A TRIP TO TENERIFE - 14c
More local culture from The Lanzarote Gazette (February 2006 issue) -
www.gazettelive.com :
ISLAND NAME CALLING (continued)
MORE ABOUT GUIRIS
Nevertheless, "guiri" is hardly ever used maliciously, and foreigners in the know are usually happy to join in the joke. An English-language comedy club in Barcelona, for example, has named itself "The Giggling Guiri" - a nod to the city's thousands of ex-pats, who realise it's better to be a guiri and proud than to take umbrage. The origins of the name are mysterious, but most believe it dates from the Carlist wars of the 19th Century, when northern mercenaries were brought into Spain to fight for Queen Cristina. In the Basque country, these cristinos were known as guiristinos, which was later shortened to guiri. Canarian author Benito Perez Galdos referred to guiri troops in one of his novels at the time. However, others claim the word comes from the Welsh coal miners who travelled to the Basque country and Astrurias to lend their expertise to mining operations there - "gwr" is a common Welsh term meaning "man".
GODOS
While "guiris" is not an insulting term, "godos", a Canarian word for mainland Spanish folk, certainly is. The word means "Goth", and they're not talking about Marilyn Manson fans who hang around graveyards wearing black. The Goths were the original Germanic tribe who swept through Europe and into Spain, and their tendency to invade places and impose their culture is the reason for this name.
Canarians use the word to talk about snobbish, superior mainlanders who come to the islands and treat the locals as if they're barbarians. "Godos fuera!" - "Goths Out!" - is also a popular slogan among supporters of Canarian independence, who resent being ruled from Madrid.
Of course, we've only touched the tip of the iceberg here, and there is plenty of other terms in regular use on the island, as you'll soon find out if you're involved in a traffic accident!
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(next up - JAMEOS DEL AUGUA!)