(Note on the origin of ‘gringo’- apparently it stems from the US invasion of Mexico City in the Mexican-American war. People would shout at the green combat uniform clad American soldiers “Green-go!" So they say.)
It was the guy I sit next to at work. Apparently he had left 10-15 minutes after I left and had taken the metro directly. So despite my brisk walk, its still faster to metro it up going this direction. Maybe I need to enroll in the EcoBici rental bike program. Or buy some Rollerblades. Every day I see someone commuting on Rollerblades.
So the explanation of the origin of the name ‘gringo’ made me a little uncomfortable because it just seemed a little wrong rather than the pejorative connotations: it just didn’t seem likely that American military forces would be wearing green (fatigues) in the war which was fought in the 1830s.
Turns out my doubt is justified- according to Dr. Wick E. Pedia usage of Gringo to refer to foreigners was recorded in the 1780s in Spain. Sounds like there’s a lot of debate over the true origins of the word, mostly divided into the camp that thinks its a derivation from “Greigio”(Greek, or gibberish, in the usage of “its all Greek to me” i.e. I can’t understand this foreigner) or, the camp advocating the Roma gypsy word “[pere]gringo” as in the falcon, slang for denoting a stranger, a traveler.
I like that, the stranger, the traveler who comes in on the wind, the falcon, el Gringo.
This was a typical jacket worn by American infantry soldiers in the Mexican-American war. Its a kind of sky blue color. None of the uniforms, enlisted or officers, have any green material.
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