L.s your version of how the word "gringo" came about, you may be right .But when you claim that it is used to discribe an American or a Canadian because they share a commom language. You are totally wrong. If you ever whatched a movie where a Mexican bandido called a guy a "gringo". I can assure you he didn,t mean it as a term of endearment. So any time you hear words such as (kike, kraut, spick,mick, nigger,jap, chink,wetback) they are deragotory term discribing ones nationality. Reason so call "gringos" overlook the comment its because they probably consider the "source".