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As far as I know gringo means a white american/redneck
A white skinned person born and raised in the u.s speaking english. As their primary language. That has a long history of their family living in the u.s.
To say almost native to the u.s but we all know that the true natives of the u.s are not white,but hopefully you catch. my drift.
In latin culture gringo is not seen as"foreigner to latin culture". Its just used to refer to the stereotyped group of classic americans.
If your asian its "philipino /china/thialandes/japones.
If your russian its"el russo or la russa.
If your australian its "la or el australiano"
Clearly latinos do not refer to these ethnicities as gringos but in some cases will say"que parecen gringos "meaning they look like gringos.
But it all comes back to "gringo in latin culture means.
Whities/rednecks/born in the us white americans.
QUOTE=crisp444;13800334]I know exactly what gringo means - "foreigner to the Latin culture". Though it has a negative connotation, it's certainly a more effective term against which to juxtapose "Latin" than "white."
Look, you've lived in Miami for 2+ years now and attend a good university. You have the potential to be well-spoken, including about this issue. That a "regular person" (Joe Six-Pack in Missouri/Kansas/Iowa) doesn't know much information about different ethnicities shouldn't keep you from speaking intelligently about the issue. Basically, I see the bar as being higher for you, especially because you are educated, especially because your family isn't of "Anglo" background, and especially because you live in Miami. In other words: you aren't Joe Six-Pack, so don't speak as he would. You're not in small-town Michigan anymore, buddy.
As for me, I don't create threads about white/Anglo/Cuban/Hispanic/Latin/etc.; I just respond when people need help understanding linguistic, ethnic, and cultural issues in Miami. And yes, you'd better believe I'm going to step in and clarify things when people seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the above issues. I'll make you a deal: I'll stop delving into all of these issues when others (including you) stop posting about them! Because I highly doubt that will happen, you should probably brace yourself for more of my lengthy, "cultured" (as you put it), and sometimes admonishing posts.
And, not to toot my horn, but I do receive numerous private messages and reputation points thanking me for my accurate, insightful posts on this forum. Clearly it's not just me who thinks some of the things I write![/quote]
" For a regular person a white person is an anglo, someone from south america is a latino."
Within the context of the op I understood the usage of the term anglo as refering to a white/gringo/redneck.
But I think the above qouted post is what threw me off. Because because I recall learning that what have come to be known as americans/gringos /redkneck are not pure white americans but a mixutre of european descents or somthing of the sort.
So when I heard anglo and cubans I though the gringo and cuban relation ship. But then I though wait the op isn't talking about gringos he's talking about europeans and cubans.
I realize that in a more educated manner of speaking gringo/redneck/white guy/girl/white people. The term anglo is used to refer to the above mentioned.
See around the social circles I've been the question would have been simply put.
'Just wondering if cuban/white relationships are as common in
Florida as,say,mexican-american/white relationships are common in southwest,texas and california
The trouble would come around when trying to describe what is meant by white without sounding racist.
You can be sure that in the circles I've been there would be a bit of fumbling around when trying to put the point across that the questions is about gringos/whities/rednecks/anglos. Specially when there are lots of people trying to be politically correct.
You'll here them say "what do you mean white? Cubans can be white, puerto ricans can be white, colombians can be white etc...
"Are you talking about white americans or just white as in skin color?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by xavierob82
Just out of sheer curiosity. I was wondering if Cuban/anglo relationships are as common in Florida as, say, Mexican-American/anglo relationships are common in the Southwest, Texas, and California.
" For a regular person a white person is an anglo, someone from south america is a latino."
Within the context of the op I understood the usage of the term anglo as refering to a white/gringo/redneck.
But I think the above qouted post is what threw me off. Because because I recall learning that what have come to be known as americans/gringos /redkneck are not pure white americans but a mixutre of european descents or somthing of the sort.
So when I heard anglo and cubans I though the gringo and cuban relation ship. But then I though wait the op isn't talking about gringos he's talking about europeans and cubans.
Anglo...is generally anglo-saxon...which originally was specifically from the UK. Then changed to mean more white anglo saxon protestant (WASP). Now it seems loosely as something 'not latino european white'. (There use to be a differentiation between WASP and Catholic - i.e. Irish, Polish, Italian, etc.) Seems like that distinction has disappeared.
Odd that people here (or there in Miami) associate gringo with redneck. I wonder if that is a Cuban/Florida thing? As it seems more whites in Florida have more of a redneck attachment to them somehow.
Over on the West Coast, with mostly Mexicans and Californians (which I'm more familiar with), don't know about Texans/Mexicans. But basically ANYONE who is european blood Americano is a gringo..I never heard the 'redneck' term attached to it.
Just for the record, 'redneck' is generally a derogatory term towards lower class whites. There is kind of a loose symbolism with it being a backwoods hunter/fisher, beer-drinker, truck-driving, grease under the fingernails type look, etc. attachment with it.
Last time I lived in Miami was in 1983, so things might have changed.
For Cubans, Americans are "Americanos". For them, an American is a WASP, a Nordic type. Just like your typical Florida redneck, usually from Scottish-German-Scandinavian stock.
For them, a Jewish, Italian or Greek that speaks English and not their language is a Judio, Italiano and a Griego.
Most Cubans, at least when I lived there, were first or second generation Spanish, a lot of Spaniards too. The "flotsam" of the very large Spanish community in Cuba whose businesses were nationalized. There were also Cubans Jews, Cuban Chinese from Canton and Cuban Polish. It's also the case of other Latin American countries.
That's why Cubans and many white Latins from Miami get p.i.s.s.e.d when Americano Rednecks calls them non-whites. Miami and South Florida is the only place in the U.S. with a thriving and dominant population of white hispanics.
In California is totally different, most Latins there are Mexicans mestizos.
Cubans use Redneck because the only Americans (Cuban definition of Americans) left in Dade proper were mostly poor and redneckish.
Cubans never use gringo, never in Cuba, that's from the continent, not even Castro in his diatribes. In Cuba they use Yuma to refer to anything American or foreign with hard currency.
So when I heard anglo and cubans I though the gringo and cuban relation ship. But then I though wait the op isn't talking about gringos he's talking about europeans and cubans.
-----
White Cubans are far closer to Europe than Rednecks. Most of them arrived from Spain during the 20th Century 1898-1945.
Rednecks did not preserve the culture of their remote European ancestors, none of them speaks their original language and they are closer to Indians than to Europeans. There's no Nascar, squirrel hunting and moonshining in Europe.
I know exactly what gringo means - "foreigner to the Latin culture". Though it has a negative connotation, it's certainly a more effective term against which to juxtapose "Latin" than "white."
Look, you've lived in Miami for 2+ years now and attend a good university. You have the potential to be well-spoken, including about this issue. That a "regular person" (Joe Six-Pack in Missouri/Kansas/Iowa) doesn't know much information about different ethnicities shouldn't keep you from speaking intelligently about the issue. Basically, I see the bar as being higher for you, especially because you are educated, especially because your family isn't of "Anglo" background, and especially because you live in Miami. In other words: you aren't Joe Six-Pack, so don't speak as he would. You're not in small-town Michigan anymore, buddy.
As for me, I don't create threads about white/Anglo/Cuban/Hispanic/Latin/etc.; I just respond when people need help understanding linguistic, ethnic, and cultural issues in Miami. And yes, you'd better believe I'm going to step in and clarify things when people seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the above issues. I'll make you a deal: I'll stop delving into all of these issues when others (including you) stop posting about them! Because I highly doubt that will happen, you should probably brace yourself for more of my lengthy, "cultural" (as you put it), and sometimes admonishing posts.
And, not to toot my horn, but I do receive numerous private messages and reputation points thanking me for my accurate, insightful posts on this forum. Clearly it's not just me who thinks some of the things I write!
-----
That was a good one, Crisp. I'm afraid that the level of some universities are far from "cultural"...
That was a good one, Crisp. I'm afraid that the level of some universities are far from "cultural"...
Yeah, I'm not cultural.. I only speak Spanish and Portuguese and most of my friends are from South America and many from India. I've traveled in Colombia and I'm moving to India for a year, but hey what do I know about these cultures .. I only hang out with them
For the record, gringo isn't a negative term.. it is said to a white american. It doesn't mean redneck, that's a completely different term..
Odd that people here (or there in Miami) associate gringo with redneck. I wonder if that is a Cuban/Florida thing? As it seems more whites in Florida have more of a redneck attachment to them somehow.
Over on the West Coast, with mostly Mexicans and Californians (which I'm more familiar with), don't know about Texans/Mexicans. But basically ANYONE who is european blood Americano is a gringo..I never heard the 'redneck' term attached to it.
Just for the record, 'redneck' is generally a derogatory term towards lower class whites. There is kind of a loose symbolism with it being a backwoods hunter/fisher, beer-drinker, truck-driving, grease under the fingernails type look, etc. attachment with it.
Thank you. Most of the people on this forum that throw around the word "gringo" and think it means "redneck" or "white" did not grow up in South Florida. "Redneck" has an extremely negative connotation, worse than that of "gringo"!
Over on the West Coast, with mostly Mexicans and Californians (which I'm more familiar with), don't know about Texans/Mexicans. But basically ANYONE who is european blood Americano is a gringo..I never heard the 'redneck' term attached to it.
Just for the record, 'redneck' is generally a derogatory term towards lower class whites. There is kind of a loose symbolism with it being a backwoods hunter/fisher, beer-drinker, truck-driving, grease under the fingernails type look, etc. attachment with it.
It is derogatory and it's not widely used unless it is meant in an offensive way. Unlike California we had our share Americans from the South (and still do in places like the Redlands, Davie and other rural towns of Florida) that fly confederate flags and talk with heavy Southern accents.
Please realize that this forum is like the series "Lost" there is reality and then there is a Parallel Miami universe that 2 particular posters created, a Cuban residing in Barcelona and a Law student in NYC, but Miami is very different from what those two posters describe when it comes to racial terminology and relations:
In the real world:
In English you say "white" when referring to white non hispanic.
In Spanish you say "American" when referring to white non hispanic.
Some recently arrived South Americans might use "gringo", but it's not a widely used term. I never used it myself even when I lived in South America as it is a slang term. It is not offensive though just sounds tacky & uneducated in my opinion. Back in South America we say "North Americans" when referring to white non hispanic.
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