Is "Gringo" an offensive or derogatory word?
My Mexican non-English speaking cousin-in-law asked me if I thought that "Gringo" was an offensive term. My response was "no". My reasoning is that "Gringo" is a slang term for non-Mexican North A...
Forum Discussion
As above - it all depends on how it is used by whoever is using the term. We lived in Puerto Rico for 8 years and we all called ourselves Gringos. But some Puerto Ricans use it as a derogatory term just as some Mexicans do. I did a lot of online research back then to track down the origin of the term. Also as above my research led me to conclude it originated in Spain - and also that it was used to refer to anyone not born in Spain or anyone whose native language was not Spanish. Nowadays the term can also be used (as above) to mean US citizens - and probably Canadians. In this hemisphere we are all "Americans" - even those in the Caribbean Islands think of themselves as "Americans" - but many US citizens seem to think the term refers exclusively to them. People from anywhere in North America, Central America, South America are all "Americans". So the term "Gringo" has come to mean US citizens because there doesn't seem to be another term to differentiate them from all the other "Americans". We need to find a better name for ourselves.
