The term gringo is familiar to every American. Depending on the tone of voice, gringo can mean an Anglo from the United States, or a dumb, and even ugly, American. What is not known is the origin of the word. I heard two theories from Mexicans when I was living in Mexico City. Both theories are based on events surrounding the Mexican American war in 1847. One, is that the American soldiers who pushed into Mexico were called "green coats", and this translated into "gringos". The other theory is that General Scott's troops, who occupied Mexico City in 1847, sang a popular song of the day with lyrics that went, "Green grow the lilacs". ***
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Good people. ***
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the wealthy.***
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cousins***
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Mexicans are fond of nicknames. If you are from a certain town, or part of the country, they have a nickname for you. A chilango is someone from Mexico City. Maybe they got that name because of their love of chiles. ***
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small ranches.***
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The first time I heard the word was in 1981. I was interviewing Jorge Bustamante, a sociologist who taught at the Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. Bustamante had been studying the migrant issue for 20 years. He used the word nativistic, and though I never heard it before, I knew what he meant. A "nativist" is your basic redneck who hates outsiders, especially foreigners whose skin is a shade darker. California governor Pete Wilson was called nativistic by two of his fellow Republicans, Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett, over the issue of Proposition 187, the CA prop that would deny Mexicans without a green card social services.***
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customs/immigration***
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Smugglers, except these smugglers are smuggling human cargo, who also have a name: pollos--chickens.***
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dumb-ass***
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There are two types of cannibus. The Mexican variety is sativa. The other, which originates from Afganastan, is indica. Indica is generally the variety of pot that is grown in the United States, especially northern California. It has a very strong smell which is similar to the faint odor of a skunk.***
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The brotherhood in this case is the Ku Klux Klan. In 1980, the Republican incumbant, Claire Burghner, was running unopposed in his San Diego congressional district. The Democrats didn't want to waste their money running against him as they had in the past. On the last day one could file to run in the primaries, Tom Metzger, one time Grand Dragon of the KKK and head of a group of racists called WAR, White Aryan Resistance, filed to run in the Democratic primary. The Democrats hastily threw in a candidate to run against Metzger, but Metzger had the jump on them and won. He ran against Burghner in November.
Metzger lost, of course, but for the few months leading up to the November election, he sat on the Democratic Central Committee, which was mandated by the Democratic Party's policy. From this bully pulpit, Metzger advocated patrolling the Mexican border by upstanding patriots, to stop Mexican migrants looking for work from crossing illegally, The Ku Klux Klan answered the call.
That summer, 1980, there was a small article buried in the back pages of the San Diego Union stating that in the course of the last year, 50 bodies of murdered Mexicans had been found in the hills, mountains and deserts of San Diego county.
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Pronounced TOSS-co, Taxco is a tourist town located a few hours south of Mexico City. Located in the mountains, it is also a mining town--silver, copper and lead.***
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Pronounced toss CANE ya, Taxqueña is the nickname for a woman from Taxco.***
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The Metro, or subway station from where you can catch a bus to Taxco, is called Taxqueña. Since there are many Mexicans who can't read, but still need to take the Metro to get to work, each Metro station has a glyph, or picture, to indicate which station it is. The glyph for the Taxqueña station is a quarter moon.***
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A paséo can be a weekend vacation, or a trip around the local plaza Sunday evening. The paséo is a tradition in Mexican towns where the locals go to the plaza to visit one another and the youngsters circle it inside its perimeter to check each other out.***
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ugly cousin***
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pot, marijuana***
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skinny***
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psychedelic mushroom or what kids call shrooms are mushrooms found in Oaxaca containing psylosibin***
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pronounced day-EF-ay, the letters stand for Distrito Federal (Federal District)***
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Indian women, who leave the countryside with their young children to come to the cities in search of work, and often wind up homeless. To survive, they sell Chiclets, nuts or sunflower seeds arranged on a blanket spread out on a sidewalk, their babies in their arms. They have been given the name, Maria.***
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When the semi-wealthy build a house in Mexico, they build a wall around it with broken bottles embedded in the cement on top.***
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Pronounced KETS-al-co-OUGHT-al, Quetzalcoátl is a name which is a combination of two words: quetzal--the colorful plumed bird, and coatl--the snake. Quetzalcoátl was an Aztec god who taught the Aztecs how keep track of the seasons, and how to grow crops. Of course, every time a civilization developed agriculture, it was just a matter of time before slavery was instituted. There is a theory that Quetzalcoátl was a real person, probably a Viking who had been shipwrecked, but still had his chain-mail and plumed helmet, hence the name. Quetzalcoátl later disappeared after telling the Aztecs he would return around a certain date. That date happened to be about the time Cortéz landed with his troops at Vera Cruz.***
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I believe that pyramids were built to be used as a calander to show seasons, which was necessary for agriculture.***
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In Mexico, no building, no street, no plaza, zocolo nor monument bear the name of any Spaniard. You'll have to cross the border into San Diego or any other border town to see Balboa, Cortez or Cabrillo.***
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