When did Mexican become a "dirty" word?

@Green Witch,

So, were the band members Mexican, specifically, or more generally Latino?

@InfraBlue,

Zoe is the number one band in Mexico and I believe all the members are Mexican.

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

Example: I went to Mexican restaurant yesterday and they had a really hot Latino band. If I said Mexican band everyone would picture guys in serapes and sombreros, by saying Latino you are more likely to picture these guys:

(The band Zoe)

(My bold).

So, according to "everyone", Mexicans like the guys in Zoe are not "Mexicans", but the more dignified "Latinos".
That's putting a whole nationality in a box of stereotypes.
And I say that's going backwards.

Why don't you assume that not "everyone" is bigoted (at least, that you are not) and, instead of being nice to stereotype lovers, say the words as what they are. A Mexican is a Mexican.

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@fbaezer,

Okay, replace the word "everyone" with the words "the typical American".

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@Green Witch,

Never thought of that, but yeah, "Mexican Band" does conjure up thoughts of serapes and the whole regalia.

I probably mentioned earlier, but I only say Mexican if I know the person is from Mexico. The other times, I go with Latino or Hispanic, and I'm not sure why I sometimes use one in favor of the other.

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The Mexicans I know (including those in my family) are pretty proud to be Mexican.

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@roger,

Yup, and when I couldn't remember the name of the band whose picture I posted I just did a Google image search using the term "Mexican band" and this is what comes up most frequently:

http://www.visualeye.biz/images/pr/mexican-band.jpg

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@ebrown p,

It's not the Mexicans who are the problem.

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

Yup, and when I couldn't remember the name of the band whose picture I posted I just did a Google image search using the term "Mexican band" and this is what comes up most frequently:

That's interesting.
Making the search in Spanish ("Banda Mexicana"), this is the first image you get, featuring the members of popular group Molotov:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HqPeP08Ckbs/SMoM-mK8Y1I/AAAAAAAAAas/mxy8s4bHYsY/s400/Molotov.jpg

If you want the other guys, you search for "mariachi", and here's the first image:

http://www.equinoxio.org/UserFiles/image/SC/Mariachi.jpg

Mariachis don't wear sarapes, though (well, perhaps in the USA or in some tourist trap).

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@fbaezer,

Not all that interesting, Fbaezer, just indicative of two things; one, different languages, two, the level of ignorance caused by the almost complete inward thinking/viewing that is so typical of many Americans.

I doubt very much that GreenWitch falls into this category. In earlier times she may well have been toast roasted on a stake.

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@fbaezer,

The language makes all the difference. No surprise there.

Mariachis tend to wear sarapes* in America. I assume they think we expect it.
(*thanks for the spelling correction. I took five years of french).

JTT, if I was born a woman at any other time I would have been burned as a heretic or locked up by some husband declaring me as insane. I am grateful for the time and country in which I live. Warts and all.

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@JTT,

But that would mean it was unacceptable to say Polish, because of Polish jokes, or because some people are prejudiced against Poles, and so on through the nationalities (does ANY nationality not get bagged by others?)

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@dlowan,

Quote:

But that would mean it was unacceptable to say Polish, because of Polish jokes, or because some people are prejudiced against Poles, and so on through the nationalities (does ANY nationality not get bagged by others?)

I don't think that the same exclusion factor is there for Poles, [or for other nationalities that are "bagged", though I'm not saying that it couldn't become so, hasn't been so in the past], they don't stand out nor are they daily associated with this whole issue of illegal immigration and all that entails, "stealing jobs", getting benefits that only citizens should get, smuggling drugs, committing crimes, ... .

Did the video link work, Deb?

That sheriff that McCain is talking to, his jurisdiction doesn't even border on the international border. Listen to the Latino sheriff, the one whose jurisdiction is dead in the center of all this, as to what he thinks of McCain and his "finish the danged fence".

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@JTT,

Erm...the link led me to a McCain political ad for the fence. Didn't see the other one you mention.

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@dlowan,

Quote:

Erm...the link led me to a McCain political ad for the fence. Didn't see the other one you mention.

Thought that I had dug that out. Now I remember thinking, where'll I locate that? Might need BFN's help on this one. Be back asap.

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@JTT,

Here's a link to the show's transcript.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37149270

It includes the transcript of the video and the interview by Rachel Maddow with the real sheriff.

That's the best I can do right at the moment.

[calling ButterFlyNet, ButterFlyNet come in, "HEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!]

