[bonyclayd]

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Taunted by leftist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, President Bush on Friday insisted the United States is not neglecting Latin America and celebrated an alternative-fuels pact with Brazil as proof.

"I don't think America gets enough credit for trying to help improve people's lives," Bush said at a joint news conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "My trip is to explain as clearly as I can that our nation is generous and compassionate."

Bush shrugged off fresh attacks from Chavez, his primary South American adversary. The Venezuelan leader is staging a tour of the region to rival Bush's seven-day, five-country visit. (President's itinerary)

On Friday, in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- about 1,000 miles southwest of Sao Paulo -- Chavez called Bush's travels an attempt to divide and confuse Latin American nations.

"The future belongs to us," Chavez told reporters, adding, "Oh, ho ho! Gringo go home!"

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html Imagine the outcry if Bush had said something like "wetback go home" in response to Chavez's antics here in the US.

Of course, while old Hugo wants the "Gringo" to go home, he sure doesn't mind selling oil for "gringo" money....

Matt

[juyrett]

Word History: In Latin America the word gringo is an offensive term for a foreigner, particularly an American or English person. But the word existed in Spanish before this particular sense came into being. In fact, gringo may be an alteration of the word griego, the Spanish development of Latin Graecus, "Greek." Griego first meant "Greek, Grecian," as an adjective and "Greek, Greek language," as a noun. The saying "It's Greek to me" exists in Spanish, as it does in English, and helps us understand why griego came to mean "unintelligible language" and perhaps, by further extension of this idea, "stranger, that is, one who speaks a foreign language." The altered form gringo lost touch with Greek but has the senses "unintelligible language," "foreigner, especially an English person," and in Latin America, "North American or Britisher." Its first recorded English use (1849) is in John Woodhouse Audubon's Western Journal: "We were hooted and shouted at as we passed through, and called 'Gringoes.'"
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved gringo - definition of gringo by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

[jenilopaz]

"Gringo" is not a racist epithet, in case that is what you are referring to.



Gringo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you think it's racist, please advise why.

n. pl. grin·gos Offensive Slang
Used as a disparaging term for a foreigner in Latin America, especially an American or English person.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gringo In fact, look in most dictionaries, and the term is described as offensive.

Matt

[jenilopaz]

Sorry, dude, but from my personal experience, the term is used as a racist pejorative.

As far as the dictionary not using the word "racist" to describe it, you might note that the word "nigger" is also in the category of "offensive slang".

So the fact that the dictionary doesn't specifically label the term racist is a meaningless tidbit.

Matt

[juyrett]

Perhaps your personal experience, but that doesnt mean the word is necessarily racist.



You are quite predictable sometimes, I figured you'd bring that up.

Nigger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



There's a difference between offensive slangs and racist slangs/slurs.



It isn't meaningless at all. It simply shows that the word can be used in a different sense from what you claim to be your personal experience. Whether you choose to acknowledge that is your choice ...

Here's a better source than Wiki:

nig·ger Pronunciation (ngr)
n. Offensive Slang
1.
a. Used as a disparaging term for a Black person: "You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger" James Baldwin.
b. Used as a disparaging term for a member of any dark-skinned people.
2. Used as a disparaging term for a member of any socially, economically, or politically deprived group of people: "Gun owners are the new niggers . . . of society" John Aquilino.
[Alteration of dialectal neger, black person, from French nègre, from Spanish negro; see Negro.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. nigger - definition of nigger by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

[bonyclayd]

Sorry, but Wikipedia is not an authoritative source for, well, anything.

I could easily go to the Wiki right now, and edit it to show Gringo as a racial slur.

Matt

[outdog]

To add to the spate of reversals that's been giving our blighted administration acid indigestion and occasional irregularity lately, my main man, Señor Hugo Chavez Friás, was reelected president of Venezuela in December by a landslide. His victory, resounding as it was, didn't merit that accolade in most American papers, though, because the wealthy elites who control our corporate media don't like Hugo very much. You see, he's doing something in his country that our elected officials don't do here: He actually represents those who voted for him rather than monied interests who didn't. How original!

He calls himself a socialist--he isn't, of course--but the very word strikes terror into the hearts of those who would continue their brutal, long-term exploitation of the Latin American countries. Hugo is actively trying to better the lives of his population by offering them subsidized reading programs...and now his tiny nation has nearly 100% literacy. America cannot make the same claim...Venezuela under Hugo represents what Noam Chomsky of MIT refers to as a "virus," that is, a successful populist economy likely to serve as an example to others. Everybody knows we can't have anything like THAT going on in THIS hemisphere, right? (By the way, President Chavez is a reader and an attentive student of the words of Professor Noam, whose insight and effulgent wisdom has been suppressed by our media for DECADES.) ....

http://conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/360

[Arr34ston]

You could, but it would have to be approved. Contrary to what people think, you cannot just change Wiki willy nilly - it has to be approved after your edit if I am not mistaken.

You are mistaken, sir. I just edited the quote "Gringo go home" to "Oh, ho, ho. Gringo go home" on the page.

Further, I believe wiki over the dictionary in this case, since often times, a word is used in a different sense than it's dictionary meaning in real life. For instance, the word "nigger" is not referred to as a racial slur in the dictionary when it clearly is.

Seems to be mental gymnastics trying to avoid the connotations of Chavez's choice of words.

Anyway, the point is you are making a mountain out of a molehill - I dont believe the term was used in a racist way. Condescending, but thats it - you are reading too much into it.

Gosh, sorry to be offended by a racist epithet without your approval.

