@Sarah977 , I didn't pick up on the gr-go discussion until now and don't mean to sidetrack a great local goods thread, but! Our family has always been internationally connected, I had a Colombian second mom, Japanese Aunt Kay and my BIL is an American whos family came from mexico generations ago. Gino owns A Tex Mex restaurant that is the real deal not gr-go' ized, (called Hot in the menu to make you feel cool or tough but not really hot) if he says something is Hot, its really hottttttttt!!! I've used that word to describe myself forever when confronted with food that has more heat than meat (I am not down with burning out the linings of my mouth, throat or tummy)!
@Sally221 The Urban Dictionary puts it this way- "Folklore says it was generated when the US invaded mexico, wearing green uniforms, and the people shouted at them "Green Go Home".
With time it lost all derogatory status and was turned into the most common word to refer to any US citizen."
I suppose it could be considered a slur according to the context and delivery, if I were a white-bread upstate New Yorker vacationing in Salyalita and a local vendor called me a Gr-go and I didnt leave the house with my big boy skin on that day, I might be inclined to respond like one.
Having spent a couple years as a GI in Western Germany in the 80's, I got a chance to live the life of an often unwanted outsider and picked up on those less than welcoming vibes on occasions (when I missed them, my friend Billy who spoke fluent German would fill in the blanks for us). Unfortunately, different languages don't always lend themselves to safe translation from native tongues no non ears. So in the end because I really don't want to offend someone by mistake (only purposely when necessary), I try to stick with my own native lingo when speaking with others that arent native US English speakers. its safer that way...