In this week's ¡Ask a Mexican! column in the LA and OC Weekly(ies) — and around the country, I presume — Gustavo Arellano delves into the origins and usage of the Spanish word gabacho. I actually had wondered that once, and he explains:

Dear Readers: Few features of this column are more controversial than the Mexican’s preference for gabacho rather than gringo to describe gabachos. Technically, gabacho refers to an inhabitant of the Pyrenees, but it became a Spanish slur for a Frenchman over the centuries. The Royal Academy of Spanish states gabacho originated from the Provençal word gavach, which means “bad-speaking.” (Quick note for amateur etymologists: Don’t believe the 2000 collection Chicano Folklore: A Guide to the Folktales, Traditions, Rituals and Religious Practices of Mexican Americans, which states gabacho comes from an arcane Castilian term meaning “a current of water,” or the NTC’s Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words edition claiming, “When Mexican men noted that foreign men often helped their wives in the kitchen, something a Mexican male wouldn’t dream of doing, they began calling such men gabachos or ‘aprons.’”)

When the French briefly conquered Mexico during the 1860s, the Mexicans correctly ridiculed the occupying army as gabachos; after los franceses left, the term remained, and Mexicans applied it to their perpetual antagonists: Americans. Nevertheless, many Mexicans grumble that I should call gabachos gringos since it’s the more accurate term for gabachos (funnily, none ever ask I stop slurring our pasty amigos). So why does this Mexican use gabacho? Besides growing up with the word, it allows Mexicans to smuggle two ethnic slurs in uno handy word—not only are we calling gabachos gringos, but we’re also calling them French. Parlez-vous double insult, cabrones?

I like a little erudition in a column. In the LA Weekly's other reader write-in column of the week, Jonathan Gold explains the origin of the classic burrito and recommends three Eastside spots to acquire prime examples.