What does the word gringo or gringa mean to you? Some local writers have argued recently that this term is used by friendly Mexicans to address welcome foreigners. The reader is assured that being called a gringo is no way derogatory. This has left me wondering if we are all living in the same country. I have lived in Mexico for many years and have many Mexican and Huichol friends and in my experience the term is anything but complimentary.
All languages change in time in various ways. Words can take on different connotations through constant usage. The word gay, which used to refer to a particularly cheerful person, has taken on quite a different meaning today. Possibly in certain social contexts gringo has softened somewhat in meaning but it is hardly a term of endearment. In my experience the term still retains much of the often-justified underlying hostility and resentment that many Mexicans still feel toward foreigners in Mexico. I have friends in Guadalajara who sometimes refer to the city as Guadalajara Gringada (Gringoized Guadalajara), an epithet that expresses their contempt for the gringo ghettos where foreigners hole up to preserve their own language and culture.
I first came to Mexico more than thirty-five years ago when there was no doubt whatever about the meaning of the word gringo. In those days there was also a sharp distinction drawn between Americans and Canadians. Most Mexicans had little or no idea where Canada was, except that it was not the United States. We were always careful to keep a Canadian sticker on the car and identify ourselves as Canadians. We were then quickly accepted as welcome visitors. But that was a long time ago and. as has been pointed out, attitudes and the meanings of words change. But should I consider myself lucky to be called a gringo today? Or take it as a friendly gesture from a smiling Mexican?
I run nearly every day between Jocotepec and San Juan Cosala. Sometimes my running route takes me through the back streets of Jocotepec. When I first began running, many children used to call out gringo as I went by. I stopped and explained to them, in Spanish, that I was not a gringo and that Mexico was my home as well. I made friends with many children. But there are still a few holdouts. In one house I pass by the children were particularly vociferous. I spoke to them about it but they persisted. I then suggested to the parents that they explain to the children that some people at least regard it as a term of disrespect. But I realize that one cannot make friends with everyone.
One day recently I ended my run near a store in Jocotepec. The owner came out and told me that he used to run and was very interested in my training schedule. I jokingly replied that I was that loco gringo who ran in the heat of the day when sensible Mexicans stayed in the shade. He hastened to assure me in no uncertain terms that I was neither crazy nor a gringo. In fact, whenever I have referred to myself as a gringo my Mexican friends have objected strongly to my self-deprecation.
Many different attempts have been made to explain the real meaning of the term gringo, some based on false etymologies. Dictionary definitions are also of limited application. More important is the sense in which the term is used in daily intercourse between Mexicans and foreigners. Incidentally, when does one cease to be a foreigner here in Mexico? Perhaps recent attempts to soften the true meaning of gringo are intended to appease Americans and others who are caught between the Mexican culture and the current international political scene. I suspect that if one were to question Mexicans more closely about their use of the term one would find both a surface meaning and a deep structure or hidden meaning. As we have learned from recent political events around the world, arbitrarily changing the meaning of words does not change the facts or the way people feel.
