What is a gringo?

Question

My friend invited me to go to Florida Disney with her earlt this summer (I live in the Netherlands) and I accepted! It was fun, but her Cuban friends kept calling me a "gringo" when speaking alone to her about me.

I use to think it was an American (I am Dutch) if not, is it a bad/offensive thing?

Answer 1

It means white boy and gringa means white girl.

Answer 2

gringo is just like beaner, u take it the way u want it, some ppl take it offensive some ppl take it as a joke, im mexican and when someone calls me beaner i just ***** em up :)

Answer 3

ya its soppost to be meant 4 americans in a kind of offensive way but ur not white so dont worry bout it

Answer 4

A Gringo/a is a blonde blue eyed person. An american black is not called a gringo...

Dutch people are a lot more white then americans, those hoes were prolly just saying it for you to hear them to be offended since they're jealous, otherwise they'd call you by your name.

Answer 5

I live close to the Mexican border.  A gringo is just a US Citizen. Its usually a white person. Its not a hateful term but it can be used hatefully. it also represents behaviour and attitudes latinos consider to be US.  

The term "American" does not make sense to the rest of the people who live in the continent named "America", which is every body from Alaska to argentina, and the word "Estadounidense" (UnitedStatean)is too long. So they just use the word Gringo.

Answer 6

if they said gringo then they were not talking about you, they would  call you gringa, its like calling you blond woman.

Answer 7

don't listen to people saying its an offense, it can be used as an offense, but it just means a white person or a person from USA. This is mainly used because the term American actually refers to all of America, from chile to brazil, to Mexico, to Canada. Calling them americano is not understandable to cubans or other central and south Americans because they too are American. gringo is just a term, like saying boriqua, or some other term like that to refer to a group, it has been used as an insult alot, but I think the way they were using it was to ask a question about you or something. But ask your friend in what context it was used if it bothers you. There's a racial battle growing here, and I tried to be neutral, i'll say I was born in a Hispanic family, and that I call my white friends gringo to refer to them, but that in the past I have used it as an insult. Most people being called it do tend to take it as an insult, so I try not to use the term too much.

Answer 8

In America, the term "gringo" refers to any person who is not of Hispanic background.

Answer 9

Gringo is the derogatory term used for white people by some Hispanics.  It's a racist term, though most whites leave it pass.

Answer 10

A person who was born in the USA and speak "Only English"

regardless color, religion or ethnicity

Answer 11

It emanates from the war between United States and Mexico, because the U.S. uniform was green, it became the chant for U.S. soldiers to leave Mexico "Green Go" then gringo.

Answer 12

it is a term used to describe an American.  more specifically a white person.

it comes from the US/Mexican War where Mexicans called the American soldiers Green Coats......   which evolved to gringos!!!!!

Answer 13

not bad , just a way to call you white

Answer 14

A white person

Answer 15

its slang for  an american and its not offensive

Answer 16

According to the glossary of Martin Fierro, gringo means "not of Spanish language"

Sometimes it has been used as an offense, but depends on the circumstances

Answer 17

dont feel offended it is said to those that are fair skin (white)light eyes and good looking .it is not ment to offend anyone it is very common in the spanish culture but it is always said with respect and like a lovale frase especially to our own if they look like a white person .next time tell them that you are a good looking gringo.for example a guatemalian is a chapin ,a hondurian is a catracho,a nicaraguian is a nica and all of central america has a diffrent way of calling them selves and one another do not feel offended .

Answer 18

misused in this case - but he thought you were.  - and depending on the situation and the person - it could be harmless fun or a serious insult - probably the former in the situation you mentioned.

does not normally apply to a non-English speaking person -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo

Answer 19

Usually in this country it is a pejorative for white person. Though the person using the term might not have meant it that way. Or they could have meant it that way. Actually it could mean any white blond blue eye person, any European, and in some instances specifically Americans. Depends on that context it was used in.

Answer 20

Yes its one of those words racist Mexicans like to use as well.

Answer 21

Don't listen to the ignorant people that say it's not offensive,

If people take offense to it, it's offensive. And as you can see here, may people think it's disrespectful and offensive, yet Mexicans and Cubans still use the word.  Talk about rude and mean, that's just the way they roll though. No though about others feelings I guess.

Answer 22

im a mexican and it dont mean cracker or tha other thing.. it means white

Answer 23

REGARDLESS of what ignorant people might tell you, it is not offensive at all.

Answer 24

It's a racial slur used by hispanics towards whites. It is indeed a bad/offensive thing,don't let anyone tell you different.

Answer 25

It refers to being a white American and came from the cowboy days when a cowboy would sing to the cows at night to keep them calm.. and one popular song was about the "green  grows  the  grass in Montana" where they were taking the cows.. some Mexicans would here the song and translated it as ,, green grows or gringo's..

It is not offensive..

Answer 26

Its an ignorant persons way of referring to someone who is of Caucasian decent...i always thought it was specifically for those who were born and live in the us, but i guess some people can distinguish accents and or languages and therefor assumed you were American

Answer 27

A gringo is a white person that tries to act or speak like a Hispanic person. That is the basic meaning of the word, it probably has several meanings, but they pretty much all mean that.

Answer 28

It's sort of like calling you "whitey", or cracker.  I'm castillano, it's an offensive term to label a white person.  If they just wanted to call you white, they would have called you Blanca.

Wikipedia:  For the reggaeton artist, see Gringo (artist).



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

A Restaurant named Gringo's in Stafford, TexasGringo (feminine, gringa) is a term in the Spanish and Portuguese languages used in some countries of Latin America to refer to foreigners from different cultures, particularly English-speakers, and especially from the United States, although it can also refer to people from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, including in some cases other countries of Latin America itself.[1][2][3]

Some disagreement exists among English speakers regarding whether gringo is a derogatory term. The American Heritage Dictionary and other English dictionaries classify the term as "offensive slang", "usually disparaging" or "often disparaging".[4] The term gringo does lend itself to derogatory, paternalistic or endearing connotations sometimes, depending on the context and the intent of the user.[2][3] However, many native speakers who use it do not do so pejoratively,[2][3] as is also the case with some English speakers.[5][6] The enunciation of the word can often give away whether it was meant in a derogatory manner or not.[1][2][3] There is furthermore some variation in the connotation of this word from country to country within Latin America.

Answer 29

Same idea as calling a German a k***t.. a Frenchman a frog.

Answer 30

I'm hispanic and I hear that word a lot. Its referring to someone who is white(blond hair, blue eyes). They usually dont say it to offend.....

Answer 31

A taxpayer supporting 20 million illegal alien criminals