# Gringo offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667 "2006-01-12T15:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/21 "2006-01-12T16:32:25Z")
Ahhh, so it’s only racism if he has the power to let me into Mexico or not and uses that term :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/22 "2006-01-12T16:40:23Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Even so, the person with the real power in any situation can make the decision to be dismissive of attempts to insult him. As can anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/23 "2006-01-12T16:45:48Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > And in Alabama in the fifties, the word “nigger” was a simple descriptive, no? Yes, in _some contexts_ of course it was. It was even more so in the nineteenth century - in “Huck Finn,” Huck simply uses it as a descriptive, not because he is trying to disparage Jim. In other contexts, of course it was definitely meant to be disparaging. What’s your point? I didn’t say that “gringo” couldn’t be used in a disparaging fashion, only that it often isn’t meant to be. It is rather like the term “Yankee” in this regard. “Yankee” is not regarded as an insult in the northern US (unless you are a Red Sox fan), but frequently insulting in the Southern US. And in much of Latin America, _yanqui_ is a much more insulting term than _gringo._ I would probably think I was being insulted if a Panamanian called me a _yanqui._ Would you say that the word “Yankee” should never be used? ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/24 "2006-01-12T16:51:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > What’s your point? I didn’t say that “gringo” couldn’t be used in a disparaging fashion, only that it often isn’t meant to be. My point is that one can offend without meaning to. Do you disagree? ---
**Author:** ![Gringo\_Miami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@Gringo\_Miami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gringo_Miami)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/25 "2006-01-12T16:56:32Z")
Am I offending myself??? I often use the phrase “Yo soy Gringo” here in Miami, where EVERYONE speaks Spanish and is assumed to be latino until corrected. It ALWAYS gets a laugh. For the record, I also have a boat named Gringo - and everyone I know gets a chuckle out of it… whether Gringo or Latino Self deprecating humor is a well established tradition, and very common in my own middle european Jewish culture. I can call myself whatever I want. A sense of humor helps! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gringo\_Miami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@Gringo\_Miami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gringo_Miami)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/26 "2006-01-12T17:02:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Like many other words of this sort, it depends on the context and also the region. This statement is 100% correct. Gives meaning to the cliche “nuff said” ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/27 "2006-01-12T17:05:06Z")
Hell, when i was a kid, we had a 28 pound siamese cat my dad named Gringo. The word itself isn’t offensive, but as others have pointed out, **CBEscapee** clearly used it in a manner meant to be offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/28 "2006-01-12T17:05:19Z")
> [@Gringo\_Miami](#): > > Am I offending myself??? whether Gringo or Latino > > Self deprecating humor is a well established tradition, and very common in my own middle european Jewish culture. I can call myself whatever I want. A sense of humor helps! 😃 I wonder whether the mods would have trouble with a poster naming himself “Nigger\_Boise”? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/29 "2006-01-12T17:12:07Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > My point is that one can offend without meaning to. Do you disagree? No, I agree with that. While I have only skimmed the thread in question, since **BDEscapee** is Mexican, and gringo tends to be used in a disparaging way by Mexicans in particular, I would assume that he is using it with the intent to offend. If I were in Mexico, and were called a gringo (and I have been), I would regard it in a completely different way than here in Panama. There I would assume I was being insulted; here I am not. ---
**Author:** ![Boggette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@Boggette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boggette)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/30 "2006-01-12T17:13:56Z")
In high school, we had a Spanish teacher we referred to as Senior Gringo. He thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/31 "2006-01-12T17:16:56Z")
Does anyone find [this](http://www.greenmountaingringo.com/) offensive? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/32 "2006-01-12T17:19:00Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > I wonder whether the mods would have trouble with a poster naming himself “Nigger\_Boise”? “Nigger” is unquestionably a far more offensive word than “gringo.” While often used as a simple descriptive in the past, it has evolved to become one of the most offensive words in the lexicon. While it is used among blacks themselves, and in this context is not offensive, it retains sufficient force that it would probably be prohibited even if such a name was used by a black poster. Would you propose that a poster should be prohibited from naming himself “Maine Yankee” because Yankee is disparaging in some contexts? ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/33 "2006-01-12T17:22:50Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > As can anyone. Certainly. But in the question of “hate speech” gringo, cracker and honkey are nowhere close to the offensiveness of terms used **by** Whitey because they were used in conjunction with more powerful actions such as Jim Crow, lynchings, enslavement, warmongering and etc. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/34 "2006-01-12T17:33:21Z")
Which, of course, being Whitey, I was a participant in, even though I wasn’t born until 1976. Still, I guess I’m doing my part as the Man to be an oppressor, so all of your historical objections still apply to me, even though I had nothing to do with it. There just aren’t enough rolleyes in the world, so I guess I’ll settle for just one. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/35 "2006-01-12T17:37:58Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Which, of course, being Whitey, I was a participant in, even though I wasn’t born until 1976. Still, I guess I’m doing my part as the Man to be an oppressor, so all of your historical objections still apply to me, even though I had nothing to do with it. > > There just aren’t enough rolleyes in the world, so I guess I’ll settle for just one. > > :rolleyes: Here, have one of mine, I’m not using it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/36 "2006-01-12T17:40:05Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Certainly. But in the question of “hate speech” gringo, cracker and honkey are nowhere close to the offensiveness of terms used **by** Whitey because they were used in conjunction with more powerful actions such as Jim Crow, lynchings, enslavement, warmongering and etc. Right. White people just don’t have any cause to get offended when insults are hurled their way since white people have been so insulting to others through the years. To wit, all the “white trash” trainwreck threads. No insult there. Whitey just needs to get over himself. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/37 "2006-01-12T17:43:02Z")
The word itself, in a vacuum, might very well not necessarily be offensive. That doesn’t mean that someone can’t try to make it so, or that one needs to take offense just because it’s trying to be given. One might even be upset simply because someone is trying to give offense but not actually offended by the use of the word. Likewise, the words “black folks” aren’t, on their own, offensive. But in the right context, like if you use a slur and say “typical, it’s what I’d expect from watermellon stealing black folks” then that’s offensive. In the same vein, the word “American” isn’t a slur on its own, but in the right context it could be part of an offensive phrase too. And I don’t and never will buy the logic that racism/hated only is “valid” or something to be disturbed by if it’s someone with social power doing the hating or if it has a legacy of such. Ironically, that belief itself is somewhat condescending. “Oh, don’t worry, you can’t be racist, you’re not important or powerful enough to matter.” ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/38 "2006-01-12T17:50:53Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Certainly. But in the question of “hate speech” gringo, cracker and honkey are nowhere close to the offensiveness of terms used **by** Whitey because they were used in conjunction with more powerful actions such as Jim Crow, lynchings, enslavement, warmongering and etc. Agreed. However, "less offensive than ‘nigger’ " is not much of a defense. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/39 "2006-01-12T17:52:57Z")
I kinda think we could all work hard on being a little less offended. A little less outraged. A little less indignant. Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to check your nose and confirm there’s no skin missing. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667/40 "2006-01-12T18:01:24Z")
> [@Walter Windchill](#): > > I kinda think we could all work hard on being a little less offended. A little less outraged. A little less indignant. Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to check your nose and confirm there’s no skin missing. I agree that a lot of people are more than a little too uptight when it comes to what they allow themselves to be offended by. However, the recent hullabaloo about hate speech, these kinds of things need to be brought to light. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gringo-offensive/339667.md?page=3)