let's have a lovely civil talk about it please.

[@vaporyhumo]

Being chilean I can confirm that gringo is not only used as a derogatory term; we do use it fondly some times. Also, at least for us, most europeans can definitely be called gringos, tho that would be a laxer use of the term.

[@Reichieru1]

Not offended, but it wouldn't make sense. I'm Canadian.

[@Texan.Insomniac]

As a Texan, I would say its not inherently racist or offensive and is used in a neutral or even positive manner, but its also not uncommon for it to be an insult, with a connotation of it suggesting the person is stupid and boorish, so it is fairly dependent on context of how, why, and who uses it to who

[@ernestoescobar1967]

Idk I thought it meant Anglo-Saxons ?

[@george_santos]

"Gringo" can be used as an insult but it also can be purely descriptive. Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) are made up of people of all races and many of us are of mixed heritages. So the term "Blanco" isn't used as often, and it would be confusing to use the Spanish word for "white" because there are many Hispanic / Latino people who are also white. "Gringo" narrows it down to "US white". Although...I don't think it would be exclusive to US whites. It's mostly used on US whites because they have the most proximity and contact to Latin America. But if there's a white English-speaking Canadian, Australian, or British person, they'd likely also be considered a "gringo." I think it's more broadly directed to "English speaking white foreigners who aren't part of our culture and suck at speaking our language." Most often, when it is used as an insult nowadays, it's directed to 2nd or 3rd generation offspring of immigrants, who have assimilated into white American English speaking culture. It can definitely be insulting to be excluded as "not one of us" but it can also be descriptive, and accurate. Kind of like the Japanese term, "gaijin".

[@joaovictorsimianersoder7514]

In Brazil we consider any foreign person a gringo, no matter where they're from

[@juliavargas13]

That's why the title of the video is wrong, not just hispanic people use the term gringo (and Idk if people from Spain use this term and they are Hispanic)

[@mattpotter8725]

I was going to say exactly the same thing. I didn't hear this until I went to Brazil, but to me it makes a lot more sense.

[@tc2334]

I just found out that this was the Brazilian definition a few months ago. It still entirely blows my mind that Mexicans have also been "gringos" this whole time too. lmao

[@joaovictorsimianersoder7514]

@@tc2334 well yeah, here in Brazil the word gringo just means foreign person

[@ArturoStojanoff]

8:47

[@KigElectra]

As a Mexican from Mexico City, I can tell you that "gringo" is just a slang word to refer to someone (or even something, like a band, a company, a product) from the United States. I would say, nowadays, it's mostly neutral and has no derogatory connotations per se. So, it doesn't have to be negative. For example, someone can say "¡ese gringo es buena onda!" = "that gringo is cool!" (which, of course, is a positive comment). Or neutral: "Maria's parents are Mexican, but she was born in San Francisco, she is gringa." (simply stating she has a nationality pertaining to the United States). Here in Mexico, gringo is linked exclusively to the United States. Therefore, a Canadian is not a gringo, a person from Great Britain is not a gringo, etc. People may see a foreigner speaking English and assume he/she is from the USA and mistakenly call him/her "gringo" or "gringa".

[@JennRighter]

Thanks for this explanation. At one of my jobs, most of my Mexican coworkers called me gringa. I vaguely knew what it meant, but wasn’t entirely sure and was even less sure whether it was positive or negative. Because we were all super friendly to each other, we would bring each other food and I was introduced to spouses and children, I just assumed over time that they weren’t being mean when saying gringa. And to be clear, once I considered us all friends, I did ask about it, lol. I speak no Spanish and they spoke very minimal English, so it didn’t clarify it for me.

[@rogeliovaldez9689]

it's also worth noting it typically refers to white Americans in particular as opposed to any other ethnicity in the US but can also be used plurally as Los gringos as a reference to all Americans disregarding race. that's my experience at least here in Texas.

[@theironicmetaphor7400]

Up in the north of Mexico it is much the same, a slang term. Though context can often be very important in Mexican Spanish, so it can be used negatively. Another term that is more often used is güero, though this is also used by vendors to anyone as well, not strictly fair skinned or people from the US. Mexican Spanish has a lot of rules and no rules at the same time and we use many words in ways that are simply lost in translation, so I understand how it can be confusing.

[@marlongaribay9414]

I'm Mexican-American living in the US and this about spot on to how I understand the term. I think up here Mexicans would probably hesitate to refer to non-white Americans with the term, but I have also experienced being called a gringo myself by family in Mexico.

[@Alejandro-iw7ec]

@@rogeliovaldez9689 No importa si eres blanco o negro, si vienes de EEUU y hablas inglés eres gringo

[@MrDariox555]

Here in Chile, "gringo" is mostly a neutral term used to describe people from the US, regardless of race or family origin (even then, some old people use it to describe blond people in general, but that's not as common nowadays). The term only becomes derogatory when mixed with another derogatory term, as in "gringos culiaos", which would roughly translate to "fucking gringos". We can also use it in a positive/affectionate light, as would be "gringo lindo", translated as "cute gringo". You must understand that a lot of descriptive terms that in english tend to have automatic negative connotations are mostly neutral in latinamerican spanish. We call each other "flaco" (thin), "gordo" (fat), "negro" (black), "rucio" (blond), etc. without malice. In Chile in particular, one of the most common ways to talk about other people is using the word "weon/weona", whose meaning ranges from friend to asshole, and is mostly contextual. The fact US people think gringo is only negative is because they only pay us attention when there is some kind of drama, and that quickly devolves to latinos vs gringos (with less friendly terms attached to that one)

[@elpiedron3889]

No eres de chile eres un sudaca. Sudaca no es insulto a menos que le agregues un insulto como sudaca de mi er da.

[@rukushi13]

"Gringo" es genérico a cualquier persona de US, solo con decir "vengo de Estados Unidos" enseguida se borra tu nombre y pasas a ser un "gringo" o "gringa". Otro ejemplo genérico de llamar a las personas pasa con los pelirrojos, acá los llamamos "colorados" o "colo", es genérico tanto para hombre como para mujer, y está relacionado únicamente con el color de pelo.

[@felixpao84]

Otro ejemplo es que a todos los Asiaticos les decimos "Chinos" aunque no sean de China.

[@salvadorperez8397]

En donde se les llama "colorados"? , el adjetivo y color colorado lo considero un arcaísmo en mi dialecto.

[@BreadHart]

I have a friend from the UK here in Chile. We call him "Gringo" and he likes the name, he even calls himself like that on social media. Anyway from my point of view... for us chileans here, any person from the United States is called a gringo no matter the color of their skin or background, since we don't like how they call themselves "americans". For us is not an insult, we use it more like a nickname like when people from New Zeland are called "Kiwi". This is just my perspective in the matter.

[@jasonbailey9139]

I'm a 1/2 Chicano who lived in Santiago for a couple of years. Most people who used gringo did it very much how you described and I never took offense. If they were feeling cheeky would call me an estado-unitian. I did hear the "gringo home" and "jankee go home" yelled at me, but that's mainly when I was hanging out with blond friends. :) I often was mistaken for a sudamericano if I didn't speak long enough for them to nail down my accent. I found most Chileans to be very nice, welcoming people who enjoyed sharing their culture and learning about mine. My favorite soccer team are still the Santiago Wanderers (wasn't about to get into the Colocolo vs Univ de Chile debate) and I love listening to Los Prisioneros or La Ley....yeah, it's been a few decades since I lived there. ;)

[@BreadHart]

@@jasonbailey9139 Glad to read that you had a good time around here.

[@lerquian1970]

Personally I don't have issues with americans calling themselves americans, but I use gringo from time to time just because it's easier to say I guess, and because it's more informal. In Chile at least gringo doesn't have a despective meaning and as they said is used for any american.

[@mattpotter8725]

I'm English and have been called a gringo in a fun way and I just found out part of the cultural exchange. Thinking about it a bit more having watched this video and reading some of the comments I think it's a bit different in a country quite distant from the US to say Mexico where there is a lot of animosity between the two countries and the perceptions of each others countries. I think words get used in different contexts and even depending on who is saying them and in what situations and where they are saying them. Chile is an amazing country, with great wine, and great scenery. It makes me smile thinking of the time I spent there traveling and visiting friends.

[@Androbott]

los cuicos serán a si

[@eriathdien]

So, here's the thing, since "americano/a" can be such and ambiguous word in Spanish, and "estadounidense" is a mouthful, we just needed a word to specifically refer to the US citizens. So, what could have evolved into a slur became instead a useful denomination. But if someone calls you "hey, gringo/a!" and you don't like it, tell them politely that you are "estadounidense", never "americano" or you'll become a "pinche gringo" and you don't want that.

[@elbarto8282]

You can choose between Gringo or Yankee but never ask someone to call you American if you're not more American than him.

[@nairsheasterling9457]

I definitely like the term estadounidense myself, mainly because it's singular word that is specific to US citizens. I totally get people finding it a mouthful.

