Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicente
2
P.S. What would you call a community in Argentina (or elsewhere) that is a mixture of Europeans and North Americans? (a bunch of gringos?:D )
No vicente... en Argentina los gringos (al menos en la provincias) son los Italianos o descendientes de Italianos que trabajan el campo... "Es un gringo del campo" se escucha normalmente. Los que trabajaban los campos al principios del 1900, con la gran inmigración eran los italianos, todos italianos rubios.... Por eso a los rubios también se les dice gringos...
En esta zona, si vinieras a visitarnos, NADIE te llamaría gringo por ser Americano, en todo caso se referirían a vos como yanki, sin ningún ánimo de ofensa :)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Thanks Mer! Now I remember what you told me.
OK, era mal ejemplo porque mem286 ya explicó en otro post que la palabra no significa americano ahí en El Argentino.
But you don't call a European yanki...do you? I thought that word was only for United Statians:) (OK, I know that statians is not a word)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicente
But you don't call a European yanki...do you? I thought that word was only for United Statians:) (OK, I know that statians is not a word)
A European is "un Europeo" but we use the different nationalities: un Español, un Suizo, un Inglés, un Portugués, etc...
For a United Statian;) jajaja we say "un Norteamericano" or "a yanki" as I told you before.
:p:)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Thanks again.
I think my original thought was to ask what you would call a mixed group of Europeans...of all countries...and North Americans from Canada and the US.
Laurinha's post started me to thinking...we have our latino communities which include people from many Latin American countries. Do you have a word that would describe an entire community of people from countries other than Spanish-speaking countries?
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicente
Do you have a word that would describe an entire community of people from countries other than Spanish-speaking countries?
:rolleyes: ... No... "son extanjeros" I guess:)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Hi Vicente!
Mmm, I don't know if we have such communities...
Usually we use some geographical terms, but depending the context (or the voice tone) can be offensive. Like: "Tano" for the Italians, even when it´s a spin-off of "Napolitano"; "Gallego" for all the Spaniards and not only for the Galician people; "Turco" for all the Arabians whether they come from Turkey or not; "Ruso" for all the people coming from the Slavic countries without mattering if they come from Russia or any other country of the region and also for the Jewish.
I suppose the only word likeness of Latino or Hispanic would be "Orientales", that we use to call people coming from far Asia, to avoid mistake a Chinese with a Korean for instance.
And also we call Orientales with affection our brothers from Uruguay.
This thread gets more interesting every time.
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Mmm, I don't know if we have such communities...
I suspected that there are not many. I think North Americans and Europeans tend to mix in with the general population. I know I would not live in an "American village" but some Americans do in Mexico and Central America, especially in tourist areas. They have their own enclosed neighborhoods with US style shopping malls and restaurants nearby. Personally, if I am going to live in another country I want to live with the native population...otherwise, why go there in the first place. Of course, speaking the language would be a necessity, but if I didn't speak Spanish I might consider one of those communities.
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
creo que se ha ampliado bastante la pregunta puntual original (el uso de "gringo") pero es cierto que el debate sí que se ha puesto interesante... creo que hay varios subtemas que no habría que confundir:
1) cómo les decimos (los de cierto país/región) a los de otro país o región; i.e., "gringos" en Argentina, nada que ver con gringos en EE.UU.; en algunos países de Latinoamérica, me comentan, a los argentinos nos llaman "che" (como a los nacidos en Guatemala se les dice "chapines", a los costarricenses "ticos", a los nicaragüenses "nicos", etc.) con o sin intención de ofender, según cada caso;
2) cómo nos consideramos (por ejemplo, nosotros: ¿latinos? ¿hispanos? ¡definitivamente no somos todos iguales!) y cómo nos llamamos a nosotros mismos: así como los de EE.UU. se llaman "Americans", aunque otros del continente no lo aprueben (y creo q ya se ha comentado que es un uso legítimo, porque parte del nombre del país "United States of America", y como señaló Vicente no existe "Statians";));
3) otro subtema (parte del primero) es el uso de esos gentilicios por afecto ("gallego" a cualquiera de España), o con burla o incluso desprecio (por no mencionar ninguno que usamos nosotros, menciono "sudacas", como nos dicen en algunas regiones a los sudamericanos, y sabemos que no es amable...); la intención en sí sería un tema más para un ámbito psicológico o sociológico, ya que se le puede llamar a alguien del mismo modo con un tono muy peyorativo o muy casual, y la intención variará según el hablante;
4) las cuestiones culturales (irse a vivir a un país extranjero, elegir un tipo de comunidad u otra, como mencionaba Vicente) y el hecho de que simplemente te atraiga (o no) un cierto tipo de gente y su cultura (arte, literatura, música)...
(continuará...) (¿continuará...?):)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
One small point.... Nicaraguans refer to themselves as "nicas" not "nicos" whether they are male or female. As opposed to Costa Rican people who are either "ticas" or "ticos".
As to the use of the name "gringo" in Nicaragua, it can be friendly or offensive depending on the conversation and the intent of the person using it. It generally refers to people from the USA but many times it includes Canadians and Europeans especially if the are blonde and blue-eyed.
I, personally have been called gringo by many and various small children who were being playful and affectionate with me at the time. I have also been called gringo by young punks who were looking for trouble or telling me to go home! But my favorite use of the word is when my Nicaraguan wife makes "gallo pinto" for me. I ask her to add some scrambled eggs, tomato and peppers to it to suit my taste and she calls it "gallo pinto gringo". :) And I love it!
Also in Nicaragua and in Costa Rica, it is often a term of endearment to call someone after their appearance. For example, if a person is bit fat (chubby as we say in the USA) they might be called "gordito/a". If they are thin they might be called "flaco/a". Or if they are dark skinned, "negrita or morenita". All with much affection and without offense. Me, I have grey hair and they often call me "chele"! As they do many men with grey hair or are light skinned.
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Nice comments, JackMcG!
In Argentina it's the same with "gordito/a" (we even use a unisex "gordi"), "flaco/a", "negro/a/ito/a".
I don't know "chele", and now I'm curious! By association, I guess it has to do with "leche" (milk)? (Maybe it's just our "lunfardo" way of reversing syllables...? Like "dogor" is also common here, the reverse form of "gor-do", or "grone"... you can guess that one, right?) Funny but we don't have a name for a white/grey-haired person... We do call "pelado" (bald) a man with no or little hair... All of the above mentioned without offense.
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Gracias y saludos Lauracipolla!
I asked my wife about "chele" and she says you are probably right and that it comes from the word "leche".
In Nicaragua they say "pelon" for a bald person and even "peloncito/a" for a baby.
The word "mamacita" is another good example. It runs the gamut from extremely vulgar (de los chicos en la calle) to very affectionate (a la mama de los hijos).
Compadre can also fall into this category as it normally means that you are the "godfather of somone's child" and therefore a "co-parent" (compadre) with the biological father. But if said to someone in the calle (alguien desconocido), it can mean, "I slept with your wife"! Usually said as a challenge and to start a fight!
Such is life in a culture where "double entendre" rules the day!!!!:eek: :D
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
wow! I don't mean to compete with you, but about "double entendre"... in my country we're specialist. We should open a new thread, but I'm afraid it would be full of ****
jajaja!
;-)
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JackMcG
One small point.... Nicaraguans refer to themselves as "nicas" not "nicos" whether they are male or female. As opposed to Costa Rican people who are either "ticas" or "ticos".
As to the use of the name "gringo" in Nicaragua, it can be friendly or offensive depending on the conversation and the intent of the person using it. It generally refers to people from the USA but many times it includes Canadians and Europeans especially if the are blonde and blue-eyed.
I, personally have been called gringo by many and various small children who were being playful and affectionate with me at the time. I have also been called gringo by young punks who were looking for trouble or telling me to go home! But my favorite use of the word is when my Nicaraguan wife makes "gallo pinto" for me. I ask her to add some scrambled eggs, tomato and peppers to it to suit my taste and she calls it "gallo pinto gringo". :) And I love it!
Also in Nicaragua and in Costa Rica, it is often a term of endearment to call someone after their appearance. For example, if a person is bit fat (chubby as we say in the USA) they might be called "gordito/a". If they are thin they might be called "flaco/a". Or if they are dark skinned, "negrita or morenita". All with much affection and without offense. Me, I have grey hair and they often call me "chele"! As they do many men with grey hair or are light skinned.
That's what we have been saying all along. What somebody calls you is not important. It is how they say it...their intent. Like "mi amor"; if it is said by someone who loves you it is a term of love or endearment. If it is said by someone who doesn't know you, it means nothing...a simple term like "dear". And gringo is the same way...If you are talking directly to me and say "hey gingo!" and I don't know you, I suspect you are probably insulting me: however, if I know you, then it means nothing. If you describe me to someone else as a gringo, "el es un gringo", that means nothing except that you are telling somebody else what I am or where I am from. And as for Canadians and Europeans being called gringo, I imagine it is because we look alike...at least some of us...and it is hard to tell a European from and American just by looking or hearing them speak unless you know what language they speak.
JackMcG: At the hotel in San Jose I stay in they serve gallo pinto with scrambled eggs. They have tomatoes on the side but not cooked in with the eggs and no peppers. I like gallo pinto but I always have to ask for salsa picante to liven it up and Costa Ricans do not eat highly spiced (translation HOT!) food and they do not have a decent salsa picante anywhere...not that I have found anyway. I have to settle for a fake tabasco sauce...something called tobasco made by Cinzano...not the real Tabasco Sauce from New Iberia, Louisiana. What they need is some good Mexican salsa picante, verde o roja to give some life to the gallo pinto.
Re: Gringo. ¿Que signífica?
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicente
A good friend and I were discussing que signífiga la palabra "gringo" and its origen. We learned that it had a different meaning to each of us. What does it mean to you?
I know "gringo" means: green, go! and it is because of the green card. When american citizens crossed the border, officers told them "green, go" or in other words "you can pass, american" But nowadays it is different, I know it because I live in Mexicali, Baja California, besides California, so here is the border and I go to US almost every week.
I do not if I am right, but it is just my opinion and that I've learned :).
I call it "culture"