[paltz]

The term "gringo" when pronounced correctly sounds like "Green-Go", which it was what latin nations were saying to the white military men (in green, of course)when colonialization was happening. That other word you spat out is a pejorative and should not be use in regular converstaion.

[Clemenza]

The term "gringo"

There are two explanations for this term:

1. It is a deriviative of the medeval Spanish word for "Greek", which was synomous with "foreigner" at the time.

2. During the Mexican-American war, the Mexican soldiers heard American soldiers singing a then popular tune on many occasions that went something like "green go the lilacs."