Re: Incorrect use of "it's" in package control files -- file mass bug?
On Tue, Sep 07, 2004 at 01:10:43PM -0700, William Lee Irwin III wrote:
>> I feel better now as the folk etymology I heard is listed there.
On Tue, Sep 07, 2004 at 08:32:59PM -0600, Marcelo E. Magallon wrote:
> You mean this the followin quote?
> The true origin of gringo is most likely that it came from
> griego, the Spanish word for "Greek." In Spanish, as in English,
> something difficult or impossible to understand is referred to
> as being Greek: We say "It's Greek to me," just as in Spanish an
> incomprehensible person is said to hablar en griego (i.e.,
> "speak in Greek").
> In Spanish we say that people speak "Chinese" or "Russian" when we
> don't understand a word of what they are saying, but not "Greek".
> I always found amusing that equivalent in German is "he speaks
> Spanish".
I've never heard or read this usage of griego/gringo in Spanish myself,
but they apparently have quotes of its usage from the 18th century
(i.e. prior to 1800) to refute claims of its origins being related to
the Mexican-American War or Pershing's campaigns against Pancho Villa.
-- wli
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