Vietnamese for "Gringo"

[livingdeb]

Today we tried a new Vietnamese restaurant that just got good review for their sandwiches. Vietnam was a French colony for a while during which time the locals developed their own version of French bread sandwiches ("Banh Mi") using local ingredients. For example, wheat had to be imported, so they substituted rice flour for half the flour in their French bread.

Robin has tasted these sandwiches before in another place and he mentioned that the waitress is now giving him better service. I said that it might be that she used to think of him as whatever the Vietnamese word for gringo is, but now she realizes that he does have respectable tastes and maybe also that he tips well.

That got us thinking about words for "those other people who aren't us." It's not just Hispanics who have such a word. And the connotations of these words don't all have the same level of negativity. Here are some more such words that I know about:
people who aren't Jewish - gentiles
people who aren't Christians/Jews/Muslims - heathens
people who aren't scientists - laypeople
people who aren't associated with the university - townies
people who don't live indoors - street people, the homeless
people who aren't sailors - landlubbers
those who aren't earthlings - aliens
people who aren't southerners (in the US) - yankees
people who aren't gay - straight people, breeders
people unfamiliar with the internet - newbies

I bet there's also a word for people who aren't in labor unions. I wouldn't be surprised if there were also a word for people who aren't anorexic. And people who don't have fashion sense.

Some other words or phrases like this:
the man
foreigner

Wikipedia has some more terms for ethnic exogroups. Of those, only goy and haole sound familiar to me.

As far as I know, there is not a word for people who aren't bureaucrats, aren't ballroom dancers, don't play ultimate frisbee, aren't campers, or aren't Girl Scouts. Or don't have a twin, triplet, etc.

Comments

Breeders

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

People who don't wish to reproduce may also use the term 'breeder' to refer to those who do, and it has a negative tone to it. Also, lesbians can now breed with the help of science (or an exception for conception!), so the terms 'gay' and 'breeder' could be used to describe the same person!

On the inclusive side of language, I recently learned the word 'sabra', meaning an Israeli-born person.

[madspark.livejournal.com]

Lots and LOTS of these names:

People who aren't Witches in the Harry Potter world: Muggles

People not in the SCA: Mundanes (may also apply to science fiction communities)

People who are not technical: Marketing (heheheh)

People who are not actors: Audience

I also recognize Gaijin from the link.

There are probably a zillion more....

Re: Breeders

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Funny. And yes, breeder is not a nice term.

Wow, if there is a word for sabras, it seems like there should be a term for Texas-born people.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, I've heard of muggles and mundanes, and even marketing. Another marketing-like one: people who live in Oregon (or Washington state?) who are not from there: Californians.

[mac-the-mike.livejournal.com]

Is a non-union type a "scab" or is that just someone who crosses the picket line?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

The latter. A subset of non-union types.