Talk:Gringo/Archive 2006

"Green go"?

Gringo comes from "green go" and used for reference to American soldiers during the Mexican-American War since their uniforms were of color green. The standard uniform of regular U.S. Army soldiers in that war was BLUE, not green. The various State militias, who made up a large portion of the United States' order of battle, wore a wide variety of different "uniforms". Quite a few units even had no standard issue clothing. So it would seem Green Go is a NO GO, at least as far as uniforms are concerned.--R.D.H. (Ghost In The Machine) 21:54, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

• Don't sweat disproving the 'green go' etymology because etymolgists have been trying to do so for years and certain people would rather believe in a ridiculous folk etymology, especially one which reinforces the type of cultural pride which use of the racist term is meant to elicit...like all racial slurs. I don't think the bolding of , the US Army did not use green uniforms, but blue ones is necessary since the whole thing is listed under 'folk' i.e. 'not true' etymology.--Hraefen 18:19, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
  • Careful about saying 'Folk' is 'not true' in all forms. *mutters under breath* 15:03, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
• If it was 'true', it would not be 'folk,' it's usually a pretty simple determination. What some people believe is the truth about a word's origin is often proved not to be true, but some people cling to the wrong derivation for various reasons. This is not to say that folk etymology isn't a powerful force in semantic change and etymology in general. Folk etymologies are kinda like myths: most people don't believe that they're true (although some do), yet they still have the power to move our moral imaginations.--Hraefen ^Talk 15:14, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Emminent Gringos

What's up with this section? Why are the two names listed more eminent than the other hundreds of millions of gringos? I think the section should be deleted. Itub 13:18, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

The G Word

The term 'Gringo' is also used as a racial slur in the US. --70.225.67.134 00:02, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Cumbersome

The article says while the more specific term "estadounidense" ("one from the United States") is somewhat cumbersome to pronounce. Cumbersome? I find the term long and boring to pronounce but not ackward at all. Of course it is my opinion, so i want some feedback (from other spanish native speakers, please) about this statement. baloo_rch 01:18, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

i think cumbersome to pronounce is a fair characterization. of course this tidbit is open to an individual's opinion but as a spanish native speaker i think that this is a fair description. uri budnik 20:42, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Rather than talking about "cumbersomeness" (is this cumbersome enough?), it would be better to say that "gringo" is shorter than "estadunidense".

But that still does not go to the heart of the matter. The fact is that it's simply not true that the word "gringo" was coined for US citizens, or WASPS, or other Anglo-Saxons. It has a broader sense than that. The article is still misleading about this. FilipeS 15:42, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Languages

I will put Portuguese (It englobes all portuguese wether be european, brazilian...) instead of Brazilian portuguese because at least where I come from (north of Portugal) we use Gringo to refer to foreigners, especially Anglos. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.146.218 (talk) 23:38, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

My dad is portuguese from Lisbon I think, and he calls me and my mom a gringo/ga all the time and he always said it ment stupid man/woman. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.247.58.28 (talk) 00:10, 4 August 2006 (UTC)