Matt

[Usogwdkb]

How exactly is it a better source for words like this?

I admit historical events and the like should be sourced elsewhere, but I think wiki is perfectly acceptable for slang words and their meanings. ''

Further, from your defintion, the word 'nigger' isn't even portrayed as a racial slur.

One of Wikipedia's editors is under scrutiny for falsifying his credentials! Do you really trust that site over The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language?????

[Arr34ston]

Is 'gringo' worse than 'filho da puta' ? 'cos that's what they call him in Brazil.


Angry crowds hunt Bush as protests mark start of Latin American tour | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Lol.

I have some neologisms, if anyone is interested.

[jenilopaz]

Sorry, Pi Ju, but as a "statesman", Hugo is held to a higher standard. If Bush had called him a "spic", there would (rightly) be hell to pay.

Chavez expressly chose the word "gringo". You have acknowledged that some people consider this a racial term, correct?

That being the case, it was a vary unwise choice of words - unless the intent was to offend.

Matt

[jenilopaz]

Sure the intention was to offend. Why do you think he said it?

OK, so now you are saying he used the term in it's offensive connotation, on purpose.

He succeeded - he used a racial epithet to offend. A shining moment in his career.

Matt

[jenilopaz]

You acknowledged - or at least I thought you did - that some people consider "gringo" to be an offensive racial epithet.

It seems unlikely, given the relative ease with which we each found sources debating the racial nature of "gringo", that Chavez could be unaware of the connotations some people consider it a racist term.

And yet he specifically chose to use it.

Matt

[Mjypksun]

You could, but it would have to be approved. Contrary to what people think, you cannot just change Wiki willy nilly - it has to be approved after your edit if I am not mistaken.

Further, I believe wiki over the dictionary in this case, since often times, a word is used in a different sense than it's dictionary meaning in real life. For instance, the word "nigger" is not referred to as a racial slur in the dictionary when it clearly is.

Anyway, the point is you are making a mountain out of a molehill - I dont believe the term was used in a racist way. Condescending, but thats it - you are reading too much into it.

Yes it would have to be approved, but you know about the persoon that got fired from there for falsifying hiw credentials, right?

But here you go Pi, Here's the diefinition for gringo from dictionary.com...
grin·go (grĭng'gō) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. grin·gos Offensive Slang
Used as a disparaging term for a foreigner in Latin America, especially an American or English person. So there we go, it is offensive and it always has been used that way. I don't think I've ever heard anyone hispanic greet a white person, with "gringo", happily. Unles they were friends using it the way "rappers" call each other nigger.

[Enrivaanonock]

Imagine the outcry if Bush had said something like "wetback go home" in response to Chavez's antics here in the US.

Of course, while old Hugo wants the "Gringo" to go home, he sure doesn't mind selling oil for "gringo" money....

Matt

WHAT????

RACIST????

You're REEEAAALLLYYY reaching here Matt.

So "Old Gringo" was a "racist" movie about white people .. made by white people.

John Wayne and a bunch of other "cowboys" called themselves "Gringo" in hundreds of movies. "Cowboy" sounds more like a derogatory name than gringo.

Dude .. you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Cajlwdvx]

By the way, for those that think gringo is racist, I'm still waiting upon a dictionary definition that says it is (since apparently those folks say wiki is not credible enough).

No dictionary defines any language as specifically racist or offensive. The word gringo is a derogatory term for a specific group (read: racist) and I don't see why you would argue over that point. If you really must know for sure I'm sure that you could go to urbandictionary.com and look it up. I'm not going to bother because that is another website that has no place in intelligent discusion, but it will answer your question. Hugo Chavez used language that he knew full and well was racist and chose to use it anyways. Or if it was a freudian slip it still shows his true nature.

[Agitoligflise]

No dictionary defines any language as specifically racist or offensive. The word gringo is a derogatory term for a specific group (read: racist) and I don't see why you would argue over that point. If you really must know for sure I'm sure that you could go to urbandictionary.com and look it up. I'm not going to bother because that is another website that has no place in intelligent discusion, but it will answer your question. Hugo Chavez used language that he knew full and well was racist and chose to use it anyways. Or if it was a freudian slip it still shows his true nature.

Bullshit.

Many Mexicans call ANYONE who is an American "gringo" regardless of their race.

Calling an American "gringo" is about as "racist" as being anti-Israel is "racist". There is no race called jews.

The good news is that the term "racist" has become so offensive that even the right uses it, often incorrectly, to try to make a point.

[OvDojQXN]

I lived in Puerto Rico for 3 years, San Diego for 4, and Yuma for 2. I guess I'm stoopid, because I was always convinced that 'gringo' was a durogatory term used to describe caucasians. Guess I was all wet all those years.

[Mjypksun]

Where did I say it wasn't offensive? I said it wasn't racist. There is a difference between the two.

You don't see it as racist even though it is a derrogatory term used towards a race. It is a term that was "invented" to be said towards a race.

[jenilopaz]

WHAT????

RACIST????

You're REEEAAALLLYYY reaching here Matt.

So "Old Gringo" was a "racist" movie about white people .. made by white people.

John Wayne and a bunch of other "cowboys" called themselves "Gringo" in hundreds of movies. "Cowboy" sounds more like a derogatory name than gringo.

And "gangsta" rap musicians call one another "nigger". Doesn't make it any less offensive.

Dude .. you should be ashamed of yourself.

Gosh, sorry to be offended without your prior permission.

Pardon me, but who the hell are you to tell me what is offensive to me?

Matt