An ugly word

[Allison Finch]

Hell, I've been called honky, cracker and all kinds of other labels. I just shrug, smile and move on.....

 

[M-Cameron]

why are we caring about the opinions of people we are literally never going to give a second thought about a few days later?

someone calls me a honkey, cracker, gringo, ect..i really dont care, as that person, and their opinions are more than likely meaningless to me.

go about your day and leave them to live their sad depressing lives....i dont care about a rats opinion of me....i dont care about a cows opinion of me......i dont care about a birds opinion of me.....because they are lesser beings........so are people that feel the need to degrade others with racial slurs, so i really dont care about their opinions.

 

[Steelyeyes]

Everywhere you go that you consider foreign you're going to stand out. I've heard haole, gringo, gweilo, gajin, and a few others. Sometimes they are just slang for white folks, sometimes they are slurs. I don't give a rip. If I was sensitive I'd stay in the US and yell at people to get off of my lawn...if I had a lawn.

 

[martincohn]

America is the only place that has become politically correct and whats funny is the rest of the world is laughing at us.

The whole PC thing is a bunch of BS.

 

[agilis]

Everywhere you go that you consider foreign you're going to stand out. I've heard haole, gringo, gweilo, gajin, and a few others. Sometimes they are just slang for white folks, sometimes they are slurs. I don't give a rip. If I was sensitive I'd stay in the US and yell at people to get off of my lawn...if I had a lawn.

I lived in Jamaica for more than a year back in the early 70s, and subsequently spent a great deal of time there, including a semester sabbatical. White people in Jamaica are generally referred to as 'backra'. The term has about the same resonance as gringo, not necessarily a slur but by no means a compliment. The word derives from a couple of West African languages, and is independently found, with slight pronunciation differences, among many previously enslaved African communities in the western hemisphere. The original African meaning of backra was a white man in a position of authority. I was once startled to hear the word used in South Carolina, in a Gullah influenced coastal community.

Backra is widely used in Jamaica. There are hundreds of African words in Jamaican English, everyday words like nyam instead of eat. I still use nyam myself on occasion, especially when talking to myself. A tourist, fancying herself an expert in all things Jamaican, once told me that backra is actually a slurred version of 'back raw', reflecting the brutal treatment of Jamaicans by white slave owners. She heard this from her Rasta boyfriend, so she felt it must be accurate. My explanation of the word's actual origin did not shake her confidence in her dreadlocked beach boy's etymological expertise.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Every Spanish speaker I come across calls me cabron. I suspect it may not be a term of endearment.

 

[Hank49]

I think this conversation has two related but distinct issues: (1) are we or would we be offended; and (2) if so, how should we react? I just let it go. I like to believe I know I should be offended, but I take the points others have made above into account. Have a thick skin. Consider good-natured ribbing among friends. Consider imbalance of insults between countries. Etc.

I was called "monkey ears", my brother had red hair so he was "red" or "freckles"....fatso, skinny, curly, ....all white people. So yeah, just because it's about another race, big deal. That's just how people are.
When I first started working in Belize, the local guy rode to work with in a boat every day told me, "you know?...you're only like...half gringo".
He went on to tell me it was because I didn't judge Belize way of life as inferior to America, which is fairly common among "gringos" here.
I have lived outside the US for 34 years though....

 

[M-Cameron]

When I first started working in Belize, the local guy rode to work with in a boat every day told me, "you know?...you're only like...half gringo".
He went on to tell me it was because I didn't judge Belize way of life as inferior to America, which is fairly common among "gringos" here.
I have lived outside the US for 34 years though....

Wonder if maybe the reason they are judging it as inferior is because they keep getting called gringo while their down there..

Can’t imagine blacks in America were all the chuffed to bits with the American way of life when they were being called N***** on the reg.

 

[Steelyeyes]

Every Spanish speaker I come across calls me cabron. I suspect it may not be a term of endearment.

They must love you. It means dumbass. I've heard them using it among the guys more than once.

 

[Angelo Farina]

It is fun how the same word, Gringo in this case, can vary so wildly in its positive-negative attribution.
Here in Italy the name Gringo is associated with a very positive character, featuring the "macho" gunman in a series of TV spots of the sixties and seventies.
The spots were promoting canned meat, branded Montana.
No one consider an offense to be called "Gringo" here in Italy.
Instead it is an appellative meaning you are a tough guy, as the character in the TV spots...
Even if these TV spots are not aired since almost 50 years, people here continues saying "hey, Gringo" as an appreciaton to a guy looking smart and fit...
Here a couple of these TV spots on Youtube: