An ugly word

[Scuba-74]

Does that work both ways? Can "we" also use derogatory terms to describe others in order to desensitize the world or do we have to accept the double standard I mentioned earlier?

Those are rhetorical questions in this day and age...

 

[martincohn]

Does that work both ways? Can "we" also use derogatory terms to describe others in order to desensitize the world or do we have to accept the double standard I mentioned earlier?

Nope cause you would be a racist Nazi then.

 

[AfterDark]

I couldn't care less what some foreign national calls me. If they call me gringo face to face they may not like the in-kind response they receive. I use the mirror response technique when dealing with offensive people. I have no desire to deescalate a situation started by some A-hole.

What I don't do is spend a dime in their little 3rd world countries. See the USA!

Go to Aruba, when I was there they seemed to like us gringos fine. Notice how spell check recognizes gringo? Reading the A&I site of the divers left behind in Mexico one could almost speculate they're dropping off gringos and leaving them, but we know that's not happening.

 

[Jcp2]

A lot of countries have dominant groups that have derogatory words to refer to NOP (not our people). These words are used by the groups to put others in their place and don’t have the same effect when used by the others, or when the others have derogatory names for the dominant groups. I accept and understand that.
But America is not like a lot of other countries. We are not perfect by any means, but for me, what makes America different is the ideal that all people are equal, that where you come from doesn’t matter, that citizens can participate in government in a meaningful way, that we are a kind and benevolent people setting an example of being better. Again, we’ve screwed up a lot, and we haven’t held ourselves accountable all the time for things that we’ve screwed up, but I guess that’s why I disagree with the notion that if others can do it, then so can we.
Being called a gringo by a Mexican would annoy me, (actually they would call me chino) but I don’t hold that country up to the same standards as my own. After all, if you ask most people in oppressed societies where they would like to live if they could move and start over, I’m pretty certain America is more popular than Mexico, and is likely still tops everywhere else.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If they call me gringo face to face they may not like the in-kind response they receive. I use the mirror response technique when dealing with offensive people. . . .

I can't generalize this, but responding in kind to being called a "gringo" by calling them some offensive Mexican Spanish term, and then continuing in Spanish, is probably the best response possible.

The solution to the use of a lot of other culturally offensive terms may be intractable, but the solution to being called a "gringo" is simple: respond in Spanish. As more North Americans learn Spanish as a second language, I see the term either being used less and less or gradually losing its teeth.

 

[AfterDark]

A lot of countries have dominant groups that have derogatory words to refer to NOP (not our people). These words are used by the groups to put others in their place and don’t have the same effect when used by the others, or when the others have derogatory names for the dominant groups. I accept and understand that.
But America is not like a lot of other countries. We are not perfect by any means, but for me, what makes America different is the ideal that all people are equal, that where you come from doesn’t matter, that citizens can participate in government in a meaningful way, that we are a kind and benevolent people setting an example of being better. Again, we’ve screwed up a lot, and we haven’t held ourselves accountable all the time for things that we’ve screwed up, but I guess that’s why I disagree with the notion that if others can do it, then so can we.
Being called a gringo by a Mexican would annoy me, (actually they would call me chino) but I don’t hold that country up to the same standards as my own. After all, if you ask most people in oppressed societies where they would like to live if they could move and start over, I’m pretty certain America is more popular than Mexico, and is likely still tops everywhere else.

Just ask anyone what country they'd choose to be dropped off in without ID of any kind. I'd bet Mexico would be way down on that list.

 

[AfterDark]

I can't generalize this, but responding in kind to being called a "gringo" by calling them some offensive Mexican Spanish term, and then continuing in Spanish, is probably the best response possible.

The solution to the use of a lot of other culturally offensive terms may be intractable, but the solution to being called a "gringo" is simple: respond in Spanish. As more North Americans learn Spanish as a second language, I see the term either being used less and less or gradually losing its teeth.

The proper use of profanity is universally understood, I respond in gringonese.

 

[nippurmagnum]

For what it's worth, in the part of Latin America where I was raised, Americans are called "yanquis" -- and that is also not a term of endearment.

I've lived in the US for over 35 years, and I look the part. I have also travelled all over Mexico, and often when I speak Spanish to people they are startled and say "what a surprise, I thought you were a gringo." Sometimes I tell them that I am in fact a gringo, and they usually say "yes, but not like the other gringos."

Can't say I ever lost any sleep over any of that.

 

[RockiesFan]

The gringo and yanqui terms are well earned. Grow a thicker skin and get over it.

 

[Lorenzoid]

For what it's worth, in the part of Latin America where I was raised, Americans are called "yanquis" -- and that is also not a term of endearment.

I've lived in the US for over 35 years, and I look the part. I have also travelled all over Mexico, and often when I speak Spanish to people they are startled and say "what a surprise, I thought you were a gringo." Sometimes I tell them that I am in fact a gringo, and they usually say "yes, but not like the other gringos."

Can't say I ever lost any sleep over any of that.

Let me get this straight. When they are surprised and imply that they were incorrect to have thought you were a "gringo," you refuse their admission of being incorrect and refer to yourself as a gringo? Why not instead help them change their perception of what a "gringo" is? In their minds, gringos effectively encompass all visitors they see from North America, and North Americans simply do not speak Spanish. If some time in the future the majority of North Americans are speaking Spanish when they visit Mexico, won't the word have lost meaning? At the least, it will become what El Grad says it presently is not--a way to avoid a cumbersome word such as Estadounidense or Norteamericano.