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@dlowan,

I doubt the US is any different from any other country, but at various times just calling someone a specific nationality could be the same as a racial slur. Calling someone Irish in the late 1800's was like calling someone a dog. During WWII the shorthand for Japanese ( "Jap" ) was applied to anyone who was thought to be sneaky and untrustworthy. My grandmother would tells us to stop acting like "Germans" if my brothers and I started to fight. She never lowered herself to the term "Kraut" or "Nazis", but we got the message. My girlfriend in France recently used the phrase "Muslim Harem Girl" when she told me she was sick and confined to her bedroom for a week. Why add "Muslim" other than it has become a negative word associated with oppressed women. I assume in Australia that mothers have called their children Aborigines when they didn't behave as the proper little descents of English criminals. I wonder if in Iraq parents tell their children to stop behaving like Americans when they throw a violent tantrum for some toy they can't have? It's all relative.

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@Green Witch,

I haven't heard anyone say that German people ought not be called German, though, for instance, or Japanese Japanese.

Quote:

I assume in Australia that mothers have called their children Aborigines when they didn't behave as the proper little descents of English criminals.

Not that I've heard. I assume some scum might say that, though. If the criminal thing was supposed to be some sort of dig, remember they only started dumping criminals in Australia when the US dried up as a repository, so lots of you guys are descendants of criminals too. We consider it an honour...you guys seem to have decided to forget it for some reason.

I understand that people use nationality as a term of abuse all the time...I just don't get saying Latino or somesuch when someone is actually Mexican.

Not that I assume you can tell, can you, by looking at someone?

I know some USians sometimes pretend to be Canadians and such when overseas, as so many countries dislike the US...and we are generally quick to say we are Ozzian, not from the US, when travelling and generally get better treatment when we do....(though I might try to get away with pretending to be Canadian anywhere in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq!!) do Mexicans pretend to be from somewhere else in the US?

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

I haven't heard anyone say that German people ought not be called German, though, for instance, or Japanese Japanese.

Quote:
I assume in Australia that mothers have called their children Aborigines when they didn't behave as the proper little descents of English criminals.

Not that I've heard. I assume some scum might say that, though. If the criminal thing was supposed to be some sort of dig, remember they only started dumping criminals in Australia when the US dried up as a repository, so lots of you guys are descendants of criminals too. We consider it an honour...you guys seem to have decided to forget it for some reason.

I understand that people use nationality as a term of abuse all the time...I just don't get saying Latino or somesuch when someone is actually Mexican.

Not that I assume you can tell, can you, by looking at someone?

I know some USians sometimes pretend to be Canadians and such when overseas, as so many countries dislike the US...and we are generally quick to say we are Ozzian, not from the US, when travelling and generally get better treatment when we do....do Mexicans pretend to be from somewhere else in the US?

We're over the German, Irish, Japanese thing - they're just normal words now. Although, recently DavidOmSig made a reference to "Japs" here and was jumped on by other Americans as being out of line.

Interesting that you found the "criminal" reference offensive. It was meant to be lightly funny and not a hard dig. It will go into my Politically Correct Folder for future avoidance when speaking to Aussies.

In reference to:

Quote:

Not that I assume you can tell, can you, by looking at someone?

This is currently a very hot topic in the US due to a law they are working on in Arizona having to do with illegal immigrants. You would have to Google for the big story- and it is a big story.

I think the US masquerading as Canadians is a blown-up myth. It was a little of joke during the Reagan years when I traveling in Europe, but I never met anyone (in all my life) that actual went to such trouble. Most Americans proudly sewed American flags on their backpacks, plus you could spot us a mile away by the fact we all wore name brand sneakers while everyone else in the world wore real shoes. Italian boys would point at our feet and say "Hello Americans!".

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@Green Witch,

Generally I find the convict references funny. Yours sounded like it was perhaps trying to be offensive. It isn't, even when people are clearly trying for it to be...it just sounds ignorant...especially from USians who have a major British convict history, too. But, no harm no foul if it was just intended as a joke. The site teems with such jokes, all taken in good heart...except from a few folk who have tried to make it something...then it's the intent that is responded to. Australians think having convict ancestry is as cool as being on the Mayflower.

So...given that these nationality words will always be used by SOMEONE as offensive terms, I still don't get avoiding Mexican.

Are people actually trying to say they can tell Mexicans from other Latinos? I STILL don't get that being relevant in Arizona, even if you could, because don't illegal immigrants come from LOTS of South and Central American countries? I know about the Arizona story and how big it is. I just am not clear any more about whether it is aimed at Mexicans, or everyone from below Texas. I thought it was a much more general "below Texas:" kind of thing.

I have personally met USians here and overseas who have kind of tried to coast through as Canadians, until they discovered I am not anti-American. Canadians VERY quickly tell you they are from Canada! I still can't tell the difference from the accent.

Looks like Canadian is the nationality to be if you want to get on with everyone!!!

1 Reply

When did Mexican become a "dirty" word?

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