[@peefart1410]

imagine if I said "pinches beaners" mexico is racist...

[@redram6080]

​​​@@elbarto8282 That makes absolutely no sense. Should I not call myself a human because I don't view myself as any more human than other humans. Should I not call myself by my race or sexual orientation because I don't view myself as more than others who have the same race or sexual orientation as me?

[@salvadorperez8397]

Grinho is a nacionality for US citizen to avoid the word American or americano.

[@franbie]

From an Argentinian, I can say that, at least in my circle, the word "gringo" can be used in the same way as Brazilians, refering to any foreign person in a friendly or offensive way depending on the context. However, the use of the term is often used for English speakers from any ethnic or racial origins. I can also add that the word yankee is used as well in a contextualized way, but this is exclusively refering to any US citizen (again, despite it's racial or ethnic group, they're all gringos/Yankees to us)

[@educesar77]

I’m Brazilian and one of my best friends in college was Argentinean, we would call him gringo sometimes (more as a “nickname”, kinda). He would also refer to himself as gringo too, e.g.: “trust the gringo on this one!” We don’t usually consider other latin americans gringos, but it can be used to anyone from abroad depending on the context. North Americans and Europeans will be definitely be gringos, doesn’t matter their race) There’s nothing pejorative (unless you associate gringo with something stupid) about the term. In fact, we used to say something really good that was made abroad was “gringo”. Example: if there was a local band with a really good recording, we would say it sounded gringo (because local bands used to sound terrible).

[@termimator3652]

​@@educesar77😂

[@MasterGeekMX]

Mexican here (born, raised and living in Mexico City, so no chicano/pocho here). Gringo is used in two ways: as a tag and as a derogatory term. As a tag it refers to US citizens, does not matter their ethnic origin so it is not racist, nor pejorative. It's like central america having nicknames for each country (ticos, catrachos, pinoleros, chapines, etc). In the derogatory way, it refers mostly to the stereotype of ignorant US citizen that believes themselves to be the owners of the world, yet they can't pinpoint anything on a map. A 'murican, basically.

[@RealUlrichLeland]

Would that also apply to ignorant people from other countries. Being British we have our fair share of arrogant idiots who think we own the world without being able to read a map, so would they count as gringos too?

[@16CharlyV]

@@RealUlrichLeland Here in México, no. That would only apply to the stereotype of the U.S. obnoxious tourist. Or to describe an american brand or institution. "Apple es una compañía gringa," "Apple is a gringa company"; for example.

[@animex_artz]

I'm hispanic, I'm mexican American, and growing up in the hood (still living in the same area btw) we used (and still use) gringo/gringa as an insult towards white US Americans, I only call white ppl gringos when they want to throw racial insults at me, like in middle school when the white kids would call me beaner in the hallways or would throw books at me because I'm hispanic, thankfully that doesn't happen as much anymore and now I'm a senior in high school surrounded by a bunch of other colored ppl, which makes me feel more safe tbh

[@pedroff_1]

@@RealUlrichLeland As the video mentioned, that'd be indeed considered "gringo" in Brazil, which basically involves coming from a developed nation with a sense of entitlement and/or some level of unawareness, be it cultural, geographical or just not being "street smart"in general. Basically means "tourist we can sacm into paying for overpriced stuff"

[@rogeliovaldez9689]

that's true but as a Mexican born in the US the people that are referred to as gringo are generally white and sometimes for the reasons stated above but it does not act as a racial slur but simply as an identifier.

[@jonnykhatru]

I'm a redheaded Brit that lives in Mexico. People here have at times referred to me as gringo, especially after hearing me speak English, usually because they assume I'm American. Most will not use the word once finding out I'm English. I'm more often referred to as pelirojo ("red haired") and even more often güero, which is used to refer to anyone blond or just fair haired in general, even native Mexicans - and there are many light skinned fair haired Mexicans here in Guadalajara.

[@SmokeyChipOatley]

Yes I agree with you 100%. From my understanding, güero can be any fair skinned or white looking person while gringo is used usually when they are from the US but more commonly to anyone who doesn’t speak Spanish or doesn’t speak it very well. You would never call a white Mexican a gringo for example unless you want to get on their bad side rather quickly lol. But not necessarily because it’s a derogatory term per se. Mexican Spanish has a near infinite amount of words and ways to insult someone but the word gringo isn’t one. Or if it was at one point, it isn’t anymore. And as a Mexican American living in the US, I honestly quite envy you as a Brit living in Mexico. I’ve been seriously considering leaving the US and moving down to Mexico for the last few years. I have family in Zapopan near GDL so it wouldn’t be all that difficult for me. I need to stop making excuses and start making a game plan. Cheers! Good luck to you in Mexico!

[@ericktellez7632]

Yeah, in Mexico if we find out you are European or from somewhere else besides the US we don’t use gringo, it’s mostly for white Americans.

[@viczio]

I'm a redheaded Mexican, with mexican parents and at least 5 generations of mexican citizens in my family tree that was born and has lived his whole life guadalajara as well. I've never been called a gringo, but my lifelong nickname is "Rojo". I've gone to Puerto Vallarta though, and people for some reason decide to speak to me in English, which is always entertaining. I did once get asked where I was from, but I just reply that I've lived my whole life here and when they hear my accent they realize its true, so in my experience, if anyone has called you that it's probably because you have an accent or some other thing betraying your nationality.

[@navatheramenguy3127]

just so you know if you're ever called guero by a taquero that means you have his seal of approval, and you're cool

[@danielalvarezleon1004]

@@navatheramenguy3127 Or he want's to sell tacos to you. Mostly the last one

[@joshb8440]

I don't really know if my opinon is needed here but I grew up in a mostly Hispanic American town, with my family and a few others being the only white people. The term gringo was always used by the older Hispanic people (who were second or third generation Americans) to refer to the few white people in the town. I was told by my father growing up that the term meant arrogant white person, but wasn't always used in a negative way it was just something you were. The point is I found it very odd that the term for most people has nothing to do with race but is instead about citizenship. This probably could be that the term just changed meaning in my specific small town as generations passed. Anyway cool video, cooler comment section.

[@lucaflores4]

A todos los que son de Estados Unidos les digo gringo, independientemente del origen de su familia

[@SadhuDPDR]

I'm colombian and I'll tell you how do I use this word. Every "american" is gringo, it doesn't matter if you are not white or whatever. If you are british, you are not gringo, you are british. And I guess every word can be offensive depending the context and connotation. PS: Awesome video! as always.

[@juandanielcastillogomez4712]

As a fellow colombian I can confirm this

[@nicolasrenaud6875]

Hmmm, interesante, pero en mi experiencia viviendo un poquitico en la costa caribeña de Colombia, algunos me explicaron que les dicen "gringos" a las personas blancas que vienen de paises blancos que no tienen el español como idioma nacional , osea no solo de los EEUU pero tambien de Canada y de Europa menos de España (y les dicen diferentes a los Españoles Castellanos pero no me recuerdo como).

[@JuanSanchez-qt1ue]

In Puerto Rico it’s used the same way

[@nuevageneracionba]

@@nicolasrenaud6875 Creo que es porque tienden a confundir a los extranjeros que hablan ingles como si provinieran del mismo sitio, ya que la zona de la costa tiene a muchos extranjeros y justamente la mayoría tienden a ser de estados unidos. En la zona cafetera siempre he escuchado el gringo como termino para acortar estadounidense y canadiense (ya que no es fácil distinguir la diferencia sin conocer a la persona) y se le dice inglés a aquellos que tienen ese acento mas marcado de Inglaterra al resto de extranjeros de habla inglesa. Es posible que este equivocado también, pues en el colegio donde estudie se enseñaba ingles "británico" (al menos el material de apoyo de los docentes y estudiantes era de allá), así que en mi entorno se notaba la diferencia entre la forma de hablar de un inglés y un gringo. En cuanto a lo de la diferencia entre la raza, no se muy bien si haya una diferencia en como se refieren a otros en mi zona ya que solo he conocido personas blancas de habla inglesa, pero personalmente yo diría que a una persona negra estadounidense se le llama afroamericano y para acortar se le llamaría negro o moreno aunque sea extranjero, supongo que es porque la gran mayoría de estadounidenses que viajan a otros países son blancos y ya se les acuño el termino gringo.

[@elgatoburgues809]

Confirm. I'm Colombian and also my family calls one of the cousins who moved to the US several years ago 'agringada' (gringa-like) haha.

[@alexanderkelsey202]

As a researcher who studies Latin America and writes in English, I use “US American” to avoid confusion. I believe Mary Renda coined this in her studies on Haiti

[@JonahNelson7]

Less catchy

[@Alias_Anybody]

"Murican" would be more catchy.

[@MakaAnima]

it's latinoamerica latin is something else and I think united statians sounds better than US american hahah we say estadounidenses and yamquis or gringos 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@zeroeu5510]

United Statian

[@elcalabozodelandroide2]

United state citizen

[@ricardodemarco3486]

From a spanish point of view (meaning, from Spain) “gringo” is just an informal name for the unitestatesians. At least the version of “gringo” that has traveled to this side of the pond. It can be compared to “spaniard”, for example, or our word for the french “franchute” or “gabacho”, although in these two cases there can be a derogative meaning as historically France and Spain have been at war many times.

[@diegoolivares1081]

Alright I'm going to put my grain of sand in the matter. I am Chilean, and the world gringo is normally used to describe everyone and everything from US. It doesn't matter if you're black, asian or latino. If you're from US you are a gringo. In the case you're from latin descent it's going to depend of how much latin culture you have, as being latino is more of a cultural thing, rather than a race thing. Also you're not a gringo if you're from any other part that isn't the US, you need to be from the US to be a gringo

[@darreljones8645]

One of history's most commonly used slurs comes from the ancient Greeks. Anyone who didn't speak Greek was considered uncultured by them, so their word for non-Greek-speakers, "baribari", evolved into the modern word "barbarian".

[@carelessdoughnut7023]

Uruguayan here: "gringo/a" is merely descriptive and not intended as an insult unless you see actual negative demeanor, either in the speaker's voice or expression. Locally it means either "US American" or "Italian" , but can still be used as to mean "foreigner".

[@Gatao_2020]

Porque a população del Uruguay no aumenta?

[@luizfelipe5399]

It's actually more or less the same in Brazil, Uruguayans and Argentinians that look Italian can be sometimes called gringo in a more general sense, but other Latinos are not.

[@Flu_1902FFC]

@@luizfelipe5399 yes they are

[@luizfelipe5399]

@@Flu_1902FFC the usage varies, sure, but I have never seen a latino being called gringo here

[@deborawa]

in south brazil we usually say gringo to refer to people from USA/cadana and europe. but we also use to refer to people of german/italian/polish/ukrainian ancestry. in my experience, the whiter, blonder, bluer or greener eyes the person has, there's more chance to be called gringo

[@lussajail.4455]

As a Peruvian, I can say that it is quite true that in my country the word "gringo" is used to refer to people with white skin and blonde hair in general, but almost never with a negative connotation. On the other hand, it is also used to refer to almost any foreign person who speaks English, regardless of their skin color. These people are usually tourists who do not necessarily come from the States.

[@mustangwolverine]

"Estadounidense" is to long, "gringo" is short and that's about it here in México. It refers to nationality , "Americano" is seen as really pretencious.

[@elpiedron3889]

Tienes razon mexi kaka

[@Sloxeos]

My contribution here, as a brazilian living in São Paulo, Brazil: Yes, we do use gringo for ANYONE that's not brazilian here (to the point that the word for foreigner in portuguese sounds too formal) and it has no bad connotation at all! Brazilians even adore you if you're a gringo. Although I've had weird past interactions with other latinos when I called them gringos ("I'm not a gringo, I'm bolivian/colombian/mexican/etc!")

[@chartreux1532]

+Sloxeos Thanks for sharing that, so far i've been only to the state of Santa Catarina and several Cities there like Blumenau (for Historical Research as German Historian). Now to "Gringo" - What you said is exactly what most tourists and expats from South and Central American Countries here in Germany i work with also told me about Gringo just being more used for "Foreigner" in general. Whenever i hear Gringo used for exclusively white/european people, it's always in Hollywood Movies, TV Shows etc. It seems like "Gringo", like many other Definitions and Words just have a different meaning in the USA (and some other english-speaking countries as well) just like "Hispanic/Spanish" in the USA implies "Person of Colour" and isn't considered "white/european". That's why Videos tackling such confusing topics about words and definitions between different countries and cultures is great to see, especially with People in the Comments sharing their Countries/Cultures Definition & Standpoint Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps

[@SadhuDPDR]

weird! I'm colombian btw haha

[@pedromenchik1961]

this! in Brazil we call all foreigners "gringos", regardless if they come from Chile, Finland, or Japan

[@leesilva9597]

That's interesting, because I'm half Brazilian and I lived there for 3 years( North East though) and even though I look Brazilian everyone could kinda of tell I wasn't and I would be called little Englishman rather than gringo and they said that gringo would be more specific to Americans. Could that mean that each region has a different connotation to the word gringo? Or maybe the word meaning changed from when I lived there in the late 90's.

[@Sloxeos]

@@soundscape26 No, it is a thing. But people in their daily lives don't use it. Gringo is more like an informal thing, a slang.

[@DotJPGG]

As an Ecuadorian, I’ve seen gringo used mainly as a neutral term to describe americans, but definitely the most when it comes to white americans. However, if you were from latin american descent and have essentially no ties to your culture, you could be considered a gringo/a too because it seems like the word also has a cultural element too it.

[@LevisH21]

so basically gringo simply means a foreigner, specifically used for Americans? and how about others? how do you say foreigner in Spanish?

[@DotJPGG]

@@LevisH21 yeah, specifically for american people, be they white, black, hispanic and so on, but there is definitely more of a chance of a white american being called a gringo. If you want to say foreigner from anywhere, we say “extranjero,” which i believe is just the spanish translation for the word foreigner.

[@JakeKoenig]

At least one person in the comments who (kinda) admits that's "gringo" is just an anti-white racial slur, and nothing more. You didn't fully commit, but thanks for at least acknowledging that it's primarily used to describe white people. It's also primarily used as a pejorative, but I don't expect too many people to admit that.

[@SpaceWaterfall1]

I, a German living in Germany, was called a gringo by someone from Spain before. They explained, that the term is used for anyone who is not Hispanic or Spanish. Despite insisting that it is not a derogatory word, they often used it to make fun of or curse at Non-Hispanics, that might be explained by them being extremely patriotic, borderline nationalistic, and them always having certain arrogant feel to them, that they thought that Non-Hispanics are inferior people who can't understand Hispanic things by simply not being born and raised in a Spanish speaking country. I know that most aren't like this, but it is interesting how your world view influences what words mean to you and how you use them.

[@HosheaManein]

As an Indonesian, most of indonesians likes to use the word "bule" which means "white people", "european people", or "tourists", and they use it to call tourists. At the colonial times, the word "bule" was just a shortened version of the word "boulevard" and it was used to easily calling white people or european people. Now, it is used as a slang and it is for calling tourists that visits to the island of Bali, or Indonesia.

[@theskintexpat-themightygreegor]

I haven't been to Indonesia in YEARS, but I lived there from 2000 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2012 and I was never offended by being called a bule. No offense was ever meant, not that I could tell, and I still use the word for foreigner to this day. I miss your country, by the way.

[@FCTOKYOARG]

As a latin american (I was born in argentina) I can say that we call "gringo" to all people who were born in USA, despite their skin color and ascendancy, we use it in both negative and postive contexts, like for example the word 'boludo' here can be use as a friendly word to call your friends and an insult to say to somebody you don't know and think is stupid. If we have an US American friend we would probably call him 'gringo' as a friendly nickname, but if a US american we don't know says or do something stupid we would probably call him or her gringo in a negative way

[@acuarionohyogaable]

En Argentina, originalmente la palabra gringo no se usa para definir a un yankee sino a cualquier extranjero con rasgos europeos blanco y rubio. La palabra gringo es una deformación vikingo, hace referencia a como se veían estos

[@tomassaldias5912]

Aca en Argentina igual se dice mucho más yankee q gringo

[@Littlevisser]

Prefiero decirles yankis

[@hiredmurderer6228]

pinches yankis

[@leandro2873]

​@@acuarionohyogaableNi a palos. Gringo viene de "griego" y lo usaban los españoles para referirse a una persona al que no se le entendía la lengua, está en diccionarios de hace dos siglos. Las colonias heredan la palabra y en Argentina no se usa para definir un blanco y rubio si no, como su definición original, a alguien que hable otro idioma y/o a alguien que luzca extranjero (no necesariamente blanco y rubio) y/o a alguien que sea bruto, aunque sea argentino (los extranjeros suelen ser brutos con las culturas locales, nos pasa a todos, de allí que se utilice ese apodo). Lo de vikingo es un invento peor que el "green go" ​mexicano o el "drink n' go" uruguayo.

[@felipehurtadomurcia9194]

As a latino i would never use the word American and despite being a great fan of your work I think you focused the video in the wrong direction. The therm “gringo” is just the default word, it is a response to the use of the word American.

[@jasonreed7522]

I think he definitely could have gone into Denonyms and exonyms, which are the names for a people group given to them by themselves and by others respectively. So for the USA the options from the nations name are American or United Statesian. Now in English its obvious which one rolls off the tongue better. Likewise Canada becomes Canadian in English. When i took Spanish (in upstate NY with basically no native speakers) we were tought that "American" generally refers to anyone from the continent of America (North and South) and the we would be called Estados Unidence (100% miss spelled) which means United Statesian. And technically you could call a Canadian an American, by Spanish/latin rules, but i don't think they would like it. I also find it funny that because the USA isn't the only nation with the full name of United States of Place that technically United Statesian also could apply to more people than just American's. I think he could have tried to go down the rabit hole of how "American" is the Denonym if the USA, and "United Statesian" is the official exonym from Latin American countries and "Gringo/a" is another exonym that can be used as a slur if so desired. Technically anything can be used as a slur if you say it deragatorily enough and it can be understood as identifying someone.

