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Cypress
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Gringo?
Where'd that term originate? 
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DENNIS
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No one knows. There are a couple of prominant theories, but it's all a guess.
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Bajatripper
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Dennis is right, as usual. BUT, I'm sure you will hear from someone that will say that when US troops invaded Mexico, they wore green uniforms and the
locals were saying "green, go." This, of course, is nonsense since the uniforms US soldiers wore during our numerous interventions in Mexico were all
before green uniforms were introduced into the US Army sometime in the early 1900s.
There most certainly is but one side to every story: the TRUTH. Variations of it are nothing but lies.
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Cypress
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Their uniforms weren't green, but their hats were.
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Woooosh
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I prefer the other more folksy version: The early settler's used to sing in the fields while they worked the rows of crops. One of their favorites
was "Green Grow the Rushes, Hoe". Meaning let the plants stay and hoe-away the weeds. Other versions are "Ho", or "O". With all these white people
singing Green Grow, it was a sound bite that stuck. Maybe.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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gnukid
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Under the leadership of Polk about 1948, the yankee troops had begun incursions with Mexico, at the time they where infamously known for singing a
song while marching, "Green Grow the Lilacs" which traces back to a song composed in the early 16th century by English king Henry VIII called Green
Grows the Holly, "Green Grow the Rushes, Oh!," and were subsequently referred to as "the Greengos" in a derogatory manner wherever they invaded.
John Ross writes in his book, "El Monstruo",
http://www.amazon.com/El-Monstruo-Dread-Redemption-Mexico/dp...
"With his headlights set on the 1848 election, Polk promised the American people a “short war” (where have we heard that one before?) and orchestrated
a Gulf of Tonkin-like provocation at Matamoros, drawing Mexican troops across the Río Bravo where they managed to whack a few Americanos. Polk wept at
the death of the Yanqui soldiers — “our blood has now fallen on our own soil” (sic) — and organized a five-point invasion of Mexico. The U.S. Navy
sailed into San Francisco Bay, and Los Angeles was besieged by Kit Carson and his irregulars in Alta, California. Marines landed at Mazatlán on
Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Zachary Taylor would swoop south from Tejas, and grizzled old General Winfield Scott landed in Veracruz and followed Cortez’s
footprints to the Halls of Moctezuma.
Starting out in the spring of 1847, General Scott directed his army to take Tenochtitlán, encountering, as expected, little resistance from the
Mexicans. Indeed, like Cortez, Scott forged alliances with disaffected Mexicans along the route — the “Polkos” rejoiced in the Americano invasion. As
the Yankee Doodle Dandies climbed into the antiplano (highlands), the sang the popular songs of the day, one of which, “Green Grow the Lilacs Oh,”
became their signature tune, and forever they would be known as “greengos.” (71-2)
A write-up is here
http://wayneandwax.com/?p=5403
and here
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gringo
Which also refers to Green Horns or people from the East as opposed to West.
[Edited on 3-28-2012 by gnukid]
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dean miller
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajatripper
Dennis is right, as usual. BUT, I'm sure you will hear from someone that will say that when US troops invaded Mexico, they wore green uniforms and the
locals were saying "green, go." This, of course, is nonsense since the uniforms US soldiers wore during our numerous interventions in Mexico were all
before green uniforms were introduced into the US Army sometime in the early 1900s.
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They were Irish troops from NYC and their marching song was "Green grows the grass...."
Every time I think of the war of 1845 I think of the momument in DF "Los Heros Ninos." I have always questioned what the Mexicans were thinking
when the had the military school children fight the USMC..
SDM
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baron
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wrong.....it was the north american intruders wearing "green coats"........greencoat.... my grandpa told me so
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Osprey
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The armies of Spain employed many Greeks, hence, Griego, a slur about them came to be used about fair skinned combatants including those from the U.S.
Not a big leap to Gringo.
Why jump on the word green? No such word in Spanish. Wouldn't they pick up words from a song about VERDES, OR BERDES? Ain't no such song (s). Step
back and look at it from their huaraches.
[Edited on 3-28-2012 by Osprey]
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DENNIS
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Theories keep rolling in.
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Barry A.
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At the risk of being a complete killjoy------- who cares??
I always liked the nickname, and it was distinctive and easy to remember, and seemed so appropriate. We 'whites' always called each other "gringo"
when I was a kid livng along the border.
Viva la Gringo (or gringa, that is) 
Barry
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sancho
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I've heard on occasion, a Gringo take mild offense
to being called a Gringo, if yelled by a Borracho
in some seedy bar 'P-nche Gringo', that sort of takes
on a different flavor. Don't know what a Mexican
thinks of the word. On a side note, I once read where
at the end of the Mex Amer War, when the disputed
border was being being ironed out, Mex was prepared
to give the US the Baja Peninsula it the US had asked
for it, but thankfully we didn't, we must have seen
no value in it
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MrBillM
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Greenbacks ?
Since the U.S. Soldiers had much more money to spend than the Mexicans, whenever they left a town the locals would say "there the Green Goes" ?
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Oso
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Wrong, wrong, wrong. The term has absolutely nothing to do with uniforms or songs. It comes from Spain, predates Columbus and is simply a corruption
of "Griego" extended to include anyone who speaks Spanish badly (it's Greek to me). In Argentina it usually refers to an Italian immigrant.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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durrelllrobert
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Gringo From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Three Gringos in Central America and Venezuela, 1896 book by Richard Harding Davis (poster by Edward Penfield)Gringo (Spanish:
[ˈgɾiŋgo], Portuguese: [ˈgɾĩgu]) is a slang Spanish and Portuguese word used in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking
countries in Latin America, to denote foreigners, often from the United States. The term can be applied to someone who is actually a foreigner, or it
can denote a strong association or assimilation into foreign (particularly US) society and culture. While in Spanish it simply identifies a foreigner,
without any negative connotation,[1] in English the word is often considered offensive or disparaging.[2]
The word was used in Spain - although the word is nowadays rarely heard there - long before it crossed the Atlantic to denote foreign, non-native
speakers of Spanish.[3]
also see:
www.snopes.com/language/stories/gringo.asp
Bob Durrell
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Gypsy Jan
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The Origin of the Term is Very Murky
The Irish immigrants in the 1800's that deserted the U.S. army to fight for Mexico sang sentimental songs from their homeland in English that
enchanted the Mexican troops.
It's kind of like remembering the songs you learned and sang around the campfire in summer camp.
I think that they survivors carried the experience back home.
[Edited on 3-29-2012 by Gypsy Jan]
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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MrBillM
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Happy Yanks ?
Frustrated and humiliated by the invading Nortes laughing at the poor Mexicans, they swore to make the Grin Go away ?
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watizname
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Startin to pull on some pretty loooong strings now.
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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Cypress
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Like nearly everything else in Baja, it seems there are different explanations. The term "Gringo" is no exception. Take your pick. 
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BajaBlanca
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yes, gringo is a term used all over latin america, in Brasil used to refer to anyone who speaks with an accent
depending on the intonation it can be cute or terribly offensive
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