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...
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Not meaning to disagree but Gringo is not just a word or term used in Mexico and all my research over the years indicates it did not originate in Mexico. There is history of the term or variations of the term going back hundreds of years in Spain. They may not use it today but it was used long ago. Many other Spanish speaking countries besides Mexico use the term. In Puerto Rico they have a very different way of explaining the origin than those in Mexico have.
Anyone is free to call themselves "Americans" if they live in this hemisphere. North, South, and Central America as well as the Caribbean Islands have been known as "The Americas" since Columbus. All in this hemisphere are "Americans". Citizens of the US are the only ones not having any other name. But Mexicans and Canadians and all the other countries are also still all "Americans".
Anyone is free to call themselves "Americans" if they live in this hemisphere. North, South, and Central America as well as the Caribbean Islands have been known as "The Americas" since Columbus. All in this hemisphere are "Americans". Citizens of the US are the only ones not having any other name. But Mexicans and Canadians and all the other countries are also still all "Americans".