[@AtarahDerek]

We use "American" because it's already a long name (four syllables), and anything else is either longer or just plain ugly. No one has yet come up with a good name for identifying someone from the USA that doesn't get confusing in the rest of the Americas, either because of generalization or because not even the people it's referring to have a good way to pronounce it. If we could collaborate with our fellow New Worlders and come up with a name that is brief, rolls off the tongue well in most any language, and definitively indicates someone from the USA, we'd be happy to. Sadly, the British were horribly uncreative when naming their North American colonies, and we were even less creative when it came time to rename them. So it's a puzzle, that's for sure.

[@Buto.7103]

Que es un latino we?

[@peve9132]

Usans

[@judasponzi6566]

En inglés los llamaría asi: UStatesian. UStater. USAns ( en castellano USAN@S). US Citizens. (Formal). En castellano Estado Unidense.

[@hanfett]

the “green go home” doesn’t really make sense. the US wore blue, it didn’t start wearing green until the 20th century

[@rockyman6883]

As someone from Europe, the word gringo is also said here, but very rarely. In here it means that you're "different". For example, someone is talking to you and you don't understand him or don't know what you're doing and he goes: Do you not understand gringo?

[@oskiaranda]

I'm Chicano (Mexican-American), I've been called a _gringo_ by Mexicans when visiting Mexico. I haven't been called a _pocho_ because I know how to speak Spanish and that word is usually used to refer to a Hispanic person that doesn't know how to speak Spanish or who has strayed away from their cultural roots.

[@MrFreakHeavy]

@Andy Bersal Bueno, pero también hay gente bien exagerada es muy nacionalista y se toma la existencia de un nacido en EEUU como traición a la patria... neta que da vergüenza y rabia. Cansa, en serio. Pero qué le vamos a hacer, es gente que le inculcan esos hábitos y les heredan el odio histórico o generalizan.

[@lucianoorciani5224]

@@MrFreakHeavy mal boludo, tengo entendido que hay algo de resentimiento a los mexicanos nacidos en usa pero creo que en su mayoria es por los que se llaman latinos porque tienen un abuelo que nacio en latam y se mudo a usa a corta edad y el resto de su familia no piso latam, aunque tambien por lo que decis, veo que hay otros grupos que se lo toman mal por la historia, aunque bueno, aca en argentina tendemos a mas que odiar a los que nacen fuera del pais, o que se van del pais, apoyarlos, dado que aca se esta lentamente convirtiendo en venezuela 2.0, es mas hace como un año que estan los memes de argenzuela XD

[@redking1629]

@@lucianoorciani5224 Más bien los nacidos allá caen mal por el estereotipo de que al nacer en USA se creen americanos anglosajones y se vuelven egocéntricos, presumidos e incluso Xenofobos con los mexicanos nacidos en México, y si en cierta parte es verdad, muchos de los que se van se creen la gran cosa y olvidan sus raíces mexicanas. Incluso hay una especie de meme o broma tipo " tu primo el pocho cuando viene de visita a tu pueblo en México" y sale una persona con cara de boliviano hablando inglés resultandole extraño el ambiente y sorprendiéndose de cosas tan simples como que en México hay calles pavimentadas, edificios, árboles, que no todo es desierto, que hay coches, que tenemos TV, como por ejemplo " Wow en México tienen televisión y sus casas no son de paja y palos :0 " no se si me explico. Se que sueno muy exagerado pero enserio hay gente que piensa que en México vivimos en la época de las cavernas y somos grupos tribales sin tecnología

[@jusebacho]

@@redking1629 eso de los pochos lo e visto mucho, vivo en Estados Unidos, soy colombiano y es verdad que e conocido muchos hijos de mexicanos, con padres que solo hablan español y le tiran duro a los inmigrantes, incluso una señora con padres que solo hablan español y son mexicanos un día me dijo, aquí solo hablamos en inglés porque estamos en estados undios, me lo dijo en español 🥴

[@redking1629]

@@jusebacho si, una lástima que los más racistas sean los propios descendientes de los hispanos. He escuchado muchas historias y anécdotas en internet de mexicanos y latinos viviendo en USA y todos coinciden en qué una buena parte de los más racistas y groseros son los hijos de inmigrantes que ya no hablan el español.

[@elreysabiodegosgonia1847]

As a mexican the word for me gringo = American no matter If is White, black or green.

[@hopeintruth5119]

Where i live in Florida, Hispanics Usually use it for white people who are dumb or racist ?

[@elreysabiodegosgonia1847]

@@hopeintruth5119 Well in my opinion they use wrong the word.

[@derickmarin223]

Caribbean/Central/South American Latinos using a word and speaking Spanish differently from Mexicans isn't the wrong way. It's just different. If we were all Mexican the Latin community would lose a lot of it's vibrance and diversity.

[@ckl9390]

In Canada, at least the part I live in, we often use the term "Yank" to describe persons from the United States, often with the prefix "damn". Though "American" is often grudgingly used as it has long since become common usage and to counter it one would need to interject an explanation. We sometimes use the term "Gringo" for persons from the United States, though mostly in the context of them interfering with the operations of other American countries. " 'Murica" is also used in a largely derogatory context.

[@JosephGeorgeJoseJorge]

I'm from Honduras and when I was a kid I asked my grandfather where the word gringo came from and his immediate response was the "green go home" option.

Brazilian here. I just wanted to add that not only we use "gringo" for anyone or anything that's foreign, but foreign lands in general can also be lumped into "a gringa", which works as a broad definition of "foreign lands". Like: "Lá na gringa é assim", meaning "this is how it's done on other countries". Also, good work, Patrick! You explained it very well, for a gringo!

[@Gatao_2020]

"Hey gringo, you are something like a tarado?" -Brazilian cara no GTA IV,2008

[@larvcool5689]

@@Gatao_2020 Me lembra quando estava aprendendo inglês e usava o termo "arms" para me referir à "armas" "Hey bro can you give me some arms" "Uh I don't think we have those"

[@Gatao_2020]

@@larvcool5689 eu tbm confundia kkkkk, por exemplo foi difícil pra mim entender que "Parents" não significa parentes e que Navy não significa navekkkk

[@larvcool5689]

@@Gatao_2020 kkkkkk eu só confundia alguns, tipo lanche com lunch e etc

[@Bronze_Age_Sea_Person]

@@larvcool5689 Também tem o clássico push, que todo Brasileiro aprendendo inglês, um dia pensou que significava puxar ao invés de empurrar.

[@Stevenisbelieven]

I've lived within a 2 hour drive of the U.S.-Mexico Border for over 40 years. In my experience Mexicans rarely used the name Gringo with any ill will, it just meant you were American. Unless you just did something stupid, then you would probably hear the phrase, "Pinche Gringo!" The only time I heard the term Gringo used as a racial slur was by Mexican-Americans, usually to point out White Americans who are out of their element. I had a lot of personal experience with this as I would often find myself as the only white person at gatherings. Once they realized I was in my element, and spoke better Spanish than many of my Mexican-American friends, warmth and acceptance usually replaced any ill will. It's been over 20 years since I've been called a Gringo in the derogatory sense, so it might not be used as an insult as much as it once was.

[@cuellas1338]

Yeah that last part may be related to the fact that hispanic people in general welcome with gratitude every act of respect and interest in our respective cultures, so hearing a non-hispanic person talking Spanish is really comfortable, as it means they respect our language and have interest in it. For the rest of it, it´s important to note that nicknames are a huge part of hispanic heritage ("Gordo", "Flaco", "Tapón", "Chino"...), they are not used in an offensive way, just to distinguish between two people with the same name, so "gringo" feels like the same but within americans, as not all americans are from the USA (I´m not from America so I´m not sure if this is the way it´s always used, but talking from Spain and knowing the similarities within the hispanic world, "gringo" feels just that way)

[@AyChihuahua]

This is very accurate. In Mexico the word Gringo is used interchangeably with the proper term for American : Estadounidense. The word can be considered so inoffensive that another word like Pinche (Used similarly to Darn) would have to be added to show how you feel about the person you're refering to.

[@hendrickx88]

As a term, it really reminds me of the word "hillbilly". It can be used in a good context, as a compliment, or it can imply that someone is stupid or backward in a bad context. I grew up near the US-Mexico border myself. I think when you live in the border areas the term can have a more negatively charged connotation. How much of that is xenophobia/racism or just being the US American who doesn't understand much but knows they're being insulted is up for debate. I usually don't appreciate being called a gringo by someone who lives within 100 miles of the border (in either direction), but I strangely don't have a problem when my Cuban friends use the word, and if I ventured further down into Mexico, or even other parts of Latin America, I probably wouldn't have a problem with it if it was used in a friendly manner, although I prefer being referred to as a "norteamericano". It all depends on the context I guess.

