The Funny Burns of Latin Americans Against Gringos

Over the years living in Latin America, there's a few ideas some Latin Americans have about gringos that I sometimes find funny or ironic.

Quite often in the world, it's not uncommon by the way for people of any country to hold onto ideas or stereotypes about people of another country that they heard from others.

Which then said people cling onto those stereostypes, say them with convinction and act as if they have seen them happen in real life.

And, on the occasion they might have seen a stereotype play out in real life, it either is the action of one person out of countless out there OR it's actually an imagined behavior that didn't happen.

Like when a Latin American has an inferiority complex and imagines that whatever the gringo did was illustrative of how "HE ACTUALLY THINKS HE'S BETTER THAN US!!! AGGGHHHH!!"

Imagine a short, 5'7 Mexican dude who walks up to a bunch of gringos outside.

The gringos outside are all having a beer and just chilling and having a nice night when said Mexican begins spewing out his ideas about them.

Immediately tells them the following in his broken English that he prepared with the help of Google Translate:

"Eh ... eh .... you all .... I'M AMERICAN TOO!!!"

*the gringos stare in confusion*

The Mexican, beginning to grin thinking that he totally OWNED them, continues: "And ... uh ... uh ... you all .... IMMIGRANTS!!!"

*a few of the gringa women now begin looking at their Instagram and one of the gringos burps loudly*

The Mexican, now having them on the ropes, delivers the final Death Blow: "And ... uh ... well ... you all ... WERE PROBABLY POOR BACK HOME!!!"

Then the Mexican, with his dick tucked between his legs, begins jogging down the street to escape back to Iztacalco while giggling away: "I totally showed them!!! JEJEJEJEJEJE"

The gringos in question?

John asks out loud "so, more shots?"

Story ends.

The funny thing though is that such a moment has probably happened before.

Well, in the mind of whatever Mexican might be posting those "YOU'RE A PLAGUE" papers in popular areas.

Never man enough to say that to our face, eh?

Still mad your last girlfriend cheated on you with a gringo?

Regardless, the bottom line here is that there are some Mexicans (and broader Latin Americans) who do have these funny little packaged insults that they have ready for us gringos.

They often say them as a way to "hit back" at the gringo that he imagines in his mind, with his insecurity complex, to constantly be talking about how they are better than him. 

Where literally EVERY single behavior of the gringo in question is somehow the gringo's indirect way of expressing superiority.

When, in actuality, it was just a random tourist who only knows a few words in Spanish and is just asking the waiter in a popular area for tourists "where is the bathroom?"

Therefore, with this established insecurity complex, said Mexican has invented certain statements that he uses against the gringo where he thinks he somehow "owned" the gringo in a conversation.

Where he thinks he is being clever or MUY MUY EDUCADO and really showing that gringo who is the intelligent one.

When, in actuality, the Mexican just looks like someone with the social skills of a retard with everyone else wondering "who is this guy?"

Then said Mexican goes home wondering "WHY DO THE GRINGOS STAY IN A BUBBLE?!? WHY WONT THEY PRACTICE ENGLISH WITH ME?!?"

So, above all, what are these established statements that the Mexican has in his arsenal ready to totally OWN those pesky gringos with?

Let's get to them.

"They're Poor Back Home"

This isn't an unusual one and it's not entirely wrong.

It's very similar to the "loser back home" statement that has been said of gringos moving anywhere for a long time.

Essentially, that we didn't have much money back home but can live well here.

Honestly, it sounds accurate for a lot of people for sure.

Plenty of gringos down here with their 1,250 social security a month payments where that money doesn't do shit in Wisconsin but works well in Latin America.

My only response would be: "Ok and?"

And your country (Mexico) is sending us its wealthiest people also?

No.

A lot of your folks going to the US are poor as fuck looking to exploit a currency exchange rate by earning USD to send back home.

So it's not like Mexicans have much of a leg to stand on this one.

And also it's a bit funny to me that this is their argument for two reasons:

For one, it seems like a lot more Mexicans have JUST realized like it's a new development.

Cmon, you all can catch up faster now, no? Took you a while to figure this one out?"

After all the time of being treated like an ATM machine by some locals (read: not all), it's just a bit humorous to me that some have finally realized we aren't all made of money.

Second, it's also a very stereotypical argument that one could expect from Mexicans and broader Latin Americans.

That their "burn" where they giggle amongst themselves and go "jejejeje, they ain't THAT cool because they were POOR back home jejejejejeje," comes from a point of classism.

Of course, as stereotypical as it is, leave it to the Mexican to find an argument rooted in classism to make himself feel better.

Which is even more ironic because some of the Mexicans who lean on this point are literal minimum wagies living in Iztacalco on just 5,500 MXN a month or whatever it is these days.

"You Are Immigrants!"

This is basically their way of saying "you are JUST like us!"

Where they project their own rationale for why gringos call themselves expats out of the belief that they do so to distinguish themselves from Mexican immigrants in the US (or immigrants in general).

When, in reality, most "expats" call themselves expats because that's just a random term they heard somewhere down the path of moving abroad and stuck to it.

And also because most don't have any intention of moving abroad forever and so, in their minds, it's not "really being an immigrant" if you aren't in it permanently.

Regardless of the logic behind why they use the word expat (and it's definitely up to debate the merits of said logic), I will tell you that very few gringos use the term expat to distinguish themselves as being superior to others.

That's just your insecurity complex spiking up again.

On top of that, I personally find this statement a bit odd because, as I wrote here, I always have kinda seen myself as an immigrant.

But it's also annoyed me that most locals, through their behavior, don't really see me as such.

It doesn't annoy me too much but it does rub me the wrong way slightly.

And, in the context of all of this, is something I find weird and ironic for the Mexican to bitch about us now adopting the term "immigrant" when they don't even treat us as such.

