In spanish, “campesino” literally means a country person. I’ve seen people refered to as campesinos in journalism and history, but is this term generally considered derogatory, like “hillbilly” would be in English? Does it vary from country to country or region to region? I wouldn’t want to insult someone inadvertantly.
It isn’t in Mexico.
Maybe only if you said it in a really sneering way or something. But otherwise, it’s not considered derogatory, at least in Mexico. There’s even a large Mexican labor organization named “Union de Campesinos Democratas” (or “Union Campesina Democrata”) that is well know in the central region.
The word “campesino” would be similar to using “laborer” in English.
Not in Puerto Rico, either. It would also be like farmer in English.
Here is the Spanish meaning, and hopefully the link works.And here is the translation to English. It gives peasant as one of the meanings.
Sigh…the link doesn’t work. Oh well…
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Type “campesino” in the box under español>lengua and click Buscar to get the Spanish definition.
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Type “campesino” in the box under English> Español-inglés and click Traducir to get the translation.
Well. Maybe. But only in a mild form.
As others have noted, campesino is peasant or a ‘rural’ person. In Spain, farmers and agricultural workers are quite low on the social scale, and calling someone a campesino would be about ‘hillbilly’ in English. There is a better insult - cateto - which is more in the vein of ‘redneck’.
Spanish, in Spain, is a very good language for swearing. It’s poetic, flowery and imaginative. Ask me for some samples. The translations would be a bit graphic for GQ, though. Remember, words that are fairly offensive in English, are not so in Spanish. Coño was used frequently by my ex-SO’s grandmother of 90 years, about the same way ‘darn’ would be used in the US.
Good god! My wife about killed me when I tried to order a “coño de chocolate” in Manzanillo once time.
She won’t teach me those words, but I’ve learned a lot from Amores Perros. 
Right. “Offensive” depends on context.
As for really rude words, here in PR when we watch the Spanish TV feed on Cable it’s a veritable fest of coño and joder and the like… but you won’t hear it in our local stations. Spaniards and Cubans are specially… florid… and quite unconcerned as to time and place; while Mexicans and 'Ricans tend to adjust for who is listening (but down here we now have talk-radio hosts start bringing coño and pendejo into the daytime airwaves ). OTOH, Balthisar’s ordering a chocolate c*nt when he meant a chocolate cone WILL at least get you looked at funny anywhere…
It is an OK in Panama. We have other surse words for the gardner et al when were are annoyed with him.
In Venezuela it’s about what El Gui said. You can make it sound like an insult.
GQ not graphic? What the fuck you talking about?
Here’s another vote for “it depends on the context”. Actually anything can be turned into an insult if you add the appropriate intonation and context.
Cono/coño. Ano/año. Oh the mighty eñe… be careful with it.
Hehe, as in: "I want to toast the new year and wish everyone a “Feliz Ano Nuevo!” (Happy New Anus).
That’s my cousin’s favorite line every New Year’s Eve. I laugh every time.
That term is a pretty old one, right? I have a vauge recollection of the Duke of Wellington disdainfully referring to his Spanish allies as campesinos. He had a very low opinion of their fighting ability.
Unfortunately, I have no idea how I could successfully identify a citation, as it could be tucked away in one of a dozen big books. If I get lucky, I’ll let you know.
Hehe, as in: "I want to toast the new year and wish everyone a “Feliz Ano Nuevo!” (Happy New Anus).
That’s my cousin’s favorite line every New Year’s Eve. I laugh every time.
VALENTÍN GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ (1909-1985) General in the Republican army during the Spanish civil war and who was proudly nicknamed “EL CAMPESINO”
It depends. I was assisting a former SO (from Mexico with the equivalent of a Master’s Degree) who was searching for an apartment. While leaving the best affordable place we had seen (so far) I asked what she thought of the place.
“I would never live here. Too many Mexicans.”
“But these are your people!”
“These are not my people. These are campesinos!”
Not to mention the classic mix-up of pollo and polla.
When Cela won the Nobel prize for literature, the Spanish version of Amtrak - RENFE - published full page ads in the major Spanish newspapers, as an homage:
¡Por fin-
COÑO!
Which would translate to:
Finally -
Fuckin’ Great!
For centuries, one of the rudest things a sailor could say about another sailor’s seamanship was to call him a farmer. To call a Hispanic sailor a campesino would be the same.
A way to express that in Spanish is marinero de agua dulce, a “freshwater sailor”.