[@Stevenisbelieven]

@@hendrickx88 I agree with your last statement, "It all depends on the context.." But I disagree about Gringo and Hillbilly being equal. The term, "Hillbilly" has been used mainly in a derogatory sense to perpetuate a negative stereotype for over 100 years. The American meaning of "Hillbilly" Is meant to insult people from the Appalachians. Hillbilly meant poor, white, ignorant, violent, and inbred, mountain people. It's only been recently that people have started self identifying as a hillbilly to honor their heritage. I have never seen the term "Gringo" used as an all-encompassing insult towards a large society of people, with help from Hollywood, that was so widespread that all the negative stereotypes associated with it have been engrained so deep in our cultural psyche that they haven't changed in over 100 years. Gringo isn't much of an insult on it's own, doesn't conjure mental images of a stereotypical Gringo the way Hillbilly does, and is nowhere as horrible as the disgusting names used towards those people that might call us Gringos.

[@PodcArne]

In colombia, gringos are only from the us. Anyone else is an “extranjero” or foreigner. We sometimes refer to the us as “Gringolandia” or land of the gringos.

[@jmuller986]

In Argentina we refer to Americans as Yankees and not gringos.

[@JaviKoopa]

I’m from Puerto Rico and from my experience Gringo is used in different ways. It can be a harmless nickname, like my friend who’s a black Puerto Rican that grew up in the states most his live and then came to live in PR, speaks Spanish with a heavy accent so his new friends called him Gringo and he liked it and introduced himself as Gringo. It can be used as a neutral description, I work in a restaurant and when we get guests that don’t speak Spanish we refer to them as gringos even if they are black. It’s faster to say than “americano” or “estadounidense” in my opinion. But I can’t deny it’s also used as a offensive insult, recently Puerto Ricans are using the phrase “Gringo go home” in response to the onslaught of millionaires that are coming from the states to PR to buy properties and get tax exemptions. I wish we could get along but I get why people are mad, this will affect our way of life after all.

[@ericktellez7632]

But that is weird because puerto ricans are Americans. It so weird.

[@JaviKoopa]

@@ericktellez7632 I agree, it’s weird and awkward. But the twerking tourists makes it difficult for us to say otherwise.

[@zackordonez7802]

Oye mi hermano, tengo una pregunta, ustedes los boricuas se sienten estadounidenses o se sienten como su propio país aparte?

[@JaviKoopa]

@@zackordonez7802 depende de la persona, aunque algunos se sientan estadounidense estamos limitados al no poder votar por el presidente y con las leyes de cabotaje se nos hace dificil compararnos con otro pais. A todos nos orgullese nuestra cultura boricua y algunos comparten ese orgullo con su ciudadania estadounidense. Pero no todos quieren ser parte de estados unidos, se teme que nos convertimos en estado no vamos a poder participar en certamenes de belleza ni las olimpiadas a nivel mundial por ejemplo.

[@derekk2666]

@@JaviKoopa bien dicho

[@BigGringus]

Spanish and other romantic languages are very descriptive, and adjectives can quickly become nouns in these languages. If you are black people will call you "negro", if you are fat then your nickname will be "gordo", if you are white "chele", etc. It is very common to be called these various names by your friends. With strangers it is different, but can still apply based on their tone and personality.

[@didifer98]

I am Guatemalan and we use "Gringo" only to refer to people from USA, but more tipically white people (blonde hair and blue eyes), we tend to associate them to being Americans if we see them from afar, but once we know them, if they are from another country we called them by their respective nationality... If we meet asians, or people from other ethnicities that are from the USA we called them Gringos too, it's mostly a neutral term... We tend to admire "Gringos" because a lot of people doesn't know english in my country and it sounds fancy to them, but the word can be used to insult if the "Gringo" is someone that feels superior to us just for his lineage.

[@Dolphinchan2]

I'm Mexican and for us "gringo" is someone from USA, it doesn't matter if the person is white, or afro american or asian american, if they're from USA then we will call them gringo, but we don't call gringo someone from Canada or UK, and if that happens usually is because we assume the person is american. For us mexicans the word gringo is not racist or bad, its like the word "wey" that is like "dude" we call each other wey all the time, it can be in a friendly matter or the opposite (depends on the context) the same happens with gringo, my cousin who is mexican got his US citizenship and we joke about how he is gringo now

[@LaYziELoC7]

In my experience, it has been used in both instances. When I visit family in El Salvador, my relatives have called me gringo because I was born and raised in the United States, but I take no offense to it. I use the word,informally in conversation, the same way I use chapin,tico,boriqua,catracho,etc. when referring to a person of a specific nationality. I know the definition of this word will differ from country to country, however, I think when Canadians and Europeans travel to certain parts of Latin-American they may be mistaken identified as a gringo in public due to their physical features because the locals have mostly had contact with Americans than others. It's sort of similar case with Asians being called "Chinos" or people from the Middle East being called "Turcos" even though it's incorrect.

[@romuelknight1434]

I saw that play out where a friend of mine from Myanmar was always called "Chinito" whenever we'd speak Spanish with folks

[@leandro2873]

Canadians and Europeans are gringos for lots of latinoamerican citizens and it's not because of their physical features but because they actually fit in the definition of gringo.

[@redram6080]

​@@leandro2873 isn't the definition of gringo someone from USA. If they are not from the USA how do they fit the definition?

[@leandro2873]

@@redram6080 The original definition of “Gringo” comes from Spain and means “foreigner whose language is unintelligible” The concept spread to all of the spanish colonies in America and for México, due to its proximity to the US, “Gringo” just means american. Why? Because whenever they saw a gringo it was always an american.

[@redram6080]

@@leandro2873 Ok that makes sense. I get it now. Thank you. The word varies so much in meaning depending on the country in hispanic culture that it gets confusing.

[@dogg6628]

imagine destroying an entire continent's history and economy and then getting mad they start giving you mean names

[@Tipi_Dan]

This is so forkin funny.

[@Toastedtasty42]

I live in Tucson, Arizona, about and hour from the Mexican border. I've been called gringo many, MANY times, can't say I've ever taken offense to it.

[@rustymustard7798]

I'm in Bisbee, gringo is what we call you guys from Phoenix and Tucson who come down here and drive 5 in a 25, lol.

[@Toastedtasty42]

@@rustymustard7798 cause Bisbee has such a rich Mexican culture 😂

[@freyaodinsdottir2207]

Right? I'm in Colorado and I'm just like "eh" about it, doesn't bother me.

[@cyberp0et]

Gringo niggaz :p

[@analisamelculo85]

A lot of people here are wrong. This is very simple: "Gringo/a" is not an ofensive word at all. It's like saying "Mexican", "foreigner" or "Black", it's not a bad word per se, but if you say it with an ofensive tone, separatist connotation, of course it's going to sound like that. I'm a 100% Mexican, and know a few things about linguistics and Mexican dialects

[@MrFreakHeavy]

Definitely, just like how the word "child" is not bad unless you want it to be bad by calling someone a child -- immature, naïve and ignorant. Honestly, it's just a lost easier and faster to say than "Estadounidense," the official demonym.

[@analisamelculo85]

@@MrFreakHeavy Exactly, it's just our version of "American", we don't say "Americano" because that's a word that names any person in the American continent, and as you said, "Estadounidense" is too long and kind of formal

[@deusimpeditioesuritorinull7079]

I remember old people in the island used to say that their parents and grandparents said the American soldiers during the Spanish American war used to sing cadence everywhere they walked to in groups the term gringo apparently came from the misunderstanding of a word from one of these songs the old people said Americans used to sing gringo everywhere they went to

[@Kaisersaurus]

In elementary school, I remember either a teacher or a staff member mentioning moving to Bolivia when he was a kid and mentioned being called a gringo. I don't remember the details though because of how young I was

[@loganstill4390]

I'm a white Texan and I've heard gringo a lot and it's not used disparagingly but more as just an identifier for white people. Someone who has recently come to the US from Latin America might refer to a white person as gringo/a if they don't know there actual name and even if they do they might still use it a nickname for a white person in a group of Latinos. So, in my experience gringo/a isn't used offensively but more as just ease of identification.

[@edgargallegos4274]

Brazilians for example use the word gringo for any white foreigner. In Mexico we use it for any American (including black and even Mexican Americans)

[@ericktellez7632]

Ah man I was with you until you said “people from central and south america” Mexico is considered as part of North America, both The US and Canada also recognize Mexico as part of North America.

[@JediDanD]

Anyone can be an idiot, but only us Americans can be an asshole :3 "Sometimes I park in handicapped spaces, while handicapped people make handicapped faces!" XD

[@grimtygranule5125]

Living in the US I can confirm that I have never heard the word gringo in my entire life until this video came up.