They don't see us as permanently part of the community.

Even if we assimilate, they still don't for the most part.

A lot of them truly do see us as just tourists who will leave someday.

"Yeah ... CHEAP FOR YOU!!!"

Here, I can kinda see eye to eye with the Mexican but not entirely.

I was going to make a separate article on this but I don't really see a need to.

Basically, it's when a gringo says "wow, Mexico is so cheap" and then the Mexican responds with "yeah ... FOR YOU!! NOT MEXICANS!!!"

My only response to that would be "yeah and? Did you think I'm a Mexican?"

The "it's so cheap for us gringos" statement comes because it's an inherent part of the gringo expat (IMMIGRANT?!?!) experience in Mexico.

We all speak from our personal experiences.

Obviously, the gringo isn't speaking from a Mexican experience and what it's like to be Mexican because he isn't a Mexican.

Are you THAT autistic that you would go to an immigrant group in any country and try to correct them because their expressed experiences don't reflect yours?

But, having said that, there is also the obvious that it's incosiderate to go up to a bunch of poorer folks than you who might be struggling paycheck to paycheck and say...

"WOW, EVERYTHING IS SO EASY HERE! SO CHEAP! I HAVE WOMEN SUCKING MY DICK EVERY MORNING! NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT RENT!!"

It is true that, especially in a country with so much classism and insecurity surrounding classism, you shouldn't be bragging about how easy your life is.

Even if Mexico wasn't a classist society, it'd still be rude.

While I get saying such things in private or even on this blog, saying so publicly out in the streets with a homeless dude laying on the ground is probably not the nicest thing to do.

So I do kinda stand with the Mexican on this one even if I think he's being a bit autistic.

"We're American too!!!"

This isn't just a Mexican complaint but one of a lot of Latin Americans (though mostly those who spend too much time on Reddit or are young types involved in urban left leaning activist circles).

Basically, it's when an American refers to himself as an American or says he is from America and the Latin American says "WE ARE AMERICAN TOO!!!"

The two are simply coming at it from a different understanding of what constitutes the Americas.

Is it just one continent or two (North and South)?

But, beyond that, it is rooted in insecurity also as the Latin American wrongly believes that Americans refer to themselves as Americans to somehow claim superiority over Latin Americans.

To say that they are THE REAL Americans and shit like that.

When actually, similar to expat, it's just a word that people have grown accustomed to using and the average person using it is not coming from a point of trying to declare superiority.

Still, the Latin American will often act ab it condescending when bringing up how "HE IS AMERICAN TOO!!!"

Which is a bit ironic because said Latin American might be imagining the American to be the condescending type who speaks down to others when it's actually the Latin American himself who is doing just that as he sits on a high horse thinking he has revealed some unknown truth of the universe.

When, in reality, he's just socially retarded who can't read a room.

He'll soon go back to his mom's house, sit in front of his computer and type something on Reddit about how he met these snobby Americans and how he TOTALLY put them in their place.

Meanwhile, the Americans in question are going to a house party tonight and already forgot the interaction with the Latin American who can't seem to comprehend that a word can have several meanings.

More on the topic here.

"Colonizers!!!"

I'll keep this one simple: basically you got some Latin Americans who call us "colonizers."

Outside of left leaning Americans, Canadians or Europeans, this is going to fall flat.

Most people are not going to care if a Mexican says this.

It's an insult that just feels lifeless.

Doesn't got a ring to it.

But the Mexican, in some cases, thinks he might be playing on the gringo's obsession with race and not wanting to be priviledged because some do get that some gringos are very obsessed with that.

But, like I said, I think this would only work on gringos who are left leaning and who would throw around similar accusations at their fellow gringos.

The odd thing though -- and it's a question -- is how does the left leaning gringo who associates other gringos with being colonizers also deal with this?

They're part of the same camp!

It's like asking how do some white people (and people of any race) end up being self-hating against their own race and how do they react to it?

....Like this?

Amazing Atheist "Sorry I'm White, Sorry I'm Male"

Your guess is as good as mine.

"Your Girl is a Green Card Hunter"

We all know the idea that foreign women who date dudes from the US or wherever are just green card hunters.

From what I've seen, that's complete bullshit.

Most women and most people in Latin America want to leave their home country.

Now, to be fair, you will see women who seemingly and more commonly want other things like money when watching 90 Day Fiance.

That's a lot more common: women just wanting money.

But, more often than not, I notice there's usually two types of people who most frequently bring up this idea: jealous local Latin American dudes who don't get pussy and are bitchy about it ("stay away from our women" types") and women from "the West" who are in their 30s, can't lock down a dude and are just bitchy about men going for women abroad.

That's it.

Basically just two different groups who be bitchy because they don't get any good dating options and hate seeing others do well.

Most often though the type bitching is the first one: the Latin American incel type who don't get shit.

It's really nothing more than a coping mechanism for these losers.

Anything to Add?

There are other things that some Mexicans and Latin Americans more broadly might say.

That we gentrify, that we're sex tourists, that we all do drugs, etc.

I don't have as much issue with some of these statements as long as it's understood it doesn't apply to everyone.

More thoughts on the gentrification topic here.

Still, you do have gringos like that.

Either way, this is nothing more, like I said, to simply lay out some of the common statements I've heard Mexicans over the years say when they think they are being clever or want to feel superior.

Like they are "punching against the powers that be" when "the powers that be" are "Josh the Guy Who Freelance Writes for $10/hour" and "that retired couple from Wisconsin who spends 1,250 a month."

Above all though, I find some of their "burns" -- especially about how we were so poor back home -- kinda funny.

And other times ironic.

But that's all.

If you got anything, drop a comment below.

And follow my Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt