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Enviado el: jueves, 28 de marzo de 2002 02:29 While I have heard stories about the term gringo coming from the song Lou McDermott mentions and also having something to do with the color of US troops' uniforms during the war the explanation I have most often run across in dictionaries is as a "deformation" of the use of the word griego, as in an incomprehensible language(used the same as "that's greek to me"). So therefore a foreigner, especially English, and in Latin America a north american, although that usage, as we have been discussing, then leaves open the question of whether Canadians are to be included. (This also leaves aside the additional complication of the fact that Mexico, or at least much of it, could be considered to be part of north america,too.) (note: The dictionary I used at the moment is the Vox Diccionario Actual de la Lengua Espanola, 1996, but I have seen this explanation in others over the years.) Dennis Kortheuer -- It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy ... The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.'' Boutros Boutros-Ghali Dennis Kortheuer Ph. D. dkortheu@pacbell.net voice: 310 832-3452 fax: 310 832-0062
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