[@nmichaels1]

I was very excited to see an episode on this topic because it has always been an important term in my life. I was born and raised in the United States. My father is 2nd generation American and my mother was born and raised in Chile. We are very close with my Chilean family and Chilean culture is a big part of my life. In my family, I am affectionate referred to as “el primo gringo” or “el gringito” and my father was often referred to as “el gringo.” The word only seems to be as offensive as the tone in which it’s said. One aspect that your video didn’t cover is that the term isn’t only used for people; it broadly refers to American culture. I was not raised with certain American staples in the house because my mom considered them “gringo” stuff like peanut butter sandwiches and root beer (both of which I have grown to love). There are also habits that my family considers very gringo, like eating dinner at 5pm. That has been my personal experience and I was fascinated by your video. I am enjoying reading the other comments on here as well!

[@luizfelipe5399]

As a Brazilian I would say it's like a generalization gradient. Imagine a circle with Americans inside of it, then a bigger concentric circle including all native English speakers, and then a even bigger circle including all people that vaguely look American. The closer you are to the center, the more likely you are to be called a gringo, but there is no clear cut, it varies by context. When people integrate well in Brazilian society we don't even see them as foreigners anymore.

[@bloodakoos]

here, north mexico, its for someone whos from usa, almost like a nationality, but one thing id like to point out is that sometimes i hear people calling the us "the other side" (as in, the other side of the border)

[@paulolucero9864]

8:08 in my region here in Argentina it is ALSO used to refer to people who are blonde, specially if they're super pale and/or have blue eyes. Even if they're not foreign. My grandpa was one of many brothers, he was born with darker skin and black hair therefore they nicknamed him "Negro" (black), while his younger brother who was born with fair skin and blonde hair was called by literally everyone who met him "Gringo".

[@usernameunknown7475]

I'm Mexican specifically from northern México and in here I'm mostly sure that Gringo is used to describe people from the US but also as a way to say if a tourist or outsider is particularly not a nice person you know Karen's and all that but it is also a kind of way for people to fight against the people of the US trying to relate or fight in our name, this is a tip never under any circumstances try to speak up for a latin American unless you know what is happening because there is nothing considered more insulting for a latin American person than somebody acting like they understand the situation even if not involved, I can say this because this has happened and I have seen it in real life then Gringo really turns into an insult

[@johndelong7795]

I live in the Midwest of the United States and here we have a smattering of authentic Mexican restaurants (not Tex-Mex) of varying degrees of quality. They will often have a "gringo" menu that caters to the tex-mex crowd while those in the know will order off the more authentic menu. But I don't think I've ever seen the gringo menu referred to as such by the actual restaurant; it's actually a derogatory term used by "foodies" to describe the menu that non-foodies order from.

[@arturocevallossoto5203]

There are some restaurants in my seaside Mexican town that specialize in selling "Mexican Food" for gringos. We used to visit one of this place every Saturday because the food was really good. It has taken a form of its own, so now there's an "authentic" way to prepare these americanized dishes. Reminds me of the "Chinese food" that's eaten in the US, Mexico, Europe, etc., that can be really delicious but has nothing to do with the "authentic" Chinese food from China.

[@Redshirt214]

The one etymology, about “green go home”, is definitely wrong. During the Mexican American War, the US Army Uniform was blue, a color adopted during the Revolution to mirror our French allies.

[@raultororomero9079]

I'm from Spain and I find pretty hard to believe Gringo came from the anything related to Greece like 'Grecia', 'griega' or 'griego'. I can see it coming from the words Green Grown or Green Go Home as you said though. Btw good video!

[@jinjysbro]

The usage of gringo sounds similar to haoli in Hawaiʻi. It is used to reference to white people and while it is not offensive itself, it is often used in a racist way towards white people, but not always.

[@zilchica]

That's interesting! Here in Brazil haoli is also used by surfers to refer to outsiders - is this a global surfer culture thing? (From my understanding, it can also have some derogatory connotations, similar to gringo.)

[@jinjysbro]

@@zilchica Since much surfer culture comes from Hawaiʻi, it makes sense that is used by surfers globally.

[@vulpes7079]

I always use it offensively, as a Brazilian

[@karennabor7573]

The difference is that "gringo" is used for anyone who was born and raised in the USA, regardless of their ancestry or their skin color. The word gringo is not just for white people.

[@quisqueyanguy120]

Gringo its not a term exclusive for white people, but to all US Americans. As a Hawaiian you could be called "gringo" too in Latin America.

[@robertkidnley93]

Relax gringo esta bien no es racista

[@cyberp0et]

Me da igual :p

[@alemaorobsondirschnabel670]

Hello, I am from Brazil, and I refer to anyone that's not Brazilian, meaning any foreign, a "Gringo", even people from hispanic america, my neighbors. I really don't mean any bad by this word, but people tell me somethimes "Americans" get ofended, so I tend to not use the word too much anymore. Marvelous video man.

[@Kunaimaru]

In Perú any white foreigner is gringo. i'm peruvian, white, blonde and green eyed. Peruvians call me gringo.

[@majorsemboina15]

I'm from brazil, and here we call any foreigner by gringo, and usually "boludo" for Argentinians and spanish speakers in general

[@dovahkin6120]

That's true, specially in games.

[@mrgeez1]

And "Japa" for every kind of east asian

[@d3adman404]

Boludo é foda kkkkkk

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

I'm from Spain and I get called boludo by a couple Brazilian friends I have lmao

[@gilmsgabriel]

@@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 lol

[@PDR-si1yy]

I've heard Brazilians call everyone "gringo", regardless of background. It would be a general "derogatory" term for foreigners in general, even to other latinos as it seems. But generally, to my knowledge, in South America at least, Gringo can even be directed at the British or Europeans, although more rarely. And, being very white myself, people have called me gringo many times as a nickname.

[@shodast]

Not necessarily derogatory, most of the time is just a way to address non-brazilians

[@GustavoBbosa]

In Brazil gringo is not derogatory. It is synonymous with foreign

[@juliavargas13]

We call any foreigners gringo, even people from Argentina or Uruguay.

[@cabellones]

is far more common to use gringo to europeans than to other latinos...

[@MrBeiragua]

People say it is used for any foreigner, but my experience is that it is mostly used for North Americans and Europeans. Rarely I saw it being used to Asians or black people or other Latinos.

[@w.allencaddell6421]

I lived in El Paso, Texas. It didn't bother me one bit when my Latino friends called me Gringo. They helped me to understand Latin culture. They knew that I wasn't prejudice and I did as much as I could to help Latinos.

[@Aurum-Fall]

It's pretty interesting reading the comments, in Perú we use gringo to describe any person who's white. We call my sister who was born and raised in Lima gringa because she's got fair skin, or at least fairer than most of us. But, it can also be used to refer to someone who's from the US, nobody here says "americans" is weird because we're taught we all live in America, instead we say estaunidenses but that's too long so is just gringos for short.

[@MatheusSSales-io2zu]

Here in Brazil the word "gringo” simply means a slang word for "foreigner” or “abroad” when we call places that word. However “gringo” for us Brazilians have no negative connotation, it solely signifies that someone/something is not Brazilian/from outside of Brazil, worldwide and not only applied to the USA.

[@asimson9410]

que inclusive a un que llega de japon le dicen gringo???,,, jaja

[@vanicleidecampos2713]

@@asimson9410 sim

[@someonefromtheinternet4571]

Im from Argentina wich being honest is not really close to the US but we do use Gringo mainly for people from the US, but sometimes we use it for any white english speaker. Gringo is more like a slang, not really an insult, but we can add an insult to the word gringo and then it becomes a derogatory term. Also, at least were I live, we also use "Yanqui" that is basically the word Yankee but in spanish, I use yanqui as an insult and not just a way to call a US citizen

[@tintillor]

Yanqui can be used a synonym for gringo without bad connotation though.

[@leko6508]

Not really trying to minorize "Name Explain"'s effort while making this video but the entire segment was already worthy by the 2:05 minutes XD. Yes, I feel in disparity with it but it's so damn lit how well the example works that my "denial/refusal?" (somewhere in the between) is nulfilled. Nice one!

[@makotheowl]

The word itself has verious ways of use, but the place where it is more commonly used is in Latin-America towards anyone outside Latin-America. More commonly used to refer to the English speaking countries (mainly UK, Canada, The USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc), it isn't offensive in itself, and i personally use it to call people from outside The Latin-America, so Europe, Asia and Africa also counts. Being from Brazil, i also think other portuguese speaking countries use the word the same way, like Moçambique and Angola (maybe Portugal, but i call them Gringos too), that probably use it to refer to people outside their country. All i can say is, the word can be used in an offensive way, but it certainly isn't racist.

[@g.v.6450]

I once heard an interview with an Argentinian fighter pilot who remarked (in English) that during one dogfight during the Falkland Island War he “showed those Gringos something that day”.

[@alexplayer8367]

It is not racist, that slang born a long time ago in a war, in Mexico and Latin America it was very rare to know English but somehow we had to communicate if we were fighting together. Well, the gringo soldiers had "green" uniforms and "go" was a signal that we didn't want them invading what was our territory a long time ago, so in Mexico they said "Green go" but in Spanish that is pronounced as "Gringo". Here in the north of Mexico it is not used in a negative or racist way since the word does not have that meaning but it can be used in a negative way if for example you say "Pinche gringo" which is the same as saying "Fucking american", the word american doesn't have any negative connotations, but if you add "Fucking" to the beginning it's obviously an insult. PS: It has nothing to do with skin color, if you are from the United States of America then you are a gringo. PS2: I think that with the exception of Brazil it is the same for other countries, in the case of Brazil for them a gringo is anyone who is not in contact with the Latin culture.

[@ericktellez7632]

That’s a common myth but it is false. How we know is false? The US uniform was not green during the Mexican American war, it was blue. The word comes from “griego” Spaniards referred to anything foreign as Griego then it morphed into gringo when Latin America was a colony.

[@GumSkyloard]

In Brazil, it's a word for literally any foreigner. It's less used for other Latin Americans and Portuguese people, i've heard.

[@elvergudo2487]

@@ericktellez7632 mexican-gringo war*

[@danielmichaelfleiss2141]

‘Gringo’ is actually the Italian word for ‘Green’, I know this because I’m an Italian American, my Italian ancestors came to the United States around the year 1753, which, the Army Green on our Italian Green-coats in Italian are often called ‘Gringo’, but, it actually refers to more of a purplish-green, and, is often referred as the word of choice for ‘soldier’ ; or, even referred as the word of choice for ‘mongrel’, or, ‘mixed breed’.

[@tchumango9131]

In southern Brazil, we call people of Italian descent gringos. In the rest of the country it seems to mean either someone of European features or something/someone who is foreign, not just American.

[@gustasan7755]

This guy out here calling me an american while I'm from Iceland

[@quidam_surprise]

He's a silly goose.

[@lindadechiazza2924]

Iceland isn't that an European country

[@shodast]

In Brasil, we use gringo too! So maybe use "latinos" instead of "Hispanics" :) love your videos

[@aenetanthony]

By the way, they do mention Hispanics and Latin Americans in the video, as well as Brazil (American spelling) specifically.

[@modmaker7617]

Latino & Hispanic aren't the same. Hispanics are Spanish people or people of Spanish ancestry. Latinos are short for Latin-Americans. If Grango is used in Brazil then yes, Latino is more accurate than Hispanic. There's also this new word I found out about "Lusitanic(s)" for Portuguese people and people of Portuguese ancestry. Maybe we should get more people to use it

[@quidam_surprise]

.

[@ericbarlow6772]

@@modmaker7617 Portugal is a part of Hispania (old Roman name for the Iberian peninsula). So I don’t see why Brazilians wouldn’t be called Hispanics from the geography. Latino is a term the French used to try and assert colonial control of the Americas in the 19th century. They used it saying they were related via the Latin language. By that definition I am Latino through my French ancestry.

[@modmaker7617]

@@ericbarlow6772 In English, Latin America means every country South of the USA border that speaks Spanish & Portuguese. It excludes French for some reason. English-speakers don't think of the Quebecois/French-Canadians and other people of French ancestry in the Americas as Latinos. As for Hispanic. Well the word Hispania evolved to the modern Spain & Spanish. While yes the Portuguese where part of the Roman province of Hispania they where more distinct within Lusitania. Modern Portugal thinks of itself as the continuation/descendents of Lusitania and think as separate from Hispania. The Portuguese want to be different from the Spanish. Just let them be. In my native language of Polish, Hiszpania literally means Spain. The word Hispania is more associated with Spain than Portugal.

[@moereece855]

I was told by my arts teacher it was because at the frontier, soldiers would stop hispanics from crossing, so the hispanics were saying: "green go" I dunno if this is real but idk it seems curious

[@Luis-ni8hl]

I am from El Salvador, and worked for a missionary church where people from a lot of countries from all around the continent and sometimes from Europe and Africa as well, came to do missionary work. The thing is that I have never, or at least in the spanish-speaking people I have met heard someone call an US American as an "Americano" (spanish word for American...not the coffe), almost all spanish-speaking people that I have refer to them as "Estadounidenses", sometimes "gringo", and rarely as "los chelitos" (slang for white skin person/s), the term gringo at least in El Salvador, at least from my experience is not used as a derogatory term, rather it is a slang word.

[@kevinmartinez1477]

I’m from Venezuela. I’ve lived in the US for 10 years. And as far as I know, gringo was never used as an insult there. It’s like you just can’t insult anybody by calling them beautiful or handsome. Gringo was used there for all kind of American skin colors, but not gonna lie, it was predominantly bigger the sense of gringo=means a white American than any other ethnicity, but any Afroamerican would also be considered to be a gringo. Again, gringo is not a derogatory word or at least not that I remember. It just means that you come from the US or almost any other mostly white people’s country.

[@pedrobrandao1717]

The term "gringo" here in Brazil isn't as well understood as you said It doesn't apply to all foreigners, for example, there are a lot of Haitians and Bangladeshis that immigrated to my city, I have never called them, or seen someone call them gringos It mostly applies to white tourists and white immigrants Ps: A Brazilian that immigrated to the US or was born there can become a gringo by cultural assimilation

[@TieRo69]

In every place i lived in Brazil "gringo" is used to any foreigners...

[@less3594]

I've lived mi whole life here in latinamerica, and I did never knew where the gringo word comes

[@gilbertfilbert1446]

As an American I always just thought it was another word for “Punk” since we’re always pissing off mexico 😅

[@vtron9832]

We in Puerto Rico use the term gringo to refer to North Americans (specifically United States).

[@lycaonpictus4433]

This

[@Gatao_2020]

Puerto Rico realmente es un país?

[@lycaonpictus4433]

@@Gatao_2020 Si y No Depende como se defina 'país' Trabajamos como un país, osea, tenemos lo q se puede considerar libertades de un país. Pero en papel no somos país. Es bastante común llamar a Puerto Rico un país Y si l preguntas a un puertorriqueño de dónde eres van a decir Puerto Rico no dirán USA Pero en fin, Tenemos las características de un país pero cuando llega el momento de los documentos no lo somos

[@Gatao_2020]

@@lycaonpictus4433 es tipo Canada? Un país "independiente" mas que hace parte de un otro?

[@lycaonpictus4433]

@@Gatao_2020 diría que no Porque somos más "unidos" con USA Y porque USA tiene bastante control y por ejemplo se pagan impuestos a USA Tenemos la ciudadanía pero no podemos votar por presidente de USA ( al menos que vivamos en USA continental) Pero en parte se puede decir que en momentos si, porque se pasan largos periodos de tiempos sin pensar en USA. La respuesta es rara porque no cae en un totalmente sí o un totalmente no. Es como se dice en inglés ' yesn't ' 😅

[@Honeybadger_525]

My father's family is originally from Mexico. We've lived in the US for several generations now and we still use the term "gringo" to refer to a person, usually a white American who displays ignorance or a lack of knowledge regarding Hispanic culture. Amongst ourselves, we also use to term to poke fun of things that aspire to be Hispanic but really aren't such as the fast-food chain Taco Bell which my grandmother describes as " Gringo Mexican food". It's all meant in good humor though. I sometimes refer to myself as a gringo on account of my lack of connection to my Mexican roots. I might say, "Perdóname. Soy un gringo", lol

[@cabellones]

I was going to say something like that.. AS brazilian and chilean, gringo had more of a context of outsider, outside our latin reality than of simply foreigner....

[@dinacho1]

Yeah but You are a gringo

[@Honeybadger_525]

@@dinacho1 Yeah and you are a comment troll 😝

[@PlayerUnoYT]

@@Honeybadger_525 He's not wrong, if you were born in Schoolshooterland then you're a gringo. It doesn't matters if your parents are mexicans.

[@nestorrojas7512]

In Peru we usually call "Gringo" to any person who is foreign, but especially if they are blond and have European features.

[@charlespc]

I love this kind of thing gringo! ¡Gracias compañero!

[@Valthoran90]

My own experiences with the name have led me to believe it was used with negative connotation, although I may have been ignorant of the whole situation and am just used to ethnic groups not getting along very well in the United States.

[@m_fredi9549]

It is weird, if someone wants to insult you with it they can, but it can also be just a tag or even a nickname (even an affective one). So it is to whoever said it to you really

[@PabloAlvestegui]

In my country, Bolivia, "gringo" is a name we use for Australians, Germans, Brittish, Italians, French, Americans, and anyone who has an accent that sounds like an English (speaking) accent. Also, people (locals) who have light hair and/or blue/green eyes, or look foreign in some way get called "gringo". It's not necessarily derogatory, sometimes it's an endearing term like "gringuito".

[@ericbeltransaez1320]

Same in Chile.

[@Heidegaff]

Alternative title: Gringo flips out for 12 minutes when it's him to be called with a racially derogatory name for once

[@p.budiel1170]

The original meaning was blonde (an usage still prevalent in Peru and Bolivia, can confirm), but started to shift towards a generalization of white americans, and to some a generalization of americans as a whole.

[@davidbaron7427]

Hi Patrick ! When you mentioned the other bits of "latin america", you forgot all the French speaking people in South America, the Caribbean and Canada. We do use gringo to, but rather rarely, and usually as a derogatory term, but not necessarily for people from the USA, sort of like calling someone an idiot....

[@modmaker7617]

Latin America in the English speaking world usually just means every country, South of the USA that speaks Spanish & Portuguese. So French-speaking people from countries South of the USA and French-Canadians/Quebecois aren't Latinos or Latin-Americans in English even though they probably should probably be included due to French being a Latin language.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@modmaker7617 English is half latin half Germanic, do we count as "latin" for being part romance language? Words mean what we make them mean to quote CGP Grey. At the moment "Latin American" is already referring to as large of a people groups as it can, expand it anymore and it loses meaning as now your adding a substantially different culture to the mix. Its like how European refers to a region of shared history and culture, but Afro-eurasian is almost meaningless for trying to form an identity around. Also if you have ever delt with Quebec you would know they would never agree to being part of Latin America, which speaks Spanish and Portuguese, because they already want out of Canada and "Anglican America".

[@modmaker7617]

@@jasonreed7522 English is NOT a Romance Language (language that developed from Latin). According to linguistics English is a Germanic Language due to its origins & grammar. English has zero connection to Latin but borrowed words from French (then later on from Latin & Greek for Scientific & Mathematic reasons). Borrowed words do NOT change a language's classification. Polish is a Slavic Language but by the logic of English being a Romance Language (or partially Romance) then Polish is a hybrid off a 3 larger language families of Europe. Polish is at its core a Slavic language but it over time gained vocabulary from various Germanic & Romance origins. Is Polish a truest mix of all 3 larger language families? NO! While I agree that the term "Latin American" is arbitrary and doesn't make sense but CGP Gray's quote only work in this context not in linguistic trues of a language's familial classification.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@modmaker7617 i fully agree English is not a Romance Language but when looking at actual word origins Wikipedia reports that by dictionary count: 29% Latin 29% French 26% German 6% Greek 6% other/unknown 4% Derivative of Proper Names Thats 58% Romance, granted i have issues using this counting method as most of the Latin and Greek are Legal or Scientific terms that the common person doesn't use daily. I would much prefer a weighting by usage, to more accurately reflect the how much if the commonly used portion of the language gets used, but i cant find this weighted breakdown right now. This is also why most of our grammar rules break down so often, "i before e except after c" applies to the minority of words because most of them are borrowed or corruptions of words from other languages. Granted a lot of this mixing is because England has been invaded by so many others and the elites would use the "fancy or classy" language, like french resulting in the words beef, veal, and pork refering to the meat of cows, calfs, and pigs respectively. (As they only saw the meat being served when trying to appear sophisticated by using French) You mentioned that Polish is similarly a mix, which isn't surprising when you realize that Poland has spent more time as an occupied territory than independent since the idea of poland became a thing. (Really unfortunate geography is to blame) But both still have the fundamental syntax and grammar "bones" of Germanic or Slavic respectively, so thats what they are called. Fun fact, there is an anglo purist movement and fully germanic english sounds cursed, or atleast very awkward and clunky.

[@modmaker7617]

@@jasonreed7522 A purely Germanic English would sound weird. Same with a purely Slavic Polish TBH. Yeah I agree with everything you said though I still wouldn't call English a Romance Language nor Polish a Germanic or Romance one either.

[@george_santos]

"Gringo" can be used as an insult but it also can be purely descriptive. Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) are made up of people of all races and many of us are of mixed heritages. So the term "Blanco" isn't used as often, and it would be confusing to use the Spanish word for "white" because there are many Hispanic / Latino people who are also white. "Gringo" narrows it down to "US white". Although...I don't think it would be exclusive to US whites. It's mostly used on US whites because they have the most proximity and contact to Latin America. But if there's a white English-speaking Canadian, Australian, or British person, they'd likely also be considered a "gringo." I think it's more broadly directed to "English speaking white foreigners who aren't part of our culture and suck at speaking our language." Most often, when it is used as an insult nowadays, it's directed to 2nd or 3rd generation offspring of immigrants, who have assimilated into white American English speaking culture. It can definitely be insulting to be excluded as "not one of us" but it can also be descriptive, and accurate. Kind of like the Japanese term, "gaijin".

[@rincontibio7664]

well, actually is not limited to "US whites" but rater to any US, canadian and even some europeans, by definition "Gringo" is used to define someone who speaks in an manner we (Hispanics) can't comprehend easily, can be used as a slag ? yeah like every word in the world

[@danielalvarezleon1004]

@@rincontibio7664 Where I live (Sonora, Mexico) we use "gringo" only for people from US, no matter the race, background or even ability to speak proper english. It's not a bad word, it's more like a way to call these people, you're not american, you're gringo

[@albertotomich]

@@rincontibio7664 I live in Mexico City and i see gringo as from the USA even some people i know refer to the USA as gringolandia, so it really depends it's like the word ahorita yo never know how much time is it

[@rincontibio7664]

@@albertotomich exactly

[@marcorivera4020]

In Bolivia, at least on the west, the meaning of gringo is broader, of course it may refer to some one blonde (we have other words for that but that's a topic for another comment), so gringo can be use for almost anyone who doesn't speak spanish and/or look as a foreigner (even someone from asia or africa can be called a gringo), besides depending on context and tone it can carry a pejorative meaning or it can show affection/kindness specially when it has its diminutive form (gringuito/a). Another important remark is the fact that many here are reluctant to refer the nationality of somebody from the USA as american, so we simply use gringo in an informal speech.

[@itande0551]

It can be used mainly in three ways in Mexico: an offence (people here have the legend that we call them like that because of their uniforms as "green go home" the most famous one being one about Villa but as you saw, the story is not entirely true since even though Villa in fact called them like that, the word was there long before) . A nickname (anyone who speaks english mainly if they come from the USA) or just an alternative way of calling them instead of US Citizen, mainly because many people in Latin America don't like to call them Americans, since we see America as a continent rather than a country

[@axeljosefuenmayorbriceno2228]

I am a Spanish speaker so I cannot talk for Brazil, but I want to share a few things anyways. Gringo does not have a direct racial connotation to white people, but actually refers any American. The association probably comes from the misconception in many parts of Latin America that all Americans are white, but it applied to all Americans regardless of race. It also not derogatory, however in Latin America (or at least Venezuela) when somebody wants to insult someone they use an adjective to describe the person right before saying the insult ‘to give a direction’ to the insult so to say, these adjectives are usually offensive themselves, but they don’t have to be, and can be any kind of word that identifies that person. Sometimes gringo is also used as a shorthand derogatory term. Latinos usually don’t consider someone latino unless they are raised in Latin America, this means that most hispanics/latinos born in America are not considered such in Latin America, but foreigners raised in Latin America or extremely in contact with a Latin American culture can also be considered latinos. Latino does not have any racial/ethnic connotation in Latin America, but is only a broad cultural tag. LatinAmerica is very ethnically diverse since it has historically received immigrants from all around the world, and ‘race mixing’ (mestizaje in Spanish) is considered either the norm or normal in the great majority places, making most ethnic labelings useless or unnecessary. And to finalize ‘gringo’ has a very large amount of folk origins, but the theory that it comes from ‘griego’ is widely rejected in Latin America, and it is seemed by many as something invented by Americans who do not want to be called gringos in order to stigmatize its use in attempts to make people consider it a slur. In modern Latin America (as far as I know) griego has no connotation besides being the nationality of the people of Greece and the adjective of and for everything greek, I don’t know what the case may be in Spain. Sorry if it is too long, I just wanted to make my ideas as clear a possible, and I hope more people give their own perspectives in the responses.

[@Androbott]

mentira, es como dice el vídeo blancos de estados unidos, tu país es un basura no es ejemplo de nada

[@axeljosefuenmayorbriceno2228]

@@Androbott me sabe a mierda

[@losocio1000]

In Spain we use the word "guiri" to refer to people/tourists from northern Europe

[@pendejisimojuasjuasj]

Mostly british yeah

[@blood10dragon56]

Here in Venezuela is not always an insult, it usually is if you use to refer to a person in particular, like in "hey, look at that gringo over there" But usually is just used as a synonym for american, because is shorter than saying "Estadounidense"

[@harleyestrada6476]

Hi! I live in San Diego and I cross back and forth between the Tijuana border pretty often. I just want to share some data from my observations in the past 5 years. There’s a colige of mine that is Korean-American, he’s majoring in Spanish and goes to Tijuana pretty often. I have heard Mexicans refer to him as gringo. Also, in the past few years, the Haitian caravans that migrated north; about 95% of them stayed in Tijuana. So now there is a blend of different races, but I have still seen African-Americans called gringos, but not Haitians.